Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which religion and science - broadly defined - have been used to construct and imagine ideal societies in the medieval and early modern periods. By examining how otherness is constructed through descriptions of religious practices, attitudes to religious plurality, technological marvels, and natural wonders, I argue that both religion and science serve to simultaneously enhance and bridge the gap between the intended audience and the ideal society. This dual function enables to authors of the ideal societies to ensure that the text in question communicates what makes a given society or condition ideal. In my analysis, I use sources from both the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period in order to emphasise the continuity in utopian thought in the period c.1000-c.1750. The selection of sources includes both widely-known utopian texts and materials that are rarely used in discussions of utopian thinking. The purpose of this selection is to demonstrate how early modern utopian literature is part of a longer historical trajectory.