Creating Communities in Restoration England

Parish and Congregation in Oliver Heywood's Halifax
Erscheinungsjahr 2012
ISBN: 978-90-04-22929-7
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 164, 212 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 497 g

Reihe: Studies in the History of Christian Traditions

This book explores the nature of religious community at a time when, by some accounts, it was in its death throes. Many have argued that early modern communities suffered too much damage to survive, as cumulative assaults of the Reformation, the rise of Puritanism, and the denominational fragmentation of the Interregnum and Restoration destroyed parish unity forever. Without minimizing the significance of these events, this book argues for the resilience of religious community. By analyzing the religious networks of Oliver Heywood (1630-1702), a strategically-placed and well-documented Presbyterian minister, this work illustrates the flexibility of the communal ideal in the face of the challenges presented by the Long Reformation. Through Heywood’s eyes we watch the inhabitants of the northern parish of Halifax as they cross, and at times blur, the denominational boundaries that loom large both in the heated rhetoric of the time and in recent historiography.

Zielgruppe

Those interested in religious history, early modern England, social history, religious persecution or toleration, Reformation history.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Thomas, Samuel I

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1: Introduction: Religious Communities in Restoration England
“Community” and the Historians
“I’m Not Dead!”: Religious Community in Early Modern England
The Parish of Halifax: “In Short, It Is a Monster”
The Abridged Oliver Heywood
Heywood’s Notebooks

Part I: Anglicans and Dissenters in Restoration Halifax

2: Oliver Heywood and Coley Chapelry
Heywood’s Curacy
Ejection and Exile
Big Shoes to Fill: The Restoration Curates of Coley
Heywood as Preacher and Pastor

3: Persecution in Coley
Richard Hooke, Vicar and Bête Noir
Unofficial Persecution in Coley
Persecution and Accommodation
The Tory Reaction

4: Litigating Community in Revolutionary Halifax
Dramatis Personae
Supporting Players
Women, Servants, and Poor People, Oh My!
The Battle to Define the Parish

Part II: Creating a Dissenting Society

5: The Laity in Heywood’s Society
The Journey into Dissent
What Does a Dissenter Do?
Heywood’s Society in Conflict

6: Worlds Within Worlds: A Closer Look at Heywood’s Society
Young Men’s Meetings
The Core of Heywood’s Society
The Geography of Heywood’s Community

7: Old Age and Evangelism
A Preacher Looks at Sixty (and Sixty-Five, and Seventy…)
Old Age and Community
New Pastoral Strategies
Planting a Godly Seed
Coda

Bibliography

List of Figures

1: Oliver Heywood Frontispiece
2: The Parish of Halifax and Its Townships

List of Tables

1: Occupations of Corlas’s Supporters from Wills
2: Oliver Heywood’s Ministry

Über Autor(innen)

Thomas, Samuel I
Samuel S. Thomas, Ph.D. (2003) in History, Washington University in St. Louis, teaches history at University School outside Cleveland, Ohio. He has published scholarly articles and in 2013 will publish his first novel, The Midwife's Tale: A Mystery (Minotaur Press).