Moderate Radical

Tobie Matthew began Elizabeth I's reign as a religious radical, but by the time civil war broke out, he was responsible for running the Church of England. This biography examines conforming Puritanism, a powerful force in the early modern Church, and helps to explain the tensions and divisions of the reign of Charles I.

Moderate Radical explores an exciting period of English, and British, history: Elizabethan and Early Stuart religious politics. Tobie Matthew (c. 1544-1628) started Elizabeth's reign as a religious radical, yet ended up running the English Church during the tumultuous years leading up to the British Civil Wars. Moderate Radical provides a new perspective on this period, and an insight into the power of conforming puritanism as a political and cultural force. Matthew's vision of conformity and godly magistracy brought many puritans into the Church, but also furnished them with a justification for rebellion when the puritanism was seriously threatened. Through exciting new sources - Matthew's annotations of his extensive library and newly discovered sermons - Rosamund Oates explores the guiding principles of puritanism in the period and explains why the godly promoted the national church, even when it seemed corrupt. She demonstrates how Matthew protected puritans, but his protection meant that there was a rich seam of dissent at the heart of the Church that emerged when the godly found themselves under attack in the 1620s and 1630s.

This is a story about accommodations, conformity and government, as well as a biography of a leading figure in the Church, who struggled to come to terms with his own son's Catholicism and the disappointments of his family. Moderate Radical makes an important contribution to the emerging field of sermon studies, exploring the rich cultures derived from sermons as well as re-creating some of the drama of Matthew's preaching. It offers a new insight into tensions of the pre-Civil War Church.

An important book which greatly enhances our understanding of the pastoral and theological priorities of a key figure in the Elizabethan and Jacobean Church.

Auteur
Rosamund Oates is a specialist in early modern religious cultures, with particular interest in reading practices and preaching. She has published on puritanism and the monarchical republic, sacred history, and preaching habits. Based at Manchester Metropolitan University, Rosamund Oates co-ordinates the network and blog 'Communities of Print', which explores the shared use of books in medieval and early modern libraries. Her next project is on signed languages for the deaf and preaching in early modern England.

Texte du rabat

Tobie Matthew began Elizabeth I's reign as a religious radical, but by the time civil war broke out, he was responsible for running the Church of England. This biography examines conforming Puritanism, a powerful force in the early modern Church, and helps to explain the tensions and divisions of the reign of Charles I.

Résumé
Moderate Radical explores an exciting period of English, and British, history: Elizabethan and Early Stuart religious politics. Tobie Matthew (c. 1544-1628) started Elizabeth's reign as a religious radical, yet ended up running the English Church during the tumultuous years leading up to the British Civil Wars. Moderate Radical provides a new perspective on this period, and an insight into the power of conforming puritanism as a political and cultural force. Matthew's vision of conformity and godly magistracy brought many puritans into the Church, but also furnished them with a justification for rebellion when the puritanism was seriously threatened. Through exciting new sources - Matthew's annotations of his extensive library and newly discovered sermons - Rosamund Oates explores the guiding principles of puritanism in the period and explains why the godly promoted the national church, even when it seemed corrupt. She demonstrates how Matthew protected puritans, but his protection meant that there was a rich seam of dissent at the heart of the Church that emerged when the godly found themselves under attack in the 1620s and 1630s. This is a story about accommodations, conformity and government, as well as a biography of a leading figure in the Church, who struggled to come to terms with his own son's Catholicism and the disappointments of his family. Moderate Radical makes an important contribution to the emerging field of sermon studies, exploring the rich cultures derived from sermons as well as re-creating some of the drama of Matthew's preaching. It offers a new insight into tensions of the pre-Civil War Church.

Contenu

• Introduction

• Part I: The Creation of Puritanism: 1558-1580

• 1: 'The Laughter of Satan': The emergence of Puritanism in the 1560s

• 2: Rebellion and resistance: Puritanism and the Established Church

• Part II: 'Dark Corners of the Land': Tobie Matthew in Durham 1583-1606

• 3: 'The Art of Hearing': Sermons in Puritan Culture

• 4: 'A Hot-arsed Queene': The Puritan community in the North

• 5: Spies, Secrets and Papistry: Matthew and the International Border'

• 6: Selling the Jacobean Regime: Tobie Matthew and Anglo-Scottish Union

• Part III: Reading the Reformation

• 7: Tobie Matthew: Book Collector and Patron

• 8: A Reader in His Library: A Solitary Experience?

• Part IV: A Puritan Prelate? Archbishop Matthew and Stuart Church

• 9: 'A countenancer of Ministers': Tobie Matthew and Godly Episcopacy

• 10: 'Old Doting Bishop': Tobie Matthew in York 1616-1628

• Conclusion

• Bibliography