Prophecy and the politics of authority in seventeenth-century revolutionary Britain

During Britain's civil war era, prophecy comprised the rhetorical means by which certain religio-political groups legitimized their efforts to seize power, based on claims of election and the attendant right to determine God's will on earth. In seventeenth-century Britain, the Holy Spirit became the vehicle for political empowerment par excellence. This dissertation investigates prophetic discourse in terms of its political function during a time when the issue of political authority was a focus for interrogation and debate. The Introduction provides a brief history of prophetic discourse as an intellective mode that characterized British mentality for centuries, and found its most potent manifestation in the Puritans' self-sanctioned ability to speak for God. Chapter One discusses the Quakers' appropriation of the Holy Spirit, which gave them license to judge their Puritan rulers. Chapter Two analyzes Hobbes' attack on prophecy in Leviathan, in which he eliminates the possibility of election by various rhetorical strategies. Chapter Three examines Cromwell's rise from obscure minor gentry to Lord Protector through his exploitation of providentialism, that is, the right and duty of every Puritan saint to read God's cosmic plan in personal and national events. And Chapter Four treats Milton's Paradise Regain'd as a cynical commentary on the political opportunism and self-interest concealed in the postures of righteousness adopted by both the Royalists and the Roundheads during the Revolution.