Lord Cherbury in The Temple: Faith, Mystery, and Understanding

What is it about?

This chapter examines Herbert’s response to Christian rationalism by considering his reactions to the philosophy of his elder brother Edward, Lord Cherbury. In particular, Kuchar shows how The Temple exposes the negative spiritual and hermeneutic consequences of Cherbury’s rationalist view of scripture. Contrasting Cherbury’s view of revelation from Augustine’s, Kuchar demonstrates how Herbert reacted against Cherbury’s occluding of the notion of scripture as the living Word of God (Viva Vox Dei). No minor matter, Herbert’s critique of his brother shows him agreeing with the view that Cherbury’s displacing of revelation for universal reason “reduces religion to mere morality.” By focusing on Herbert’s critical response to Cherbury, we gain a fuller understanding of the exigencies animating poems such as “Heaven,” “The Agonie,” and “Divinitie.”

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