English Reformationc.1530-1660

How to Interpret English Reformation

• Major Historical Questions1.Reformation(s)—fast or slow?2.Force of change—from above or

below?

Pre-Reformation English Church

•Isolated from Rome•Sacramental society with emphasis on penance and Eucharist•Call for reform of personnel and institutions (not theology)•Heresy put down

PEOPLE GENERALLY CONTENT WITH RELIGIOUS PRACTICE

Beginning of Change: Henry VIII (r.1509-1547)

Defender of the Faith•Protestant ideas Break with Rome (1533)•Succession crisis•Help from reformersUnification Church of Crown•Act of Supremacy = monarch is supreme head of English Church•Crown controls church administration and defines doctrine•HINT: This is significant

Changes to religious beliefs and practice?

• Pope = foreign power & Catholicism threat

• Dissolution of monasteries

• Vernacular Bible• Doctrinal conservatism:Clerical celibacyTransubstantiation

Reformation Enacted: Edward VI (r.1547-53)

•Continued succession crisis because of youth and poor health•Surrounded by influential Protestants1.John Knox2.Thomas Cranmer, AB of Canterbury3.Martin Bucer & Peter Martyr Vermigli•Reformation arrives in local parishes and laypersons start to experience changes •HINT: This is significant

Changes of Doctrine and Practice

BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER (BCP)•1549—bridged gap between Catholic practice and Protestant theology•1552—more ProtestantDOCTRINE:•Justification by faith•Supremacy of Scripture•Two sacraments•Denies transubstantiation•Denounce radical AnabaptismPRACTICE:•Role of priests modified•Vernacular services•Images and alters removed

Tradition Restored: Mary I (1553-1558)•Catholicism restored•Why did ruling elite want her?•Marian Exiles•Persecution—”Bloody Mary”Changes:•Papal sovereignty•Retraining priests•Church property?

What is significance?

Moderation: Elizabeth (1558-1603)

Big Question: What did it mean to be Christian and English?

•Repeals Mary’s legislation•Excommunication 1570•Marian exiles return and demand changes—Calvinists in Geneva stripped worship and replaced episcopacy with presbyters/elders

Elizabethan Settlement•Moderation--Recognizes two religious confession exists in realm•Conformity--Act of Supremacy & Act of Uniformity•Controversial traditions 1.Clerical vestments2.Kneeling at Communion3.Making sign at baptism4.Bowing at name of Jesus5.Wedding ring in marriage ceremony6.Ringing church bells

Catholics and Puritans

Catholics• Modification of ritual• Jesuit MissionariesPuritans• Presbyterianism = synod run by clergy & laymen• Main Conflicts1. Emphasized preaching—prophesyings2. Extremely anti-Catholic3. Disapproved ‘superstitious’ rituals4. Placed predestination at center of theology5. Sabbatarianism = Strict observance of Lord’s Day (Sunday)

Cracks Appear: James I (1603-25)

•Clear legitimate heir—but Scot•Only unites Crowns—so three confessions•Millenary Petition (1603) & Hampton Court Conference (1604)•Dissatisfaction with strict predestination•Arminianism: Christ died for all—free will to resist/accept God’s grace•Gunpowder Plot (1605)—rampant paranoia•Book of Sports (1618)

Return of Catholicism?: Charles I (1625-42)

Unpopular Politics and Religion•Absolutist ruler•King = God’s representative and people should follow commands unless they directly contradict Scripture•French Catholic wife•Catholicism ‘permissible’ •Book of Sports (1630s)

Archbishop Laud, AB of Canterbury

•Laudian Reforms = Return to true church?•Arminian theology•Beauty of Holiness•Uniformity of practice•Dismissed noncorformists•Suppressed Puritan lectureships•Prevent gentry from appointing private chaplainsCI’s ‘tyranny’ + Laudian reforms = gentry and Puritans unite because body of xns hold power as representative body

Christian Freedom?: Civil War & Commonwealth (1642-59)

Anything Goes (Toleration): •Presbyterians = national church controlled by gentry & synods•Independents (including Baptists) = gather voluntarily in autonomous congregations•Quakers Handful 1653 & 40,000 by 1660Reject established churchKnowledge from divine inspirationAnyone can preach

HELP!!!!: Restoration of Charles II (1660)

•Too much freedom of religion •1662 Act of Uniformity•No toleration for nonconformists•Catholics still despised