"Invaded by a Devilish Indian Diamond": Wilkie Collins's "Sermon for Sepoys", the Moonstone, and the Emergence of a Secular Modernity

Wilkie Collins's "A Sermon for Sepoys" appeared in Household Words in February of 1858, shortly after the Sepoy Rebellion, and The Moonstone appeared in All the Tear Round in 1868 on the tenth anniversary of the Rebellion and three years after the 1865 Jamaican Rebellion when public p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religion & literature
Main Author: Clarke, Micael M. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Dep. 2017
In: Religion & literature
RelBib Classification:CD Christianity and Culture
CG Christianity and Politics
KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
KBM Asia
Further subjects:B COLLINS, Wilkie, 1824-1889
B Modernity
B PREJUDICES; Religious aspects
B SEPOY Rebellion, India, 1857-1858
B Freedom Of Religion
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Summary:Wilkie Collins's "A Sermon for Sepoys" appeared in Household Words in February of 1858, shortly after the Sepoy Rebellion, and The Moonstone appeared in All the Tear Round in 1868 on the tenth anniversary of the Rebellion and three years after the 1865 Jamaican Rebellion when public passions were strongly divided regarding Britain's imperialist activities and the racial and religious prejudices that justified that imperialism as a "civilizing" mission. This essay argues that Collins structured "A Sermon for Sepoys" and The Moonstone to enlarge the public's concept of religion to include non-Western faith traditions. By doing so, Collins contributed his enormous popularity toward opposing religious intolerance and hatred. As a Christian who opposed creeds and dogmas because they led to persecution and war, Collins promoted a gradually emergent secularism that was reshaping Victorian culture, and that continues to be an essential component of religiously pluralistic, democratic societies around the world.
ISSN:2328-6911
Contains:Enthalten in: Religion & literature