Worship and the Parish Church in Early Modern Britain

Edited by Natalie Mears; Author - Alec Ryrie

• Worship and the Parish Church; 1: Teaching in Praying Words? Worship and Theology in the Early Modern English Parish; 2: Special Nationwide Worship and the Book of Common Prayer in England, Wales and Ireland, 1533–1642 1; 3: The Elizabethan Primers: Symptoms of an Ambiguous Settlement or Devotional Weaning?; 4: The Fall and Rise of Fasting in the British Reformations 1; 5: Music Reconciled to Preaching: A Jacobean Moment?; 6: Protestant Worship and the Discourse of Music in Reformation England; 7: ‘At it ding dong': Recreation and Religion in the English Belfry, 1580–1640; 8: Bodies at Prayer in Early Modern England 1; 9: ‘Wise as serpents': The Form and Setting of Public Worship at Little Gidding in the 1630s 1; 10: ‘Extravagencies and Impertinencies': Set Forms, Conceived and Extempore Prayer in Revolutionary England 1

'This is a remarkably coherent volume of essays on the worship experiences in the early modern English parish church ...' Sixteenth Century Journal 'Each chapter works on a specific corner of the picture, and although there is a great deal still to be done, the book succeeds admirably in opening up its subject matter and advancing our knowledge of key tensions in liturgy, music, and in the space of the early modern church itself.' H-Albion 'Placed alongside the conclusions of John Harper’s Experience of Worship project on the late Middle Ages, however, this stimulating volume allows religious historians of Britain to arrive at a much clearer understanding of liturgical continuities and changes over the course of the long sixteenth century.' Renaissance Quarterly '... the collection is successful in its aim to draw attention to the conflicts and mismatches between religious practice and institutional instruction that characterized ’an ordinary parish church on a Sunday morning’ (p. 10). In this respect, it is a valuable addition to studies of popular religion and public worship, and of particular interest to theologians, cultural historians, and historians of early modern religion.' Journal of the Northern Renaissance ’This is a wonderful collection of articles that all fulfil the task of exposing complexities, continuities, paradoxes, and tease out new ideas on what might seem at first sight a rather eclectic array of starting points. And there is the added benefit of a table of nationwide prayers from 1534-1641, provided by Natalie Mears, and a foretaste of more to come from a much larger project. Congratulations are due to the editors and their contributors on pulling this fascinating collection together so well.’ Ecclesiology Today 'These studies have produced important insights that increase our understanding of religion as a lived experience within the plurality of English religious cultures. ... the three editors of the matched pair of volumes