The Blind Devotion of the People
Popular Religion and the English Reformation

A major investigation of the English Reformation, based primarily on original research in the south-west.

Robert Whiting (Author)

9780521424394, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 17 October 1991

316 pages
23 x 15.3 x 2.3 cm, 0.51 kg

'[The Blind Devotion of the People] delves down beyond the landed elite into the ranks of 'ordinary' people. It uses endowments and architecture, drama and writing, to brilliant effect … Its thumbnail sketches are superb … This is a rounded and convincing, and often moving, analysis of a society faced with the shattering of its traditions, deeply enjoyable to read. And it is a model of what could and should be done with that most fascinating and elusive of historical problems.' Jenny Wormald, The Glasgow Herald

The religious revolution known as the 'Reformation' must rank among the most crucial and transforming events in English history. Yet its original reception by the English people remains largely obscure. Did they welcome the innovations - or did they resist? By what internal motivations were their responses determined? And by what external influences were their attitudes shaped? These are the key issues explored by Robert Whiting in this major investigation, based primarily on original research in the south-west. Dr Whiting's controversial conclusion is that for most of the population the Reformation was less a conversion from Catholicism to Protestantism than a transition from religious commitment to religious passivity or even indifference.

List of illustrations
Preface
Notes
1. Introduction
2. Survey
Part I. Assessment: 3. Dependent activities: sacraments, ceremonies and intercessions
4. Independent activities: prayers, images and cult objects
5. Inclusive institutions: parish churches, chapels and guilds
6. Exclusive institutions: papacy, religious orders and secular clergy
7. Summation of Part I
Part II. Explanation: 8. Spiritual motivations: Lutheranism, Calvinism and other faiths
9. Non-spiritual motivations: politics, economics and other forces
10. Mediate influences: literature, drama and art
11. Immediate influences: example, action and oral communication
12. Summation of Part II
13. Perspective
Appendices
Bibliography and abbreviations
Index.

Subject Areas: Protestantism & Protestant Churches [HRCC9], Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church [HRCC7], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], British & Irish history [HBJD1]