London Yearly Meeting’s Response to the Richmond Declaration, 1887: A Case Study in the Avoidance of Religious Schism

London Yearly Meeting’s response to the Richmond Declaration of 1887 was neutral in that it neither endorsed nor rejected it. The Declaration was seen by British Friends in a variety of ways. These included it being viewed as either an affirmation or not of existing Quaker beliefs, a document that was more relevant to the American Quaker context, a useful statement of beliefs or an attempt to impose a creed. While failure to accept the Declaration has been interpreted as a move towards supporting an emerging liberal Quakerism, the decision to also not reject it has often been overlooked. An evaluation of the discussions about the Declaration that took place at the Yearly Meeting in London, May 1888, and which were reported in the Quaker journals The British Friend and The Friend (London), highlights the wide range of views that were held. It is proposed that the complex set of relationships that existed between different groups within London Yearly Meeting and the role played by key individuals determined a nuanced response to the Declaration which was sufficiently acceptable to all sides. Paradoxically, this unity was founded upon a collective acceptance of theological discordance within London Yearly Meeting. Consequently, schism was avoided as evangelical, conservative and liberal Quaker narratives were able to coexist alongside a non-committal response to the Declaration.

Erasmus of Rotterdam on the Religious Schism in Bohemia (1518-1519): concordia vs tolerantia

В статье исследуется переписка Эразма Роттердамского с чешским дворянином Яном Слехтой (1518-1519). Анализ посланий показывает наличие в Богемии трех крупных религиозных партий: католиков, чашников, Общины чешских братьев, именуемых пикартами, и разрозненных нехристианских сообществ: иудейских общин и сект эпикурейского и николаитского (адамитского) толков. Такой религиозный плюрализм Эразм характеризует как аномалию, как болезнь социума, которую необходимо преодолеть. Предлагаемое им средство состоит в возвращении всех в лоно римской церкви при условии согласия в ключевых положениях христианства. Эразм предлагает не закреплять разъединение через признание за некатолическими группами их прав на отличие, а, наоборот, создать условия для ликвидации этого раскола. Такую позицию Эразма не следует трактовать как принятие религиозного плюрализма, как веротерпимость и толерантность в современном понимании слова. The article examines the correspondence of Erasmus of Rotterdam with the Czech nobleman Jan Slechta (1518-1519). The analysis of the epistles shows that there were three major religious parties in Bohemia: Catholics, Chashniki, a Community of Czech brothers called picarts, and some scattered non-Christian communities: Jewish communities and sects of epicurean and nicolaitean (Adamite) followers. Erasmus characterizes such religious pluralism as an anomaly, as a disease of society that must be overcome. The remedy proposed by the humanist is to restore ecclesiastical unity and return all to the bosom of the Roman Church, provided that all agree on the key points of Christianity. Erasmus proposes not to consolidate the division by tolerating this division and recognizing the rights of non-Catholic groups to differ, but, on the contrary, to create conditions for the elimination of this division. Non-Christian movements should be excluded from interfaith dialogue. This position of Erasmus should not be interpreted as acceptance of religious pluralism, as toleration and tolerance in the modern sense of the word.

The Scars of Religious War in Histories of French Cities (1600–1750)

This article explores the memory of France’s Wars of Religion in urban histories published during the century and a half that followed the restoration of peace with the Edict of Nantes in 1598. It asks why, despite explicit prohibitions against reviving memories of injuries suffered during the wars, local historians persisted in demonizing former opponents in histories that remained overtly confessional in their representation of the troubles. The article focuses on Catholic authors, who wrote fifty-six of the fifty-eight works examined. Protestants had little incentive to memorialize the towns in which they had a limited and declining position. Catholics, by contrast, mobilized memory to reaffirm a local identity rooted in Catholic practice and belief. Retelling the suffering local populations endured and recounting the city’s ritual responses to the religious schism, they pushed Protestants to the margins of a civic culture represented as inherently Catholic even in a bi-confessional state.

Fall of the Peacemakers: Austria’s Protestant Nobility and the Advent of the Thirty Years’ War

This article examines the prelude to the Thirty Years’ War in Austria. It places the country’s estate system in an international context and evaluates the implications of the religious schism for the relationship between monarchs and nobles. Thwarted in their efforts to enforce confessional orthodoxy in the Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburgs were determined to retain control of their patrimonial lands. The analysis reveals the careful strategy of Catholic restoration pursued by the dynasty as well as the increasing radicalization of Protestant opposition, and the consequential futility of the last major attempt at defusing the confessional conflict in the Habsburg Monarchy. The fundamental differences between noble and dynastic ideologies of state made compromise all but impossible. Cet article analyse le prélude à la guerre de Trente Ans en Autriche. Il propose de situer la société d’ordres du pays dans son contexte international, et d’évaluer les conséquences du schisme religieux pour les relations entre les monarques et les nobles. Bien que leurs efforts pour imposer l’orthodoxie confessionnelle au sein du Saint Empire aient échoué, les Habsbourgs restaient déterminés à maintenir leur contrôle sur leurs territoires héréditaires. L’analyse révèle la prudence de la stratégie menée par la dynastie, visant à rétablir le catholicisme ; elle met également en lumière la radicalisation croissante de l’opposition protestante ; et elle démontre l’échec de cette ultime tentative majeure de désamorcer le conflit confessionnel au sein de des territoires des Habsbourgs. Ce sont les désaccords idéologiques fondamentaux, opposant une conception de l’État noble à une conception dynastique, qui ont rendu le compromis quasi impossible.

The Gordian Knot of Policy

In his exploration of kingship, Shakespeare exhibits a keen engagement with contemporary debates about the conflict between classical and Christian ethics and ‘statecraft’—the morally compromised behaviour employed by successful political actors in the fallen world. This chapter explores the expression of ideas of ‘policy’ or reason of state in post-Reformation Europe and their application by English writers to monarchical rule in a world rent by religious schism. Often associated with the influence of Machiavelli, Lipsius, and Botero, princely statecraft was most prominently invoked in negative senses by authors in the great polemical battles of the Reformation, where Protestant and Catholic accused each other of manipulating religion for wicked political ends. But the notion that the prudent prince might be required to compromise conventional ethical codes for the stability of state and commonwealth gained cautious acceptance amongst some apologists for strong monarchical rule in early modern England.