Reformed Identity and Conformity in England, 1559-1714

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This volume is the first collection of essays to focus specifically on how Reformed theology and ecclesiology related to conformity to the Church of England, one of the most consequential issues in the period between the Elizabethan Settlement of 1559 and the Hanoverian Succession in 1714. Stimulated by recent scholarship on England's 'long Reformation', this volume provides fresh perspectives on the multifaceted legacy of Reformed Protestantism to the Elizabethan and Stuart Churches, showing how competing notions of Reformed identity often dictated the terms of ecclesiastical and political debate, particularly concerning the boundaries of conformity. The book enriches scholarly understandings of how Reformed identity was understood in the Tudor and Stuart periods, and how it influenced both clerical and lay attitudes towards the English Church's government, liturgy, and doctrine. In order to reflect how established religion pervaded all aspects of civic life and was sharply contested within both ecclesiastical and political spheres, contributors focus variously on the ecclesio-political, liturgical, and doctrinal aspects of conformity. Chapters traverse issues of conformity to the Tudor and Stuart Church and show how intrinsically they reflected contesting notions of Reformed identity conceived within a broader European Reformed milieu, but marked by a distinctly English character due to the idiosyncrasies of the Church of England.