Sin and Salvation in Reformation England
- ISBN-10
- 1317054946
- ISBN-13
- 9781317054948
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 302
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2016-03-03
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Author
- Jonathan Willis
Description
Notions of which behaviours comprised sin, and what actions might lead to salvation, sat at the heart of Christian belief and practice in early modern England, but both of these vitally important concepts were fundamentally reconfigured by the reformation. Remarkably little work has been undertaken exploring the ways in which these essential ideas were transformed by the religious changes of the sixteenth-century. In the field of reformation studies, revisionist scholarship has underlined the vitality of late-medieval English Christianity and the degree to which people remained committed to the practices of the Catholic Church up to the eve of the reformation, including those dealing with the mortification of sin and the promise of salvation. Such popular commitment to late-medieval lay piety has in turn raised questions about how the reformation itself was able to take root. Whilst post-revisionist scholars have explored a wide range of religious beliefs and practices - such as death, providence, angels, and music - there has been a surprising lack of engagement with the two central religious preoccupations of the vast majority of people. To address this omission, this collection focusses upon the history and theology of sin and salvation in reformation and post-reformation England. Exploring their complex social and cultural constructions, it underlines how sin and salvation were not only great religious constants, but also constantly evolving in order to survive in the rapidly transforming religious landscape of the reformation. Drawing upon a range of disciplinary perspectives - historical, theological, literary, and material/art-historical - to both reveal and explain the complexity of the concepts of sin and salvation, the volume further illuminates a subject central to the nature and success of the Reformation itself. Divided into four sections, Part I explores reformers’ attempts to define and re-define the theological concepts of sin and salvation, while Part II looks at some of the ways in which sin and salvation were contested: through confessional conflict, polemic, poetry and martyrology. Part III focuses on the practical attempts of English divines to reform sin with respect to key religious practices, while Part IV explores the significance of sin and salvation in the lived experience of both clergy and laity. Evenly balancing contributions by established academics in the field with cutting-edge contributions from junior researchers, this collection breaks new ground, in what one historian of the period has referred to as the ‘social history of theology’.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
The Reformation of the Decalogue: Religious Identity and the Ten Commandments in England, c.1485–1625
By Jonathan WillisLatimer explained, 'God should possess our whole hearts, and we should most studiously walk, every man in his vocation, according to the word of God, according to his commandments; obeying our king, and succouring the poor and needy, ...
-
Being Protestant in Reformation Britain
By Alec RyrieA. W. Pollard (1906) Ward, Samuel, A Coal from the Altar, to Kindle the holy fire of Zeale (1615: RSTC 25039) Wariston, Archibald Johnston of, Diary of Sir Archibald Johnston of Wariston, 1632–1639, ed. George Morison Paul (Scottish ...
-
Defending the Faith: John Jewel and the Elizabethan Church
By Angela Ranson, André A. Gazal, Sarah BastowThis volume brings together a diverse group of Reformation scholars to examine the life, work, and enduring significance of John Jewel, bishop of Salisbury from 1560 to 1571.
-
Memory and the English Reformation
By Brian Cummings, Alexandra Walsham, Ceri LawThis volume shows how religious memory was sometimes attacked and extinguished, while at other times rehabilitated in a modified guise.
-
The Reformation: A Very Short Introduction
By Peter MarshallABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly.
-
The Reformations in Britain, 1520–1603
By Anna FrenchWillis, Jonathan, Church Music and Protestantism in Post-Reformation England, Ashgate, 2010. 172. Willis, Jonathan, “Introduction: Sin and Salvation in Reformation England”, in Willis, Jonathan (ed.), Sin and Salvation in Reformation ...
-
Documents of the English Reformation
By Gerald BrayGerald Bray’s comprehensive collection covers the period from 1526 to 1700. The book contains many texts previously relatively inaccessible, along with others more widely known.
-
People and piety: Protestant devotional identities in early modern England
By Elizabeth Clarke, Robert W. DanielSin and Salvation in Reformation England (London: Taylor and Francis, 2016), pp. 223–44; Tara Hamling and Catherine Richardson, A Day at Home in Early Modern England: Material Culture and Domestic Life, 1500–1700 (New Haven, ...
-
Themes of Polemical Theology Across Early Modern Literary Genres
By Lucy R. Nicholas, Svorad Zavarsky, Andrea RiedlThis innovative volume spans the early modern period and ranges across literary genres, confessional divides and European borders.
-
Luther's English Connection: The Reformation Thought of Robert Barnes and William Tyndale
By James Edward McGoldrickLuther's English Connection: The Reformation Thought of Robert Barnes and William Tyndale