Popular Religion In Sixteenth-Century England

This is a lively and accessible study of English religious life during the century of the Reformation. It draws together a wide range of recent research, and makes extensive use of colourful contemporary evidence. The author explores the involvement of ordinary people within, alongside and beyond the church, covering topics such as liturgical practice, church office, relations with the clergy, festivity, religious fellowships, cheap print, "magical" religion, and dissent. The result is a distinctive interpretation of the Reformation as it was experienced by English people, and the strength, resourcefulness and flexibility of their religion emerges as an important theme.

This is a lively and accessible study of English religious life during the century of the Reformation.

Booknews

Marsh (history, Queens U. of Belfast) delves into how the Reformation was received by the majority of England's people, how parishioners maintained a positive attitude toward the church while negotiating a pathway through the period of rapid and repeated change, why most people considered themselves Protestants by the early 17th century, and similar questions. He characterizes the change as a compromise between old and new rather than a victory of one over the other. Paper edition (unseen), $19.95. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Christopher Marsh is Lecturer in History at the Queen's University of Belfast.