Thomas Browne — Religio Medici

Edited and introduced by Paul Summers Young
 
Religio Medici is one of the most influential books to have come down to us from the seventeenth century; like Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy, it is as much an inquiry into self as it is a wandering among the Liberal Arts, at whose heart is a simple truth: you can be rationally mystical, mystically rational, and a sincere friend to all. 
 
Thomas Browne’s book was published, reluctantly, in 1643, at a time of vicious sectarian violence across the Three Kingdoms. He anticipates some of the sentiments expressed by the Ranters, Diggers and Quakers, but also establishes the model for a tradition of English elegaic literature, taking his theme from life and following it across antiquity, only to bring it home again. His flights always return to this ash here in a pot being you and me. 
 
Our edition, transcribed, edited and introduced by Paul Summers Young, is based upon the 1643 edition of the text, and introduces modern spelling and punctuation conventions to render the work more accessible and enjoyable for a non-specialist reader.
 
This is the first volume in a series of Browne’s work for Black Letter Press.