Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWith forensic elegance, Stephen Hampton's sharply-focused study not only enriches our understanding of the early Stuart Church of England, but also makes a major contribution to understanding of the Reformed Protestant tradition across Europe. * Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor Emeritus of the History of the Church, University of Oxford *
Grace and Conformity debunks lingering caricatures of conformity. Hampton stretches our view of the Church of England and the Reformed tradition. He realigns the configuration of ecclesiastical and theological developments in pre-Civil-War England. No longer can we assume that robust defenses of episcopacy and the Church of England's liturgy were mutually exclusive with Reformed soteriology. * Polly Ha, Associate Professor, Duke Divinity School *
This splendid book fills a yawning gap in current scholarship on religion in early Stuart England. It is the first sustained and theologically-informed investigation of the mainstream 'Calvinist conformist' (or 'Reformed conformist' as is preferred here) position – in theology, piety and ecclesiology * and is a triumph of original and penetrating scholarship. It is exemplary in the care, erudition, clarity and precision of its analysis and should be required reading for anyone working on the early Stuart church and on English Protestantism more broadly. The positions so skillfully delineated in this study should become a basic point of reference for all future historians who seek to understand and categorize the ideas of any early modern English divine.Anthony Milton, Professor of History, The University of Sheffield *
Table of ContentsAbbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction: The Reformed Conformist Style of Piety Chapter 1: The Act Lectures of John Prideaux Chapter 2: John Davenant and the English Appropriation of the Synod of Dort Chapter 3: Responses to Montagu Chapter 4: The Defence of Grace after the 1626 Proclamation Chapter 5: The Articulation of Justification by Faith Chapter 6: The Lord's Supper Chapter 7: Episcopacy Chapter 8: Disputed ceremonies and the liturgical year Conclusion Bibliography
