English Puritans, Dissenters, Quakers, and Recusants

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Covington
Keyword(s):  
Max Weber ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
State Institution ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Atlantic History ◽  
Modern Capitalism ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
New Generation ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Church

The Elizabethan Settlement of 1559 formally reestablished the Church of England as a state institution defined by standardized forms of worship and obedience to the Queen as its supreme governor. A vocal opposition almost immediately emerged, however, with responses to the settlement ranging from wary conformity or assertive nonconformity on the part of Puritans to Catholic refusal to attend church (a decision known as recusancy) to the emergence of more extreme separatist groups which would give rise to dissenters in the next century. The conflicting intentions and social identities of these groups, in addition to their connection to larger political developments, have made this one of the more tangled areas of English historiography, with the Puritanism bearing most of the burden. In the 19th century, for example, historians such as S. R. Gardiner equated puritanism with liberty and freedom; in the early 20th century, the sociologist Max Weber famously argued that modern capitalism was directly related to a Calvinist (and particularly English Calvinist) form of Christianity, with the Puritan divine Richard Baxter one of its foremost exponents. Such a view was criticized by, among others, Marxist historians such as Christopher Hill and Katherine George, who, nevertheless, imposed their own somewhat reified concepts onto nonmainstream groups. Recent years have witnessed such scholars as Patrick Collinson and Peter Lake exploring puritanism’s relation to the Elizabethan and early Stuart church and society, while David Como represents a new generation of historians, in this case focused on radicalism within the movement’s underground. This article attempts to encapsulate these trends, though its emphasis on English nonconformity admittedly excludes the new transatlantic focus promoted by historians such as Francis Bremer, or in the case of recusants, transcontinental perspectives. For such a perspective, see the Oxford Bibliographies in Atlantic History article on Protestantism by Carla Gardina Pestana.

Justifying Gender Inequality in the Church of England

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex D. J. Fry
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
System Justification Theory ◽  
Female Clergy ◽  
The Family ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
Theologically Conservative ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Church

Despite being a national institution, the Church of England is legally permitted to discriminate against its ordained female clergy in a number of ways, a phenomenon that is at odds with wider societal values in England. It is argued that this makes the gender values of this institution’s representatives worthy of examination. This article explores the gender attitudes of theologically conservative male clergy and the psychological processes that shape these attitudes. In order to do so, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen evangelical priests in one diocese within the Church of England. A thematic narrative analysis was employed to interpret the data using descriptive, focused, and pattern coding. Three themes in particular emerged from the data, namely: “Theological parallel between the Church and the family”, “Created order of male headship and female submission”, and “Separation between Church and society”. The content of these themes reveals significant overlap with the contents of system justification theory, and so this was used to interpret the themes further. In light of this it is concluded that a perceived loss of social privilege and control shape participants’ traditionalist gender values.

scholarly journals Anglikanizm i odrodzenie katolicyzmu na tle sytuacji religijnej w XIX-wiecznej Anglii

2016 ◽  
pp. 89-98
Author(s):  
Przemysław Kantyka
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
John Henry Newman ◽  
Oxford Movement ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Church

The article describes the religious situation in the 19th-century England with special emphasis on the position of Anglicanism and Catholicism. First, it examines the situation of the Church of England with its rise of the Oxford Movement and transformation of Anglicanism into a worldwide community. Subsequently, the paper describes the renaissance of Catholicism in the new circumstances following the enactment of Catholic Emancipation Bill . Finally, it mentions the first attempts at a dialogue between Anglicans and Catholics. All these historical developments are shown in the context of life and conversion of John Henry Newman.

scholarly journals Jefrem Bojovic’s letters addressed to Nil Alexandrovich Popov

2021 ◽  
pp. 347-359
Author(s):  
Vladislav Puzovic
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Russian State ◽  
Church Life ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
State Library ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
First Time ◽  
Personal Collection ◽  
The Church

There are 19 unpublished letters written by latter bishop of Zica Jefrem Bojovic, preserved in The Manuscripts Department of The Russian State Library of Moscow. These letters, addressed to Nil Alexandrovich Popov, are part of a personal collection of this famous Russian scholar in the field of history and Slavic literature. Letters from this collection were written from 1874 until 1886, while Bojovic was a student at The Moscow Spiritual Academy and a professor in the Seminary of Belgrade. These letters are a great source for Bishop Jefrem?s biography, especially for understanding his relationships with Russia. They witness a sincere friendship with Popov, one of the most prominent people in relations between Serbs and Russians, during the second half of the 19th century. These letters are important in order to understand Bojovic?s point of view, regarding the issues of Serbian social, political and church life in the 9th decade of the 19th century. Serbian Government led Pro-Austrian politics during that period of time, which affected relationships within Serbian Church and society. The most significant consequence was an uncanonical replacement of the Serbian Metropolitan Mihailo (Jovanovic) and his hierarchy. Bojovic was the first source witness of these events, who was actively supporting Metropolitan Mihailo. During his studies in Russia, Jefrem Bojovic became a true lover of Slavs, which formed his further views. The mentioned documents were analyzed in this study for the first time, and they will hopefully enrich the biography of Jefrem Bojovic. This study should help us to understand better the occasions within the church, society and politics in Serbia during the ninth decade of the 19th century.

Was Leo Strauss Wrong about John Locke?

2004 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Stone
Keyword(s):  
John Locke ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Leo Strauss ◽  
Modern Capitalism ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Theological Language ◽  
English Politics ◽  
The Church ◽  
Cambridge School

Was Leo Strauss wrong about John Locke? Surely that he was has been the consensus among historians of political thought, though their reasons are sometimes at variance. The Cambridge school, influenced by the work of John Dunn, interprets Locke's work in the light of the Calvinism in his family background. Though attacked by spokesmen for the Church of England, Locke quickly gained admirers among dissenting clergy, for his psychology, his politics, and of course his program for religious toleration, and the proponents of the Calvinist interpreta tion explain why: His discourse closely tracks the theological language of his Calvinist contemporaries. Richard Ashcraft, meanwhile, sought to restore Locke's reputation as a revolutionary by investigating his role in English politics under the Restoration, albeit at the price of reducing the Two Treatises to a tract for the moment. James Tully would likewise save him from the charge of being a capitalist apologist, insisting Locke merely offered a defense of Whig landholding, with the responsibilities as well as the privileges embedded in the English law of estate. All these interpretations dismiss or disregard Strauss's account of Locke as an atheist in the mold of Hobbes and Spinoza who succeeded by his mastery of the art of esoteric writing in concealing his unbelief; as the most successful, because most prudent, proponent of the modern doctrine of natural rights, which revolutionized politics around the world; and as the theorist who prepared the way for modern capitalism by his vigorous defense of unlimited acquisition.

Religious Regulation in Ireland

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vesna Malešević
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Census Data ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
External Impetus ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Building Project ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

While three-quarters of the population in Ireland still declare to be Catholic in census data collection, the position and role of the Catholic Church has changed dramatically. A fruitful relationship between the state, church, and nation that developed in the 19th century became meaningfully embedded in social and political relations from the 1920s. Involvement of the church in the running of education, health, and welfare meant that its “moral monopoly” extended into both the institutional and individual spheres of life. The Irish Republic relied on the church organizations and personnel to provide education and guidance in absence of the state’s infrastructure and Will to consolidate the new political entity around a state-building project based on inclusivity, reciprocity, and diversity. The confessional state that emerged with its own constitution favored one religion over others, economic stagnation over progress, and patriarchal social values over equality. The internal processes of social change and the external impetus for economic development sent Ireland into modernization and changes in attitudes and behaviors. It became obvious that the church did not hold a monopoly on truth and that accountability of the relations between the state and the church should be called into question. Economic prosperity propelled Ireland into the world of consumerism, materialism, and instant gratification, teaching a new generation that religion helps keep your parents appeased and at times can provide solace, and that the Catholic Church is just an institution that seems to be around but nobody is quite sure what its role is. The vicariousness of the church coupled with cultural Catholicism makes the Ireland of today more open to change.

Vincent Alsop and the Emancipation of Restoration Dissent

1973 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Beddard
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
Present Purpose ◽  
Stuart Period ◽  
New Generation ◽  
The Church

The Presbyterian congregation which used to meet in Tothill Street, Westminster, during the later Stuart period is now chiefly remembered for its succession of distinguished pastors. There were three of them, each a figure of importance in the dissenting community of London: first Thomas Cawton, a Bartholomean, under whose direction the congregation was formed and held together in the precarious years following the enactment of religious Uniformity; then Vincent Alsop, an accomplished controversialist who took issue with the doctors of the Church of England, and who, for a quarter of a century, faithfully tended his flock in good times and bad; finally there was Dr. Edmund Calamy, the learned historian of Caroline nonconformity, one of a new generation of Presbyterian divines, during whose early ministry the meeting removed from Tothill Street to other and more spacious premises in the nearby Princes Street. Our present purpose is to take a closer look at one of these ministers, the middle one—Vincent Alsop, ‘a man of great worth and piety’, who superintended his Westminster congregation from 1677 to 1703, the year of his death. His ministry, as we shall show, was to make an important contribution to the emancipation of Old Dissent, especially in the 1680s.

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