William Perkins and the Making of a Protestant England

William Perkins and the Making of Protestant England presents a new interpretation of the theology and historical significance of William Perkins (1558-1602), a prominent Cambridge scholar and teacher during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Though often described as a Puritan, Perkins was in fact a prominent and effective apologist for the established church whose contributions to English religious thought had an immense influence on an English Protestant culture that endured well into modern times. The English Reformation is shown to be a part of the European-wide Reformation, and Perkins himself a leading Reformed theologian. In A Reformed Catholike (1597), Perkins distinguished the theology upheld in the English Church from that of the Roman Catholic Church, while at the same time showing the considerable extent to which the two churches shared common concerns. His books dealt extensively with the nature of salvation and the need to follow a moral way of life. Perkins wrote pioneering works on conscience and 'practical divinity'. In The Arte of Prophecying (1607), he provided preachers with a guidebook to the study of the Bible and their oral presentation of its teachings. He dealt boldly and in down-to-earth terms with the need to achieve social justice in an era of severe economic distress. Perkins is shown to have been instrumental to the making of a Protestant England, and to have contributed significantly to the development of the religious culture not only of Britain but also of a broad range of countries on the Continent.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction 1: The Unsettled Elizabethan Settlement 2: Apologist for the Church of England 3: Salvation and the Thirty-Nine Articles 4: Practical Divinity and the Role of Conscience 5: Biblical Preaching and English Prose 6: The Quest for Social Justice 7: Attacked and Defended 8: Legacy Conclusion Bibliography Index

About the Author :
W. B. Patterson, Professor of History (Emeritus) at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, has written widely on British and European history and religion. His publications include King James VI and I and the Reunion of Christendom (Cambridge University Press, 1997), which won the Albert C. Outler Prize in ecumenical church history from the American Society of Church History. He is an active member of the Ecclesiastical History Society of Great Britain and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Review :
Patterson's impressive scholarship demands attention, particularly his approach to Puritanism and to Perkins's role in it. Patterson's conclusions are compelling and his expositions engaging... This is not just a good book: it is a key study for all interested in a robust historical engagement with the shape of Elizabethan orthodoxy and the contours of its theological debates... Patterson may not only spur historians to greater care but also inspire an Anglican ressourcement of Perkins as a seminal and expansive divine. It can be confidently recommended to nonexperts in the field, while those more familiar with the subject will be won over by Patterson's courteous, even-handed exposition of sixteenth-century controversies and modern academic squabbles. [T]his book more than succeeds in revealing the range of Perkins's writings and thinking against the backdrop of ecclesiastical controversy and politics: anyone working in the field will want to consult it. Patterson's volume is a valuable addition to the literature on this important English churchman ... it yields a rich portrait of a powerful thinker whose death in his mid-forties deprived the English church of one of its leading lights. Because of its accessibility, erudition, and breadth, this book will be valued by undergraduates and scholars alike. Patterson does justice to William Perkins, the Cambridge don, scholar, theologian, preacher, teacher, and religious writer at the heart of this study and, as Patterson proves, at the heart of a Protestant England. This convincing reassessment of a figure most of us will feel we knew is a welcome addition to the field. Patterson's deft accounts of Perkins's pioneering and wide-ranging writings are revelatory on casuistry, preaching, and questions of social justice ... [this] book is a valuable addition to our understanding of the Protestant evangelization of England in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This is a masterly study of the most widely known English theologian of the last years of the reign of Elizabeth I and the reign of James I and VI. those of us who teach post-Reformation England have been saying for years that we need a first-rate study of Perkins. Now, at last, we have it Patterson's succinct prose and delivery make this book easy to read for both scholars and students to become better acquainted with a man who was so committed to making a unified Church of England. Patterson's book effectively shows that Perkins sought to help English Christians live out their faith as members of the Church of England. ...it shows Perkins in a new light, providing excellent expositions of his main works. ... it raises new questions about Perkins, which will, I hope, inspire further examination of this fascinating figure. William Perkins and the Making of a Protestant England is an engaging, thematic study of one of the most influential theologians in late sixteenth and early seventeenth century Britain. a first-rate study which fills a major historiographical gap by providing a long-awaited, well-researched, and extensive treatment of the life and of virtually all the major works of the English clergyman William Perrkins essential reading