AKC 4 General – Spring Term 2008 – Power & Protest
04/02/08
AKC 4 – 04 FEBRUARY 2008
THE ‘BEAUTY OF HOLINESS’
DR DAVID CRANKSHAW, KING’S COLLEGE LONDON
Learning Outcomes
• An understanding of the confused character of the Elizabethan Church Settlement
• An understanding of the natures of the ‘puritan’ and ‘conformist’ traditions
• An understanding of the basic features of anti-Calvinism
• An understanding of the contentious character of the ‘Beauty of Holiness’ programme
Some Key Names
Jacobus Arminius
William Barrett
Richard Hooker
William Laud
Structure of Lecture
1. A Protestant Identity (to the 1590s)
a)
b)
c)
d)
Anti-Catholic
Reformed theology (Calvinist)
A religion of the Word: Bible
A religion of the Word: Preaching
e)
f)
g)
h)
Iconoclastic/iconophobic
Neo-clericalist tendencies
Nationalist
Internationalist (in Foxean sense of the scattered elect)
2. The Elizabethan Church Settlement, c.1559-1563: A Siamese or Double-Headed Orthodoxy
a)
b)
c)
d)
Opportunities and Constraints
The Act of Supremacy (1559)
The Act of Uniformity (1559)
The Book of Common Prayer [BCP] (1559)
e)
f)
g)
h)
The Ornaments Rubric in the 1559 BCP
The Royal Injunctions (1559)
The Latin Book of Common Prayer (1560)
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (1563)
3. ‘Puritanism’
4. Conformism and Ceremonialism
5. Calvinism and Anti-Calvinism
Do we believe because God has already chosen us (Calvinists)
or are we chosen in the light of our belief (Anti-Calvinists)?
6. The Laudian Programme for the ‘Beauty of Holiness’
7. Conclusion: Charles I and the Problem of Multiple Kingdoms
Select Glossary
Adiaphora
Altar
Arminian
Book of Common
Prayer [BCP]
The Greek word adiaphora means ‘things indifferent’: those issues that are not central to Protestant
dogma and in which therefore a variety of belief and practice is permissible.
In Catholic and Laudian churches, the table (usually set against the east wall of a church) where
Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was re-enacted and where bread and wine were transformed into
Christ’s body and blood (see Transubstantiation). Mainstream Protestants preferred the name ‘holy
table’ or ‘communion table’ and emphasized that the minister was recalling Christ’s sacrifice as
‘full, perfect and sufficient’ for God’s plan of salvation.
A follower of the Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609), who believed that Christ died for
all and that each person had an active part to play in achieving the saving grace made possible by His
redeeming sacrifice. More generally, a Protestant who insisted that divine sovereignty was
compatible with human free will. By extension, the term described the anti-Calvinist clergy in
seventeenth-century England.
The official service book of the Church of England, containing the daily offices of Morning and
Evening Prayer, the forms for the administration of the Sacraments etc. The first BCP was
authorized by the Act of Uniformity in 1549 (under Edward VI), but a more advanced Protestant
version was issued in 1552 (also under Edward VI). Its authorization was repealed during the
restoration of Catholicism under Mary I (reigned 1553-58). The 1552 BCP was reissued in 1559
AKC 4 General – Spring Term 2008 – Power & Protest
Calvinist
Chasuble
Cope
Dort, Synod of
Justification
Lambeth Articles
Laudian
Predestination
Pulpit
Puritans
Real Presence
Rood Screen
Surplice
Transubstantiation
04/02/08
(under Elizabeth I) in a slightly modified form: one of the most important modifications was the
Ornaments Rubric, which stated that the ornaments of the Church and its ministers (including their
vestments) should conform to the 1549 BCP. During the Commonwealth period in the seventeenth
century, the BCP was replaced by the Directory of Public Worship. However, at the Restoration of
the Monarchy, the Act of Uniformity (1662) authorized an amended BCP.
A follower of John Calvin (1509-64). In other words, one with a specially strong belief that the Bible
contained all things necessary for salvation and with a deep iconophobia. The term also describes
one who believed in Predestination.
The principal eucharistic vestment: a sleeveless cloak, varying in colour according to the liturgical
season, which was worn by the celebrant at Mass over certain other vestments.
A sleeveless cloak, usually made of silk, worn over the surplice in processions and on festival
occasions by the clergy.
The assembly of Dutch Protestant clergy in 1618-19 which denounced the five alleged errors of
Arminius and thereby defined Calvinist doctrinal orthodoxy. The five doctrines asserted by Dort are:
(1) total depravity of the sinner; (2) unconditional election of those whom God has chosen; (3) the
limitation of Christ’s atonement to the elect; (4) the irresistibility of divine grace; and (5) the
perseverance of the elect in grace.
The process by which a sinner moves from a state of sin to one of righteousness. Protestantism
teaches that this is only possible through faith and denies the contribution of human efforts.
A strictly Calvinist expression of the theology of election, adopted in 1595 in order to quell
controversy in the University of Cambridge. The articles were never incorporated by royal or
parliamentary authority into the official Articles of Religion (the Thirty-Nine Articles), despite the
desire of many Calvinists to see that happen.
The beliefs and practices, strongly emphasising ceremonialism and clericalism, associated with
William Laud (1573-1645), Archbishop of Canterbury (1633-45). In other words, beliefs and
practices which stressed the apostolic and traditional, rather than the reformed and Calvinist, aspects
of the Church of England.
The doctrine that God has issued an eternal decree predestining some people to salvation and
permitting others to endure the penalties of the Fall, i.e. eternal damnation. God’s arbitrary decision his ‘decree of election to salvation’ - is not influenced by anything done by those chosen, who are
referred to as ‘the elect’. Many Calvinists believed in a second decree, that of damnation or
reprobation, by which God condemned those he had not chosen for salvation, hence the notion of
‘double predestination’. Predestinarian theologians disagreed as to whether the decrees were made
before the Fall (‘supralapsarian’) or after (‘infralapsarian’). Only those granted a saving faith were
made capable of expressing that faith in good works.
An elevated platform intended to be used by a preacher or reader delivering a sermon.
Those Protestants who, especially c.1560-1650, wished to purify the Church of England of what they
saw as the ‘dregs of popery’ in its doctrine, government and worship. The strictest adherents of
Calvinism, they tended to call themselves ‘The Godly’, but were otherwise termed ‘precisians’ or the
‘hotter sort of Protestants’.
A comprehensive term covering theological doctrines that assert the actual presence of Christ in the
consecrated eucharistic elements of bread and wine, as against doctrines maintaining that Christ is
present only figuratively or symbolically.
The screen which divided the nave and chancel in a medieval parish church. Above it was a loft or
gallery. On top of the rood loft was the rood, a large crucifix, with figures of the Virgin Mary and St.
John standing on either side of it.
A white linen robe worn by an officiating clergyman both before and after the Reformation. When
its use was insisted upon by Elizabeth I, it was denounced as a ‘popist rag’ by puritans, who wished
ministers to wear a black gown as representing the minister’s teaching function.
The eucharistic doctrine that the whole substance (i.e. every particle) of the bread and wine is
transformed at consecration into the whole substance of the body and blood of Christ, only the
‘accidents’ (i.e. the outward appearances of the bread and wine) remaining. Belief in
transubstantiation had been defined as de fide in 1215.
Further Reading
D. Rosman, The Evolution of the English Churches, 1500-2000 (2003) Chapter 3
Full details about the AKC course, including copies of the handouts, can be found on the AKC website at:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/akc. Please join in the Discussion Board and leave your comments. If you have any queries
please contact the AKC Course Administrator on ext 2333 or via email at dean@kcl.ac.uk.
Please note the AKC Exam is on Monday 21 April 2008 between 14.30 and 16.30. You must register for the course,
using the form on the website, before registering for the exam. EXAM REGISTRATION is now open. Please
reply to the email you will receive giving your full name and student ID number. The deadline for AKC exam
registration is Thursday 20 March 2008.