Thinking of the Laity in Late Tudor England

Peter Iver Kaufman is professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

"The central value of this book by the distinguished Tudor scholar Peter Iver Kaufman is that it addresses an intriguing and neglected topic: the laity in Tudor ecclesiastical history." —Anglican and Episcopal History"What role did the laity play in blueprints for reform of the Church of England? Was Puritanism really an elitist and polarizing movement under clerical control? To answer these questions, Peter Iver Kaufman scrutinizes a large number of tracts (and a sprinkling of parish accounts) from the eve of the Reformation to the 1580s. Throughout, he looks for statements on the extent of lay influence on worship, the election of pastors and the determination of doctrine . . . Kaufman opens an intriguing field of research." —History"Thinking of the Laity seeks to examine two features of life in Tudor England that have often been considered separate areas-the theological motivation for reform, and its sociological counterpart . . . This volume is a welcome reminder that reform occurred not only in the universities, but also in village, field and workshop." —Anglican Theological Review"This book is important ecclesiastical and social history and needs to be taken into account in delineating The Reformation." —Bibliotheque d'Humanisme et Renaissance"In a significant study that sharpens and nuances definitions and categories for historical analysis, Kaufman's world of English reform is one of ambiguity, ambivalence, contention, and surprise." —Renaissance Quarterly"This book is a timely and refreshing contribution to our understanding of Elizabethan ecclesiastical politics and of an often neglected strand within the English reformed tradition. Kaufman has written a thought-provoking book that will fuel the ongoing historiographical debate about the religious history of late Tudor England." —American Historical Review"Thinking of the Laity. . . examines the hopes and schemes of advocates of greater local and lay control over the Elizabethan Church, and attempts to account for their ultimate failure. This is a line of thought that Kaufman traces from Lollardy and the early Reformation through the activities of 'stranger' churches in the Edwardian period, and into and beyond the Marian persecution." —The Catholic Historical Review"Peter Kaufman shows that some of the early English Protestants, appealing to the primitive Church, came out openly in favour of lay participation. On the whole, however, the attitude was ambivalent." —Heythrop Journal"As usual, Peter Kaufman has asked a question that opens new vistas for historians of the English Reformation. This book will have an important impact on the ways we think about the development of popular Protestantism in England, as well as our understanding of Elizabethan politics." —Norman Jones, Prof. & Chair of History, Utah State University, author of The English Reformation: Religion and Cultural Adaptation"A fine and timely book . . . Kaufman's work reminds us that we can confidently claim that the sixteenth-century English reformed tradition had truly popular appeal." —Lori Anne Ferrell, Claremont Graduate University