w/Sincerity,Part I: The Drama of the Will from Augustine to Milton

Abstract

Studies of secularism and modern selfhood locate a transition in the early modern period toward the moral explanatory power of the self, by itself. In this essay, I challenge this view first by locating a distinct form of moral autonomy (sincerely sinning) in the work of Augustine, Anselm, and Scotus, and second by demonstrating this development’s fraught legacy in early Protestant forms of conscience. Finally, I apply this history of sincerity to readings of Milton and Shakespeare, writers who illustrate the thematic potential of competing forms of sincerity and of the drama of the will.