Religion, Politics and the Public Sphere, 1500-1850: Essays in Honour of Peter Lake(Studies in Early Modern Cultural, Political and Social History)

An examination of the political, cultural and spiritual shock waves unleashed by the reformation and counter-reformation. The traumas and transformations sparked by the reformation and counter-reformation were felt in countless ways over the two centuries that followed. This book examines the political, cultural and spiritual shock waves unleashed by the reformation. It considers religion, religious identity and religious conflict, paying particular attention to the self-professed beliefs and mental structures articulated by early modern people, in an effort to make sense of how those people lived, formed communities and understood their religious lives. It explores how the pervasive effects of religious schisms shaped political life across Europe, exerting profound effects on political structures and arguments, reshaping borders, sowing endemic conflict and engendering various solutions for confronting and overcoming those conflicts. In addition, the book discusses how the religious and political controversies provoked by the reformation were conducted publicly, often in print, before increasingly broader audiences, often making use of new modes of representation that emerged during the period. Overall, the book provides a broad, in-depth, very insightful analysis of this crucially important period. Contributors: Simon Adams, Michael Braddick, Thomas Cogswell, David Como, Richard Cust, Lori Anne Ferrell, Kenneth Fincham, Paul E. J. Hammer, Ann Hughes, Anthony Milton, Jason Peacey, Steve Pincus, Michael Questier, Nigel Smith and Nicholas Tyacke

Table of Contents:
Introduction David Como and Michael Questier Part I: Reformation, Rivalry and Remembrance 1. The Victorian Invention of Anglicanism and its Reception - Lori Anne Ferrell 2. The Casket Letters: Controversy and Conspiracy- Simon Adams 3. The Battle of Adderley Aisle and Family Chapels in Post-Reformation England - Richard Cust Part II - Catholics, Puritans and Conformists 4. 'Trapped in the Mental World of Robert Parsons': Religious Politics, Blame and the Essex Rising of 1601 - Paul E. J. Hammer 5. The Strange Case of the Boy of Bilson: Catholics, Puritans, Exorcists and Politics in Post-Reformation England - Michael Questier 6. Bishop Lewes Bayly - Prelate as Puritan? - Kenneth Fincham 7. Growing Opposition? Puritan Cheshire in Laudian London: the Diary of Samuel Torshell 1638-1639 - Anthony Milton PART III - Publics and the Drama of Politics in the Post-Reformation 8. Weighed in a Balance: Strategizing Public Politics in Anglo-Dutch Affairs, 1617-1619 - Jason Peacey 9. At the Heart of a Knot of Villainy: Dr Lambe and the Purbeck Affair- Thomas Cogswell 10. The Literary Lake - Nigel Smith Part IV - Structures of Post-Revolutionary Politics 11. The Nature of 'the Powers that Be': Politico-Religious Thought 1637-1653 and its Antecedents - Nicholas Tyacke 12. 'Yet God is Good to Israel': Nehemiah Wallington Reads (and Writes) the News - Ann Hughes 13. John Lilburne, the People and the English Revolution - Michael Braddick 14. Revisionism, Partisanship and the Structure of Early Modern British Imperial Culture - Steve Pincus Bibliography of Peter Lake's Works Index Tabula Gratulatoria

About the Author :
DAVID R. COMO is a professor of early modern history at Stanford University. MICHAEL QUESTIER is Honorary Chair, Centre for Catholic Studies, Department of Theology, Durham University, UK.