Rethinking Catholicism in Reformation England - Hardcover

Wooding, Lucy E. C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198208650 ISBN 13: 9780198208655

Publisher: Clarendon Press, 2000

Synopsis

This book considers the ideological development of English Catholicism in the sixteenth century, from the complementary perspectives of history, theology, and literature. Lucy Wooding argues that Erasmian humanism had laid the foundations for Catholic reformation in England, but that it was Henry VIII who turned an intellectual trend into an actual reform programme, reshaping English Catholicism in the process. The reformist strand within Catholic thought remained influential during the reign of Mary I, and in the early Elizabethan period, but was then reconfigured by the experience of exile and the onset of the drive for Counter-Reformation uniformity.

Dr Wooding shows that Catholicism in this period was neither a defunct tradition, nor one merely reacting to Protestantism, but a vigorous intellectual movement responding to the reformist impulse of the age. Its development illustrates the English Reformation in microcosm: scholarly, humanist, didactic, and preserving its own peculiarities independent of European trends. Rethinking Catholicism in Reformation England makes an important contribution to the intellectual history of the Reformation.

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Review

This is an important study of the ideological development of English Catholicism from the 1530s to about 1570. (Religious Studies Review)

Lucy Wooding is to be congratulated on opening up debate about a very important topic. (Albion)

... challenging ... the author argues her case well. (Albion)

Engaging and creative, Lucy Wooding's reexamination of Catholicism and the nature of confessional identity represents an important contribution to the literature on Reformation-era England. (The Historian)

A thought-provoking reassessment of the 'Erasmian' elements in Henrician and mid-Tudor religious policy, this study offers valuable contextual material for any discussion of the work of the Rastells, Heywood, or the mid-Tudor Interludes. (Years Work in English Studies)

Lucy Wooding's book makes an important case that seems blindingly obvious once she has set it out. (Reformation)

Dr Wooding's lucid and fluently written book is a major contribution to our understanding of the continued vitality of Catholicism in the early sixteenth century. (Journal of Religious History)

Her book is the best available guide to the mindset of Marian Catholicism. (Arnold Hunt, Times Literary Supplement)

There is much in Wooding's analysis that is attractive and persuasive ... important implications for our understanding of pre-Reformation religion and the Reformation process. (The Historical Journal)

Written with clarity and some verve. (History)

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198208650
• ISBN 13: 9780198208655
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 316