Creating Communities in Restoration England: Parish and Congregation in Oliver Heywood’s Halifax: 164 (Studies in the History of Christian Traditions, 164) - Hardcover

Thomas, Samuel I.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9004229299 ISBN 13: 9789004229297

Publisher: Brill, 2012

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

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).

Edition details

• Publisher: Brill
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9004229299
• ISBN 13: 9789004229297
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224