Puritan conformity, Church polity, and Anglican identity, 1628-88

Thesis

There have been many attempts to define what Anglicanism is, through both “reformations” of the Church of England as well as rewritings of its history. Yet none have proposed a definition that can satisfy all. Instead of searching for one, static Anglican identity, this thesis follows recent scholarly endeavours to highlight the confessional diversity and conflicts that characterised the Protestant English Church, challenging traditional, and yet inaccurate dichotomies, such as puritan/conformist or puritan/episcopalian, to showcase how the very nature of the Church of England was one of struggle and fluidity rather than a definite triumph of specific strains of piety. To break through the puritan/conformist antithesis still prevalent in current scholarship, this thesis adopts a biographical approach to investigate a wide range of puritan contributions to the shaping of Anglican identity. The careers of the four protagonists in this study, William and Thomas Gouge, John Davenport, and Edward Reynolds, demonstrated that not only were the boundaries between conformity and dissent ever-changing, but both conformists and dissenters were active, self-conscious reformers of the Church of England.

While scholars in the past often narrate a story of dissent when they explore transatlantic congregationalism and presbyterianism, the four protagonists in this story show that they considered themselves active participants in, rather than opponents of, the national Church, and that even their dissenting activities, in both Old and New England, were tireless attempts to reshape the orthodoxy of the English Church. Pre-war and post-1662 puritan conformity feature prominently in this story as well, especially in William Gouge’s and Edward Reynolds’ lives. Both their conformity to the Laudian Church as well as Reynolds’ return to episcopacy as Bishop of Norwich in 1660 urge scholars today to rethink puritans’ view of episcopacy and better appreciate puritans’ legacy on the emerging Anglican identity.

Authors: Wang, C

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-bmje4m06d
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: church government; Reformed conformity; episcopacy; Edward Reynolds; post-reformation; early modern England; English presbyterianism; English Civil Wars; puritan conformity; New England; Anglicanism; William Gouge; Thomas Gouge; seventeenth-century England; puritan; church polity; ecclesiology; John Davenport
• Subjects: Great Britain--History--Early Stuarts, 1603-1649; Anglican authors; Church polity; Church; Great Britain--History--Puritan Revolution, 1642-1660; Puritan authors; Congregationalism; Church polity--Early works to 1800; Reformed (Reformed Church); Great Britain--History--Charles I, 1625-1649; Dissenters, Religious; Church polity--History; Great Britain--History--Charles II, 1660-1685; Episcopacy; Puritan movements