This easy to read and well written book by the former editor of the Church Times, provides mini biographies on five clerics from the Victorian era, who as the title suggests fought against the authority of not just the church but also the state. All five rebelled in order to bring back either monastic or Roman Catholic rituals into the Anglican Church of England. One of the main issues that they argued for was the idea of the Real Presence of Christ in the bread and wine surrounding the Eucharist service.
Palmer begins by reminding his readers about the Ritual movement during the nineteenth Century, and introduces several of the main characters contained in his book. The majority of Protestants at this time were appalled to find out that there were individuals who were intent on resurrecting Roman Catholic rituals into the Anglican services. So much so that the Public Worship Regulation Act was introduced, it became law in 1847. The Protestant Church Association was instrumental in bringing about this law, designed to prevent the return of Catholic ritualism. Subsequently five clerics were sent to prison for ritual offences.
However, the vast majority of the public, both Christian and secular, were outraged at the imprisonment of clerics, even if they did not agree with their principles. One of the five imprisoned was Arthur Tooth, Vicar of St James, Hatcham, one of the five Rebels. The result of this brought the Act into disrepute and Tooth’s conviction was overturned on a technicality. A Royal Commission in 1906 ended prosecutions under this Act; it was repealed in March 1965, after being in existence for 91 years.
The next five chapters contain the mini biographies of the so called Rebels, these being George Anth...
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...fascinating insight into these five Rebels’ lives. It is such a shame that the majority of the book deals with their conflicts with the authorities, and does not reveal the person behind the argument. My only wish is that there was more space to allow this to happen. However, it has given me a taste to look deeper into the lives of these Rebels and perhaps to even research their biographies in detail.
Palmer’s excellent book is a wonderful introduction to the ecclesiastical historian of the Victorian era; today’s church has its foundations moulded by these events. It must be remembered that these five Rebels were only Anglicans who were doing what Anglicans have done since Luther, they were protesting. They simply did not want to conform both to their superiors in the church or to the state. As Palmer writes in the epilogue, their battles have not been in vain.
Julian of Norwich lived during a time of great fear dominated by economic and physical hardships, feudal era of control, fear of death from the bubonic plague, corruption within the church’s hierarchy and doubt and insincerity was rampant amongst believers. Living a simple existence she depende...
Jeanne de Jussie, a dedicated Catholic nun, recorded events that took place in Geneva during the Reformation as the official chronicler for the Saint Clare convent. Although littered with biases, Jeanne de Jussie’s experiences reflect broader trends during the Reformation; therefore, The Short Chronicle is a valid source and not merely a personal attack against the Protestants. Her experiences and beliefs, including those concerning celibacy, reflected those of many members of the Catholic Church during the Reformation. Also, her categorization of Protestants as ‘heretics’ was consistent with the practices of the Catholic Church. Although biased, her fears about Protestant views on celibacy and marriage were legitimate and consistent with
The contemporary Church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch-supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the Church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the Church's silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are.”
Many new changes came to Victorian England as a result of the age of industrialization. Where there were once small country parishes, manufacturing towns were springing up. One change resulting from industrialization was the shortage of clergy to fill the new parishes in these towns. These new parishes reflect the demographic changes of the English countryside. Rural villages grew into booming towns. Where a single parish was once sufficient, there was now a need for multiple parishes. The Church of England went about meeting these demands for new clergy in two major ways, actively recruiting men to the clergy and restructuring theological facilities and changing the requirements for ordination. These factors show us some of the upheaval and reconstruction that was going on in the Anglican Church in Victorian England. This was a direct result of the need to train a large number of clergy in a relatively short period of time.
The thesis of this book is that George Whitefield (1714-1770) changed the nature of Christianity by promoting and conducting mass revivals that exploited the weaknesses of institutional Christianity.
While they may not make very good theology, these dogmas at least provided material for two nineteenth-century character studies, James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner and J.G. Lockhart’s Adam Blair. Written when much (but not all) of post-Enlightenment Scotland had taken an anti-clerical, anti-religious stance, these novels explore the faith of the previous generation and how fundamentalist Presbyterianism may have gone horribly wrong. The protagonists of each book react in completely opposite ways to their sinful acts; Lockhart’s eponymous character has a nearly legalistic view of his own sin, while Hogg’s Robert Wringhim follows a more antinomian path. Oddly enough, it is the former who ends up redeemed and the other damned, but their respective journeys toward those ends follow much of the same path.
Traditionally, historians have felt that Catholicism was hopelessly fractured at the time of James’s accession to the English throne. Whig historians felt the Elizabethan settlement had set the fate of English Catholicism and Catholicism would soon dwindle away . However, this preliminary evaluation is flawed because the role of English Catholi...
At the beginning of the sixteenth century church theologian, Martin Luther, wrote the 95 Theses questioning the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. In this essay I will discuss: the practices of the Roman Catholic Church Martin Luther wanted to reform, what Martin’s specific criticism of the pope was, and the current practices Pope Francis I is interested in refining in the Roman Catholic Church today.
Nicolas Eymerich The Inquisitor is a point and click game depicting the problems of heresy and the struggles with parallel beliefs in 14th century Europe. In the game, Eymerich is sent by Father Abbot Vinet to uncover the mystery of a number of strange sightings in the village Calcares. While on his search, he decides that the true danger does not lie in the Devil’s apparitions, but rather the heretics which have infiltrated the church. This holds true in our class studies of parallel beliefs in France, and the ways in which the clergy handled such threats. By playing Nicolas Eymerich The Inquisitor, I have gained an additional perspective of the role of religion during this time period which can be compared to what I have already learned in
Ralls, W. The Papal Aggression of 1850: A Study in Victorian Ant-Catholicism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974.
She examines 6 popes between 1470-1530 who she claims lead in a way similar to politicians. They lost touch with the common people both emotionally and intellectually. A little known cleric led the revolution challenging papacy that culminated in the reformation of the church. In that context, Barbara outlines that the popes were venal, immoral, and their power politics was calamitous. The faithful were distressed by their leadership, which ignored all the protests and the signs that a revolt was coming. In the end, the papal constituency lost almost half of its followers to Protestants. Barbara says that these people were driven by the greed and the urge to create a family empire that would outlive them. This chapter sums up the essence of folly in these major failures, lack of a fixed policy, over extravagance, and the illusion that their rule was
...s distributed in Theology 101 at the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle on 22 April 2008.
This essay intends to compare the author’s disparaging slur of Goody Cloyse, Puritan catechism teacher, Deacon Gookin and the minister – all of whom are catechists - in “Young Goodman Brown,” with “In Support of Catechetical Ministry - A Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops” from June of 2000.
Heyer, F., The Catholic Church from 1648 to 1870, (London: Adam & Charles Blac, 1969).
A Century of Theological and Religious Studies in Britain, 1902–2007 by Ernest Nicholson 2004 pages 125–126