Seeing the Church in danger from the government in 1833, the clergyman John Henry Newman wanted to 'look to the people' for help. The people of God were vital to the Tractarian (or Oxford) Movement which Newman, John Keble, and Edward Pusey led, and which hundreds of thousands of Anglican laypeople followed during the nineteenth century. The faithful were central to the movement's theological vision. Spiritually disciplined, the faithful would ensure that the Church's work in the world was...

This book blends historical, theological, and philosophical inquiries into what “modernity” means with the aim of showing how Newman can analyze, critique, and explain fruitful ways forward within a diverse range of subjects. First, it surveys historical and theological topics such as how Newman understood “modernity,” the sensus fidelium, the role of doubt and modern views of reason; Newman’s university ideal; and a return to the saint for much-needed anthropological insights. Second, the...

John Henry Newman (1801-1890) has always inspired devotion. Newman has made disciples as leader of the Catholic revival in the Church of England, an inspiration to fellow converts to Roman Catholicism, a nationally admired preacher and prose-writer, and an internationally recognized saint of the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, he has also provoked criticism. The church authorities, both Anglican and Catholic, were often troubled by his words and deeds, and scholars have disputed his argumen...

"The rise and fall of transatlantic puritanism is told through political, theological, and personal conflict in this exceptional history." ( Publishers Weekly, starred review)Begun in the mid-sixteenth century by Protestant nonconformists keen to reform England's church and society while saving their own souls, the puritan movement was a major catalyst in the great cultural changes that transformed the early modern world. Providing a uniquely broad transatl...

The English reformers of the 1530s, with Thomas Cromwell at their head, continued to have a strong belief in kingly rule and authority, in contrast to their radical approach to the power of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. Resisting the king was tantamount to resisting God in their eyes, and even on a matter of conscience the will of the king should prevail. Yet just over 100 years later, Charles I was called the 'man of blood', and Oliver Cromwell famously declared...

What is Anglicanism? How is it different from other forms of Christianity, and how did it come to have so many different versions throughout the world? Although originally united by location and a common belief, Anglicanism has gradually lost its pre-eminence as the English state church due to increasing pluralisation and secularisation. While there are distinctive themes and emphases which emerge from its early history and theology, there is little sense of unity in Anglicanism today. In ...

A sumptuously written people’s history and a major retelling and reinterpretation of the story of the English ReformationCenturies on, what the Reformation was and what it accomplished remain deeply contentious. Peter Marshall’s sweeping new history—the first major overview for general readers in a generation—argues that sixteenth-century England was a society neither desperate for nor allergic to change, but one open to ideas of “reform” in various competing guise...

The late seventeenth century was a period of extraordinary turbulence and political violence in Britain, the like of which has never been seen since. Beginning with the Restoration of the monarchy after the Civil War, this book traces the fate of the monarchy from Charles II's triumphant accession in 1660 to the growing discontent of the 1680s. Harris looks beyond the popular image of Restoration England revelling in its freedom from the austerity of Puritan rule under a merry monarch and ...

The story of Catholicism in Britain from the Reformation to the present day, from a master of popular history – 'A first-class storyteller' The TimesThroughout the three hundred years that followed the Act of Supremacy – which, by making Henry VIII head of the Church, confirmed in law the breach with Rome – English Catholics were prosecuted, persecuted and penalised for the public expression of their faith. Even after the passing of the emancipation acts C...

'A masterly, vivid and original sketch, not just of the history but of the culture (or cultures) of the Church of England across nearly five centuries.' Rowan Williams, poet and former Archbishop of CanterburyIt is hard to comprehend the last 500 years of England's history without understanding the Church of England. From its roots in Catholicism through to the present day, this is the extraordinary history of a familiar but much-misunderstood institution.T...

This book seeks to explain the ways in which Anglicans have sought to practise theology in their various contexts. It is a clear, insightful, and reliable guide which avoids technical jargon and roots its discussions in concrete examples. The book is primarily a work of historical theology, which engages deeply with key texts and writers from across the tradition (e.g. Cranmer, Jewel, Hooker, Taylor, Butler, Simeon, Pusey, Huntington, Temple, Ramsey, and many others). As well as being suit...