The Writings Of Robert Harrison And Robert Browne

Robert Harrison and Robert Browne were the initiators of the principles of English Separatism and Congregationalism. Unlike the Presbytero-Puritans, these nonconformists sought to establish local churches that were independent of the state. Although they encountered fierce opposition from the clergy, state officials and Anglican bishops, they persisted in their practices. As a result, the ideas of these two men profoundly influenced the Puritan movement both of England and America. In this volume, scarce and little known works, as well as new material derived from manuscripts and tracts are collected into one volume.

Robert Harrison and Robert Browne were the initiators of the principles of English Separatism and Congregationalism. Unlike the Presbytero-Puritans, these nonconformists sought to establish local churches that were independent of the state. Although they encountered fierce opposition from the clergy, state officials and Anglican bishops, they persisted in their practices. As a result, the ideas of these two men profoundly influenced the Puritan movement both of England and America. In this volume, scarce and little known works, as well as new material derived from manuscripts and tracts are collected into one volume.

This work examines the development of a "dissenting" perspective on the emerging doctrine of the Holy Spirit in Post-Reformation Protestant thought. By "dissenting," the author means "beyond the mainstream of thought, sometimes affirming but expanding orthodox positions, but at other times pursuing new directions and images of the Spirit." A new look is offered at the Puritan-Separatist era in English dissenting traditions, as well as organized dissenters in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Of particular interest are the applications of current philosophic and scientific writers. There are sections on major German thinkers of the nineteenth century and major influential theologians of the last century who laid new foundations in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Readers will be interested in the inclusion of new religious movements in two eras, and creative contemporary ideas of the Spirit. How an ongoing "dissenting" perspective contrasts with mainstream thinking is woven through four centuries of literature on the Spirit. The author contends that we have learned much from the "dissenting" perspective, and he offers seven constructive affirmations of the Spirit of God drawn from his survey and analyses of the previous four centuries. The bibliography is comprehensive of major works on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, plus unusual sources of dissenting thought.

Close examination of the divided religious life of Norwich in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, with wider implications for the country as a whole.

The Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions, Volume I traces the emergence of Anglophone Protestant Dissent in the post-Reformation era between the Act of Uniformity (1559) and the Act of Toleration (1689). It reassesses the relationship between establishment and Dissent, emphasising that Presbyterians and Congregationalists were serious contenders in the struggle for religious hegemony. Under Elizabeth I and the early Stuarts, separatists were few in number, and Dissent was largely contained within the Church of England, as nonconformists sought to reform the national Church from within. During the English Revolution (1640-60), Puritan reformers seized control of the state but splintered into rival factions with competing programmes of ecclesiastical reform. Only after the Restoration, following the ejection of two thousand Puritan clergy from the Church, did most Puritans become Dissenters, often with great reluctance. Dissent was not the inevitable terminus of Puritanism, but the contingent and unintended consequence of the Puritan drive for further reformation. The story of Dissent is thus bound up with the contest for the established Church, not simply a heroic tale of persecuted minorities contending for religious toleration. Nevertheless, in the half century after 1640, religious pluralism became a fact of English life, as denominations formed and toleration was widely advocated. The volume explores how Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, and Quakers began to forge distinct identities as the four major denominational traditions of English Dissent. It tracks the proliferation of Anglophone Protestant Dissent beyond England—in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Dutch Republic, New England, Pennsylvania, and the Caribbean. And it presents the latest research on the culture of Dissenting congregations, including their relations with the parish, their worship, preaching, gender relations, and lay experience.