This is a study of the rise of English Arminianism and the growing religious division in the Church of England during the decades before the Civil War of the 1640s. The widely accepted view has been that the rise of puritanism was a major cause of the war; Nicholas Tyacke argues that it was Arminianism - suspect not only because it sought the overthrow of Calvinism but also because it was embraced by, and imposed by, an increasingly absolutist Charles I - which
heightened the religious and political tensions of the period. Almost all English Protestants were members of the established church. Consequently, what was a theological dispute about rival views of the Christian faith assumed wider significance as a struggle for control of that church. When
Arminianism triumphed, Puritan opposition to the established church was rekindled. Politically, Charles and his advisers also feared the consequences of Calvinist predestinarian teaching as being incompatible with `civil government in the commonwealth'.
For this paperback edition, Dr Tyacke has written a new Foreword taking into account recent scholarly debate on the subject.
- ISBN10 0198201842
- ISBN13 9780198201847
- Publish Date 4 October 1990 (first published 12 February 1987)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Oxford University Press
- Imprint Clarendon Press
- Format Paperback
- Pages 336
- Language English