Susan Karant-Nunn
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195399738
- eISBN:
- 9780199777198
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195399738.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Religion and Society
The Reformation of Feeling looks beyond and beneath the formal doctrinal and moral demands of the Reformation in Germany in order to examine the emotional tenor of the programs that the ...
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The Reformation of Feeling looks beyond and beneath the formal doctrinal and moral demands of the Reformation in Germany in order to examine the emotional tenor of the programs that the emerging creeds—revised Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism/Reformed theology—developed for their members. As revealed by the surviving sermons from this period, preaching clergy of each faith both explicitly and implicitly provided their listeners with distinct models of a mood to be cultivated. To encourage their parishioners to make an emotional investment in their faith, all three drew upon rhetorical elements that were already present in late medieval Catholicism and elevated them into confessional touchstones. Looking at archival materials containing direct references to feeling, this book focuses on treatments of death and sermons on the Passion. It amplifies these sources with considerations of the decorative, liturgical, musical, and disciplinary changes that ecclesiastical leaders introduced during the period from the late fifteenth to the end of the sventeenth century. Within individual sermons, it also examines topical elements—including Jews at the crucifixion, the Virgin Mary's voluminous weeping below the Cross, and struggles against competing denominations—which were intended to arouse particular kinds of sentiment. Finally, it discusses surviving testimony from the laity in order to assess at least some Christians' reception of these lessons on proper devotional feeling. This book presents a cultural rather than theological or behavioral study of the broader movement to remake Christianity. As it demonstrates, in the eyes of the Reformation's formative personalities, strict adherence to doctrine and upright demeanor did not constitute an adequate piety. The truly devout had to engage their hearts in their faith.Less
The Reformation of Feeling looks beyond and beneath the formal doctrinal and moral demands of the Reformation in Germany in order to examine the emotional tenor of the programs that the emerging creeds—revised Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism/Reformed theology—developed for their members. As revealed by the surviving sermons from this period, preaching clergy of each faith both explicitly and implicitly provided their listeners with distinct models of a mood to be cultivated. To encourage their parishioners to make an emotional investment in their faith, all three drew upon rhetorical elements that were already present in late medieval Catholicism and elevated them into confessional touchstones. Looking at archival materials containing direct references to feeling, this book focuses on treatments of death and sermons on the Passion. It amplifies these sources with considerations of the decorative, liturgical, musical, and disciplinary changes that ecclesiastical leaders introduced during the period from the late fifteenth to the end of the sventeenth century. Within individual sermons, it also examines topical elements—including Jews at the crucifixion, the Virgin Mary's voluminous weeping below the Cross, and struggles against competing denominations—which were intended to arouse particular kinds of sentiment. Finally, it discusses surviving testimony from the laity in order to assess at least some Christians' reception of these lessons on proper devotional feeling. This book presents a cultural rather than theological or behavioral study of the broader movement to remake Christianity. As it demonstrates, in the eyes of the Reformation's formative personalities, strict adherence to doctrine and upright demeanor did not constitute an adequate piety. The truly devout had to engage their hearts in their faith.
Jerome P. Baggett
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195326956
- eISBN:
- 9780199870301
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326956.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter addresses the topic of the religious self. It considers various “conversational shards” indicative of Catholics' negotiation with their tradition on the basis of what feels authentic to ...
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This chapter addresses the topic of the religious self. It considers various “conversational shards” indicative of Catholics' negotiation with their tradition on the basis of what feels authentic to them. These include their perceptions about their faith and their negotiation with the Catholic tradition by blunting its doctrinal edges.Less
This chapter addresses the topic of the religious self. It considers various “conversational shards” indicative of Catholics' negotiation with their tradition on the basis of what feels authentic to them. These include their perceptions about their faith and their negotiation with the Catholic tradition by blunting its doctrinal edges.
Jerome P. Baggett
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195326956
- eISBN:
- 9780199870301
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326956.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter considers parishioners' awareness of the various institutional dilemmas that encumber their church, as well as the ways in which these influence their perceptions of themselves as ...
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This chapter considers parishioners' awareness of the various institutional dilemmas that encumber their church, as well as the ways in which these influence their perceptions of themselves as members of the broader institution. It argues that parishioners tend to be quite critical and self-conscious in their use of Catholic symbols when thinking about themselves as both individuals and members of a hierarchical institution.Less
This chapter considers parishioners' awareness of the various institutional dilemmas that encumber their church, as well as the ways in which these influence their perceptions of themselves as members of the broader institution. It argues that parishioners tend to be quite critical and self-conscious in their use of Catholic symbols when thinking about themselves as both individuals and members of a hierarchical institution.
Jerome P. Baggett
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195326956
- eISBN:
- 9780199870301
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326956.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter shows that Catholics' personally tailored projects of identity construction are both highly localized and communal in nature. They also complicate one of the most broadly accepted master ...
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This chapter shows that Catholics' personally tailored projects of identity construction are both highly localized and communal in nature. They also complicate one of the most broadly accepted master narratives of contemporary social analysis: the inexorable decline of community that it is presumed accompanies the transformation from traditional to individualistic, modern societies.Less
This chapter shows that Catholics' personally tailored projects of identity construction are both highly localized and communal in nature. They also complicate one of the most broadly accepted master narratives of contemporary social analysis: the inexorable decline of community that it is presumed accompanies the transformation from traditional to individualistic, modern societies.
Jerome P. Baggett
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195326956
- eISBN:
- 9780199870301
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326956.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter shows that parishioners are unaware of the ways their parish cultures often delimit the role the church's social justice teachings might otherwise play in influencing Catholics' sense of ...
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This chapter shows that parishioners are unaware of the ways their parish cultures often delimit the role the church's social justice teachings might otherwise play in influencing Catholics' sense of obligation and contributions to civil society.Less
This chapter shows that parishioners are unaware of the ways their parish cultures often delimit the role the church's social justice teachings might otherwise play in influencing Catholics' sense of obligation and contributions to civil society.
Eric Plumer
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199244393
- eISBN:
- 9780191601194
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199244391.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Although a first reading of Augustine's Commentary suggests that his purpose was simply to expound the meaning of the Letter to the Galatians line by line in a clear and concise manner, closer ...
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Although a first reading of Augustine's Commentary suggests that his purpose was simply to expound the meaning of the Letter to the Galatians line by line in a clear and concise manner, closer reading uncovers implicit polemic against Manicheism, Donatism, Arianism, and paganism. Nevertheless, Augustine's Commentary is not essentially polemical, but pastoral. Comparison with his monastic Rule demonstrates that the Commentary was written for Augustine's monastic community as its primary audience and that Augustine's immediate concern was to discover ways in which Paul's directives for Christian living could be implemented within that community. Success within the monastic community would enable Augustine as parish priest to implement Paul's directives within the wider community of his parishioners at Hippo and beyond.Less
Although a first reading of Augustine's Commentary suggests that his purpose was simply to expound the meaning of the Letter to the Galatians line by line in a clear and concise manner, closer reading uncovers implicit polemic against Manicheism, Donatism, Arianism, and paganism. Nevertheless, Augustine's Commentary is not essentially polemical, but pastoral. Comparison with his monastic Rule demonstrates that the Commentary was written for Augustine's monastic community as its primary audience and that Augustine's immediate concern was to discover ways in which Paul's directives for Christian living could be implemented within that community. Success within the monastic community would enable Augustine as parish priest to implement Paul's directives within the wider community of his parishioners at Hippo and beyond.
Karin E. Gedge
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195130201
- eISBN:
- 9780199835157
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195130200.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The perception of a “peculiar” alliance between nineteenth-century Protestant clergy and their female parishioners emerges from contemporary sources such as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet ...
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The perception of a “peculiar” alliance between nineteenth-century Protestant clergy and their female parishioners emerges from contemporary sources such as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter (1850) and the widely publicized adultery trial of Henry Ward Beecher (1875), and the influential monograph The Feminization of American Culture (1977) by Ann Douglas. By examining a wider variety of primary sources from mostly ordinary northern, white, Protestants, Gedge analyzes the similarities and differences between perceived, imagined, idealized, and experienced pastoral relationships, and identifies the cultural, spiritual, and psychological tensions they reveal. She outlines the argument that women were without benefit of clergy in the pastoral relationship. Though viewed as natural allies in their mission as moral guardians of the new republic, women and clergy were estranged by the same ideology that prescribed their alliance.Less
The perception of a “peculiar” alliance between nineteenth-century Protestant clergy and their female parishioners emerges from contemporary sources such as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter (1850) and the widely publicized adultery trial of Henry Ward Beecher (1875), and the influential monograph The Feminization of American Culture (1977) by Ann Douglas. By examining a wider variety of primary sources from mostly ordinary northern, white, Protestants, Gedge analyzes the similarities and differences between perceived, imagined, idealized, and experienced pastoral relationships, and identifies the cultural, spiritual, and psychological tensions they reveal. She outlines the argument that women were without benefit of clergy in the pastoral relationship. Though viewed as natural allies in their mission as moral guardians of the new republic, women and clergy were estranged by the same ideology that prescribed their alliance.
Patricia Snell
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337112
- eISBN:
- 9780199868414
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337112.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter describes a survey of Christian pastors and church members about money and stewardship in order to understand the thoughts, feelings, experiences, and meanings of American Christians ...
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This chapter describes a survey of Christian pastors and church members about money and stewardship in order to understand the thoughts, feelings, experiences, and meanings of American Christians that might affect their financial giving behaviors. In-depth, face to face interviews were conducted with twenty-six Christian church pastors and fifty-one church parishioners in Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and California. The interview respondents came from many Christian denominations representing different kinds of conservative Protestant, mainline Protestant, black Protestant, and Catholic churches. The interviews revealed that the issue of financial giving is one that seems to matter to American Christians, yet about which they are not clear and settled but rather uneasy if not uncomfortable. Many American Christians are less than fully contented with the practice and amount of their voluntary financial giving, but most seem content to live with whatever underlying guilt, confusion, or uncertainty they feel about it. Many American Christian pastors also struggle with varying degrees of discomfort and frustration over the issue of giving in their churches.Less
This chapter describes a survey of Christian pastors and church members about money and stewardship in order to understand the thoughts, feelings, experiences, and meanings of American Christians that might affect their financial giving behaviors. In-depth, face to face interviews were conducted with twenty-six Christian church pastors and fifty-one church parishioners in Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and California. The interview respondents came from many Christian denominations representing different kinds of conservative Protestant, mainline Protestant, black Protestant, and Catholic churches. The interviews revealed that the issue of financial giving is one that seems to matter to American Christians, yet about which they are not clear and settled but rather uneasy if not uncomfortable. Many American Christians are less than fully contented with the practice and amount of their voluntary financial giving, but most seem content to live with whatever underlying guilt, confusion, or uncertainty they feel about it. Many American Christian pastors also struggle with varying degrees of discomfort and frustration over the issue of giving in their churches.
Christian Smith, Michael O. Emerson, and Patricia Snell
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337112
- eISBN:
- 9780199868414
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337112.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines the results of a focused mental experiment wherein a nationally representative sample of American Christians was asked to ponder their response to the idea of their churches ...
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This chapter examines the results of a focused mental experiment wherein a nationally representative sample of American Christians was asked to ponder their response to the idea of their churches raising expectations on the financial giving of Christians. The idea in doing this is that having ordinary Christians all over the United States run this mental experiment in their heads will provide yet another angle on understanding how Christians think and feel about the issue of religious and charitable financial giving. The results showed that American Christians are ready and waiting to give ten percent of their after-tax income if only their churches were to ask them firmly to do so; earning higher incomes does not make American Christians more generous with their money; and racial differences among American Christians influence the matter of raising expectations of financial giving.Less
This chapter examines the results of a focused mental experiment wherein a nationally representative sample of American Christians was asked to ponder their response to the idea of their churches raising expectations on the financial giving of Christians. The idea in doing this is that having ordinary Christians all over the United States run this mental experiment in their heads will provide yet another angle on understanding how Christians think and feel about the issue of religious and charitable financial giving. The results showed that American Christians are ready and waiting to give ten percent of their after-tax income if only their churches were to ask them firmly to do so; earning higher incomes does not make American Christians more generous with their money; and racial differences among American Christians influence the matter of raising expectations of financial giving.
CHRISTOPHER HAIGH
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199216505
- eISBN:
- 9780191711947
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216505.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Social History, History of Ideas
This chapter focuses on how parishioners viewed the clergy's responsibilities. It describes the particular characteristics that parishioners commended. Parishioners had strong ideas of what a ...
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This chapter focuses on how parishioners viewed the clergy's responsibilities. It describes the particular characteristics that parishioners commended. Parishioners had strong ideas of what a minister of the Word should be like — what was fit, and what was not. They also expected dignified behaviour from their minister, and objected to drunkenness and sexual laxity.Less
This chapter focuses on how parishioners viewed the clergy's responsibilities. It describes the particular characteristics that parishioners commended. Parishioners had strong ideas of what a minister of the Word should be like — what was fit, and what was not. They also expected dignified behaviour from their minister, and objected to drunkenness and sexual laxity.
CHRISTOPHER HAIGH
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199216505
- eISBN:
- 9780191711947
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216505.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Social History, History of Ideas
This chapter explores parishioners' attitudes to church authority. Good fellowship among the less-godly was bestial sin to the godly, and the ceremony of ‘good and faithful drunkards’ became ...
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This chapter explores parishioners' attitudes to church authority. Good fellowship among the less-godly was bestial sin to the godly, and the ceremony of ‘good and faithful drunkards’ became notorious, featuring in Samuel Ward's 1622 sermon ‘Woe to Drunkards’ — where Ward claimed that the participants all ‘died thereof within a few weeks, some sooner, some later’. But men and women could not be kept out of the alehouse — even when they should have been at church. When in 1571 Thomas Harmer of Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, was rebuked by the minister for playing cards in the alehouse in service time, he gave him an earful of abuse and called him ‘knave’. John Gay of Childerditch, Essex, was presented in 1584 for keeping evil rule in his house on a Sunday, ‘in so much that the minister could not say service for the great noise of the people’.Less
This chapter explores parishioners' attitudes to church authority. Good fellowship among the less-godly was bestial sin to the godly, and the ceremony of ‘good and faithful drunkards’ became notorious, featuring in Samuel Ward's 1622 sermon ‘Woe to Drunkards’ — where Ward claimed that the participants all ‘died thereof within a few weeks, some sooner, some later’. But men and women could not be kept out of the alehouse — even when they should have been at church. When in 1571 Thomas Harmer of Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, was rebuked by the minister for playing cards in the alehouse in service time, he gave him an earful of abuse and called him ‘knave’. John Gay of Childerditch, Essex, was presented in 1584 for keeping evil rule in his house on a Sunday, ‘in so much that the minister could not say service for the great noise of the people’.
CHRISTOPHER HAIGH
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199216505
- eISBN:
- 9780191711947
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216505.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Social History, History of Ideas
This chapter focuses on parishioners' mocking of the clergy. It shows that making fun of the ministry was easy — and a good laugh. Any of the functions of the clergy could be mocked, including their ...
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This chapter focuses on parishioners' mocking of the clergy. It shows that making fun of the ministry was easy — and a good laugh. Any of the functions of the clergy could be mocked, including their claims to authority, learning, rectitude, and status.Less
This chapter focuses on parishioners' mocking of the clergy. It shows that making fun of the ministry was easy — and a good laugh. Any of the functions of the clergy could be mocked, including their claims to authority, learning, rectitude, and status.
Andrew D. Brown
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205210
- eISBN:
- 9780191676550
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205210.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, History of Religion
In 1484, the day before the feast of St. Edward, an eclipse of the sun was considered worthy of mention. Equally worthy were the deaths of important people within the parish, notably eleven members ...
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In 1484, the day before the feast of St. Edward, an eclipse of the sun was considered worthy of mention. Equally worthy were the deaths of important people within the parish, notably eleven members of the Hyde family. Names were noted down retrospectively, as far back as that of John Hyde, ‘armiger’, and they continued to be added until 1557, with William Hyde's name. Some of the entries noted that a dirige and mass were to be said for the deceased. This chapter focuses on the obligations that living parishioners owed the dead, indeed the whole range of services performed for souls in purgatory — burials, chantries, lights, and anniversaries. It examines how these obligations were accumulated and what impact they had on parish life in areas ranging from populous, wealthy cloth towns to smaller villages in chalkland regions.Less
In 1484, the day before the feast of St. Edward, an eclipse of the sun was considered worthy of mention. Equally worthy were the deaths of important people within the parish, notably eleven members of the Hyde family. Names were noted down retrospectively, as far back as that of John Hyde, ‘armiger’, and they continued to be added until 1557, with William Hyde's name. Some of the entries noted that a dirige and mass were to be said for the deceased. This chapter focuses on the obligations that living parishioners owed the dead, indeed the whole range of services performed for souls in purgatory — burials, chantries, lights, and anniversaries. It examines how these obligations were accumulated and what impact they had on parish life in areas ranging from populous, wealthy cloth towns to smaller villages in chalkland regions.
Andrew D. Brown
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205210
- eISBN:
- 9780191676550
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205210.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, History of Religion
Church-building unites two themes that are present in this book: the efforts of living parishioners and the communal commemoration of the dead. The vast number of churches that were rebuilt or ...
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Church-building unites two themes that are present in this book: the efforts of living parishioners and the communal commemoration of the dead. The vast number of churches that were rebuilt or remodelled in the later Middle Ages are today still the most visible expression of pre-Reformation religion, and provide evidence on which the eyes of modern historians could focus a little more often. Some 476 churches in the diocese are used in this survey. Of course, visual evidence can be limited; tables showing dates of church-building might almost invite a derisory curl of an archaeologist's lip. However, they may help to test some of the generalizations made concerning the relative importance of church-building during the later Middle Ages. The thirteenth century has been described as ‘the time of church-building’, but so has the fifteenth. This chapter looks first at when churches (and parts of them) were built, who built them, and why.Less
Church-building unites two themes that are present in this book: the efforts of living parishioners and the communal commemoration of the dead. The vast number of churches that were rebuilt or remodelled in the later Middle Ages are today still the most visible expression of pre-Reformation religion, and provide evidence on which the eyes of modern historians could focus a little more often. Some 476 churches in the diocese are used in this survey. Of course, visual evidence can be limited; tables showing dates of church-building might almost invite a derisory curl of an archaeologist's lip. However, they may help to test some of the generalizations made concerning the relative importance of church-building during the later Middle Ages. The thirteenth century has been described as ‘the time of church-building’, but so has the fifteenth. This chapter looks first at when churches (and parts of them) were built, who built them, and why.
Peter Marshall
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198204480
- eISBN:
- 9780191676307
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204480.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, History of Religion
The restoration of Catholic sacramental worship which accompanied Mary's accession brought with it a traditional presentation of the role and function of the priest. The Latin mass was restored ...
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The restoration of Catholic sacramental worship which accompanied Mary's accession brought with it a traditional presentation of the role and function of the priest. The Latin mass was restored including the mandatory auricular confession and the campaign against married priests. The author explains in this chapter that the evidence noted for the growing disrespect to the clergy in the later 1540s and early 1550s continued to be unabated into Mary's reign. This chapter clarifies that the tension that was always implicit in the relationship of priest and parishioner was exacerbated by the Reformation changes, as doubts and confusion as to the religious role of the priest and his reciprocal obligations to his parishioners followed upon liturgical, doctrinal, and devotional ‘reforms’, imposed by the authority of Church and State, and welcomed by a growing minority at the parish level. Also, anticlericalism should not be considered as result of Reformation.Less
The restoration of Catholic sacramental worship which accompanied Mary's accession brought with it a traditional presentation of the role and function of the priest. The Latin mass was restored including the mandatory auricular confession and the campaign against married priests. The author explains in this chapter that the evidence noted for the growing disrespect to the clergy in the later 1540s and early 1550s continued to be unabated into Mary's reign. This chapter clarifies that the tension that was always implicit in the relationship of priest and parishioner was exacerbated by the Reformation changes, as doubts and confusion as to the religious role of the priest and his reciprocal obligations to his parishioners followed upon liturgical, doctrinal, and devotional ‘reforms’, imposed by the authority of Church and State, and welcomed by a growing minority at the parish level. Also, anticlericalism should not be considered as result of Reformation.
David Cressy
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198201687
- eISBN:
- 9780191674983
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198201687.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Social History
This chapter examines the changes and challenges in the tradition of baptism in England during the period from 1642 to 1660. Even before the start of the war in August 1642, there were already ...
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This chapter examines the changes and challenges in the tradition of baptism in England during the period from 1642 to 1660. Even before the start of the war in August 1642, there were already increasing reports of desecrations, repudiation of Laudian practice, and of parishioners taking control of the liturgy. Traditional objections to Church of England ritual and radical rethinking of ecclesiastical organization and conduct combined together transformed and, in many cases, obliterated the customary form of baptism. This chapter investigates conservative and radical response to these disturbances and changes.Less
This chapter examines the changes and challenges in the tradition of baptism in England during the period from 1642 to 1660. Even before the start of the war in August 1642, there were already increasing reports of desecrations, repudiation of Laudian practice, and of parishioners taking control of the liturgy. Traditional objections to Church of England ritual and radical rethinking of ecclesiastical organization and conduct combined together transformed and, in many cases, obliterated the customary form of baptism. This chapter investigates conservative and radical response to these disturbances and changes.
Patrick Collinson
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198222989
- eISBN:
- 9780191678554
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198222989.003.0032
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, History of Religion
In early September of that year Thomas Barber, the suspended preacher of Bow and a leading London classis member, made a full and valuable deposition. In October, Snape's parishioners were asked to ...
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In early September of that year Thomas Barber, the suspended preacher of Bow and a leading London classis member, made a full and valuable deposition. In October, Snape's parishioners were asked to repeat that conversation in the great seat of St Peter's church which suggested that their pastor was expecting and preparing for a Presbyterian revolution, although none of them was able to confirm that Snape had used the crucial phase, all in one day. But it was not until October 13th and 30th respectively that the prize witnesses and the only really disloyal brethren, Thomas Edmunds and John Johnson, were examined. Crucial questions about the attitude of the puritans to the royal supremacy and the Church of England were bypassed, and none of the witnesses could be said to have established beyond question that the Book of Discipline had been put in practice.Less
In early September of that year Thomas Barber, the suspended preacher of Bow and a leading London classis member, made a full and valuable deposition. In October, Snape's parishioners were asked to repeat that conversation in the great seat of St Peter's church which suggested that their pastor was expecting and preparing for a Presbyterian revolution, although none of them was able to confirm that Snape had used the crucial phase, all in one day. But it was not until October 13th and 30th respectively that the prize witnesses and the only really disloyal brethren, Thomas Edmunds and John Johnson, were examined. Crucial questions about the attitude of the puritans to the royal supremacy and the Church of England were bypassed, and none of the witnesses could be said to have established beyond question that the Book of Discipline had been put in practice.
Peter Marshall
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198204480
- eISBN:
- 9780191676307
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204480.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, History of Religion
The theory and practice of auricular confession clearly defines the distinction between layman and priest. This chapter first illustrates the practice of auricular confession. In the performance of ...
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The theory and practice of auricular confession clearly defines the distinction between layman and priest. This chapter first illustrates the practice of auricular confession. In the performance of such practice, the author elucidates two aspects that are particularly stressed by the practice. It also explores whether some parishioners tend to choose a confessor to go to despite the identical sacramental powers that each possessed. The sacrament was designed not only to provide the individual sinner with access to the infinite mercy of God, but to facilitate his reconciliation to Christ's Body, the Church, and its members. Ideally, confession was a focus for unity and social harmony, however, there were circumstances in which the confessor could divide and stress the community entrusted to his care. In this chapter, the functions and dysfunctions of confession are presented.Less
The theory and practice of auricular confession clearly defines the distinction between layman and priest. This chapter first illustrates the practice of auricular confession. In the performance of such practice, the author elucidates two aspects that are particularly stressed by the practice. It also explores whether some parishioners tend to choose a confessor to go to despite the identical sacramental powers that each possessed. The sacrament was designed not only to provide the individual sinner with access to the infinite mercy of God, but to facilitate his reconciliation to Christ's Body, the Church, and its members. Ideally, confession was a focus for unity and social harmony, however, there were circumstances in which the confessor could divide and stress the community entrusted to his care. In this chapter, the functions and dysfunctions of confession are presented.
Peter Marshall
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198204480
- eISBN:
- 9780191676307
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204480.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, History of Religion
To those who had embraced the teachings of Luther and his successors, the paramount duty of the priest was the preaching of the Word of God and instructs the faithful in the faith. This chapter ...
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To those who had embraced the teachings of Luther and his successors, the paramount duty of the priest was the preaching of the Word of God and instructs the faithful in the faith. This chapter discusses the role of the priest as preacher and teacher of the Word of God. A historical account of the positive and negative acceptance of preaching is explored by the author. Further, the growing standards of lay literacy in the sixteenth century, coupled with the erosion of religious uniformity, encouraged a more questioning and critical attitude on the part of some parishioners and have led them to demand more from their priests in the way of a reasoned rationale of the Christian faith.Less
To those who had embraced the teachings of Luther and his successors, the paramount duty of the priest was the preaching of the Word of God and instructs the faithful in the faith. This chapter discusses the role of the priest as preacher and teacher of the Word of God. A historical account of the positive and negative acceptance of preaching is explored by the author. Further, the growing standards of lay literacy in the sixteenth century, coupled with the erosion of religious uniformity, encouraged a more questioning and critical attitude on the part of some parishioners and have led them to demand more from their priests in the way of a reasoned rationale of the Christian faith.
Antoinina Bevan Zlatar
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199604692
- eISBN:
- 9780191729430
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199604692.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter argues that George Gifford's Countrie diuinitie (1581) and I.B.'s much less well-known A dialogue between a vertuous gentleman and a popish priest (1581) form a polemical pair, and that ...
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This chapter argues that George Gifford's Countrie diuinitie (1581) and I.B.'s much less well-known A dialogue between a vertuous gentleman and a popish priest (1581) form a polemical pair, and that they are particularly instructive when read in tandem. The unreformed country parishioner personified in Gifford's ‘Atheos’ and the unreformed country parson personified in I.B.'s ‘Neverbegood’ give shape to perennial puritan concerns, namely that the English ministers are readers not preachers, and as a consequence, the English people are ‘atheists’, but ‘halfly reformed’. Whereas Gifford stages a failed conversion, I.B. has the gentleman parson ‘Neverbegood’ experience a complete change of heart via the agency of a gentleman wayfarer, opposing conversion narratives that convey powerful messages.Less
This chapter argues that George Gifford's Countrie diuinitie (1581) and I.B.'s much less well-known A dialogue between a vertuous gentleman and a popish priest (1581) form a polemical pair, and that they are particularly instructive when read in tandem. The unreformed country parishioner personified in Gifford's ‘Atheos’ and the unreformed country parson personified in I.B.'s ‘Neverbegood’ give shape to perennial puritan concerns, namely that the English ministers are readers not preachers, and as a consequence, the English people are ‘atheists’, but ‘halfly reformed’. Whereas Gifford stages a failed conversion, I.B. has the gentleman parson ‘Neverbegood’ experience a complete change of heart via the agency of a gentleman wayfarer, opposing conversion narratives that convey powerful messages.
