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Rhetorical virtue, theology and ‘womens wyttes’ in an early Tudor dialogue: Thomas Lupset’s A treatise of charitie (c.1529)
Author(s) -
Crown J. S.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
renaissance studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.117
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1477-4658
pISSN - 0269-1213
DOI - 10.1111/rest.12668
Subject(s) - brother , scholarship , piety , rhetorical question , sister , portrait , rhetoric , conversation , ignorance , virtue , sociology , value (mathematics) , literature , philosophy , theology , epistemology , history , art , law , linguistics , art history , political science , anthropology , machine learning , computer science
Several studies have brought out the richness and variety of Renaissance dialogues, but relatively few English examples merit study for their formal interest. This article examines a neglected yet important exception, Thomas Lupset’s A treatise of charitie (c.1529). Previous scholarship has treated it as a straightforward moral discourse, chiefly notable for its support for Thomas More in the controversy with William Tyndale over the translation of the Greek word ἀγάπη ( agapē ) as love instead of charity. Yet these studies have taken the dynamic of a brother teaching his sister at face value. Recognising that she feigns ignorance in order to manipulate the direction of the conversation allows us to reevaluate Lupset's engagement with the More‐Tyndale debate. Through analysing the brother's speech, Lupset’s characterisation of the sister, and their discussion of theology, this article argues that this work is a multi‐faceted commentary on charity rather than a defence of More. It moreover provides a lively treatment of what constitutes successful rhetoric, and a nuanced portrait of a female interlocutor.