The Church in an Age of Danger
Parsons and Parishioners, 1660–1740

A study of popular religion in early modern England, focusing on the diocese of Salisbury.

Donald A. Spaeth (Author)

9780521023696, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 November 2005

300 pages, 1 map
23 x 15.3 x 2.4 cm, 0.462 kg

'… an extremely impressive study of parish Anglicanism …' The Historical Journal

This book explores popular support for the Church of England during a critical period, from the Stuart Restoration to the mid-eighteenth century, when Churchmen perceived themselves to be under attack from all sides. In many provincial parishes, the clergy also found themselves in dispute with their congregations. These incidents of dispute are the focus of a series of detailed case studies, drawn from the diocese of Salisbury, which help to bring the religion of the ordinary people to life, while placing local tensions in their broader national context. The period 1660–1740 provides important clues to the long-term decline in the popularity of the Church. Paradoxically, conflicts revealed not anticlericalism but a widely shared social consensus supporting the Anglican liturgy and clergy: the early eighteenth century witnessed a revival. Nevertheless, a defensive clergy turned inwards and proved too inflexible to respond to lay wishes for fuller participation in worship.

1. Introduction
2. Clerical profiles
3. Arenas for conflict
4. The management of disputes
5. Pastoral care
6. Tithes and religious conflict
7. The nonconformist threat
8. Popular observance
9. Matters of life and death
10. Singing and religious revival
11. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: History of religion [HRAX], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], British & Irish history [HBJD1]