Thesis (Th. M.)--Regent College, Vancouver, BC, 2001. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-156).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-116).

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Ever since John Hooper (c.1500-1555), the future Bishop of Gloucester and Worcester, made his famous stand against wearing vestments that placed him in opposition to the leading English clergy, he has been branded in the history of the English Reformation by many as a renegade and a radical. However, this thesis presents Hooper as one who saw himself as a conformist who sought to create the reformed community he desired within the established political and religious customs of his day. To explore this idea, this thesis examines how Hooper imagined a Protestant community for the kingdom of England or elsewhere. It identifies what Hooper considered to be the sources of God’s authority in the community; how that authority was exercised through officials within the community and through godly laws, strong clerical preaching and a universal commitment to vocation. It examines how the people should respond to leaders who brought the successful introduction of Protestantism to their community. Hooper’s vision was advanced in a series of tracts and letters written in Zurich and shortly after his return to England (1547-1551). They were composed at a time when Hooper enjoyed the greatest freedom to articulate his ideas in the company of his mentor, Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575), and refined through his tenure as a bishop in the Church of England. The reformed community that Hooper envisioned was one that was dependent upon a strong magistrate but also required the acceptance and participation of its members in fully embracing their own vocation and reform. Hooper strongly affirmed that leaders – both ecclesiastical and civil – had a duty to model their reformation in accordance with God’s Law, the Ten Commandments. He assumed that the people would abide by the authority of the Decalogue and practice the Protestant faith together. He also believed that living in such a community would usher in a period of peace and prosperity. Hooper’s zeal for reform was demonstrated by his belief that the Reformation required wholehearted embrace by everyone, but he was willing to operate within established English traditions, in order to see his Protestant beliefs realised within the community.

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The first section of this chapter sets out the rise of civil government in Geneva and how the stage was set for the take-over of ecclesiastical authority by the civil powers. The second section outlines the growing discontent of the Genevans with episcopal authority since their bishop had become dangerously favourable to the house of Savoy. Farel's forceful preaching drew many sympathisers and these, added to those who sought political freedom, soon found themselves in a position to proclaim the Reformation of Geneva. Chapter II: In this chapter, we examine the structure of the Church in the later middle ages. The examination of a sixteenth century Missal sets the norm by which Reformation liturgies may be judged. Chapter III: Will attempt to date Farel's Maniero et Fasson is made in the light of his reforming activities. The origin of his thought is traced to Lefèvre d'Etaples. This thought is brought out in the liturgy which must be considered as the first Genevan reformed liturgy. Chapter IV The origins of Calvin's liturgy are to be found in Strasburg. Diebold Schwartz was the first to translate the Mass into German, reforming its contents, and is found to have been the first to celebrate this German Mass in Strasburg. This Mass is examined for the tendencies which it represents of a break away from many of the more blatant distortions of late Medieval worship. Bucer's ascendency at Strasburg is outlined because of the changes which he brought about in the liturgy. Chapter V: Calvin' s Strasburg liturgy is examined in relation to Bucer's and its distinguishing tendencies are brought to light. The rise of the first French Psalter, and the origin of its tunes is taken into account. Calvin's return to Geneva resulted in the publication of another liturgy derived from that of Strasburg, but this liturgy did not fulfil Calvin's aspirations for it was limited by the prevailing religious opinion which Calvin was forced to take into account. As against this, Calvin's ideal of worship is exanined, as well as the place given by Geneva to the adherence to the Christian Year. Chapter VI: The eighteenth century in Geneva witnessed the rise of rationalism and the rejection of the oversystemtised Calvinisn which followed the Reformer's death. But at the same time, the prevalent ecumenical concern brought about a new consciousness of the traditional forms of worship. The effect of these two currents of thought is traced in the 1724 Genevan liturgy. Chapter VII: In the nineteenth century we are faced with a more thoroughgoing rationalism, with revivalist pietism and with a new spirit of liberalism which has sprung out of the changing political outlook. These elements are expressed in the liturgies of the time. When the 1875 liturgy was drawn up, liberal opinion had gained such a strong hold that a dual liturgy was deemed necessary, in which alternative forms were prescribed for those who disagreed with the orthodox doctrines. The separation of Church and State government resulted in a revision of the liturgy. But the only exanple of this thought is contained in the forms for the morning service published in 1921. Chapter VIII: The liturgy of the twentieth century is a witness to the vitality of the movement towards liturgical renewal. But it appears to lack solid doctrinal foundation in the multitude of texts provided to cater for all ranges of opinion. Nevertheless, it contains many traditional elements as well as a number of reformation forms, though the latter are usually presented as they appeared in the seventeenth century revision. This liturgy, therefore, is a sign that a new consciousness of worship has entered the Genrvan Church and bears, within it, the promise of possible further developments. C0NCLUSION: In conclusion, we take note of the movements which have influenced the liturgy throughout this study, finding that with the exception of Calvin, there has never been a proper theological approach to thi liturgy. It is just such a theological approach that is necessary if the Genevan liturgy is to reap the benefits of the present air of liturgical renewal. Summary, p. ii-iii.

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The dissolution of the monasteries (1536-40) was one of the most critical transformations wrought by the English Reformation. It was also perhaps the most visible manifestation of the idea that Henry VIII’s break with Rome was also a break with the medieval past. Yet despite this, historians have paid little attention to how the dissolution was remembered by those who experienced it or to the evolution of this memory in later generations. This thesis probes the nature of the diverse afterlives of the dissolution between 1536 and c. 1700. On one hand, it seeks to account for the persistence of the narratives of monastic corruption and the expediency of suppression propagated by the Henrician regime in the 1530s, which have continued insidiously to shape its modern historiography. On the other, it examines the development of alternative traditions which challenged and interacted with this orthodoxy, highlighting the multivocal and polyvalent character of a memory culture that was dynamic rather than static. The first chapter examines the attempts of the Henrician government to shape the memory of the dissolution in the 1530s and 1540s, and undertakes a re-assessment of the sources that have conventionally been used by historians of the dissolution. It highlights a triumphant Henrician narrative of monastic corruption and iniquity that the remainder of the thesis sets out to test, complicate, and unravel. The second chapter explores the relationship between the dissolution and early modern senses of time, chronology, and history. It asks both how perceptions of the dissolution shifted over time and how the protracted and complicated four-year long process of suppression came to be remembered as the historical event that we know as ‘the Dissolution of the Monasteries’. The third chapter turns away from the temporal dimensions of the memory of the dissolution to explore its material, visual, and spatial aspects. It argues that historians have been preoccupied with an emergent ‘nostalgia’ for the monasteries at the expense of a gentry antiquarian culture that instead promoted a powerful culture of amnesia. It focuses particularly on the neglected subject of converted religious houses, which quite literally embodied efforts to forget the dissolution and the monastic past. The final chapter focuses on local traditions of memory. It deploys evidence of oral culture mediated through antiquarian writing to question previous work on a purely secular, socio-economic memory of the dissolution. It argues that the concept of sacrilege and the emergence of a folklore of the dissolution are key to recovering the religious dimension of local memory cultures. If the thesis begins with an account of Henrician attempts to shape the legacies of the dissolution, it concludes by demonstrating how, by 1700, these memory-making processes were starting to be exposed. This thesis thereby demonstrates the value of exploring the dissolution in terms of its long afterlives. It also argues that the dissolution is a powerful case study of historical memory, raising larger questions about the relationship between contemporary memorialising practices and the models of periodisation inherited by modern scholarship, as well as making a significant contribution to the emergent interest in the memory of the English Reformation.

<p>As a saint with no biblical or historical basis for her legend, St. Anne could change radically over time with cultural and doctrinal shifts even as her status as Mary's mother remained at the core of her legend and provided an appearance of consistency. "Mother, Matron, Matriarch: Sanctity and Social Change in the Cult of St. Anne, 1450-1750" takes issue with the general view that the cult of St. Anne in Northern Europe flourished in the late Middle Ages, only to wither away in the Reformation, and advances a new understanding of it. It does so by taking a longer view, beginning around 1450 and extending to 1750 in order to show how St. Anne's cult and the Holy Kinship elucidated long-term shifts in religious and cultural mores regarding the relationships between domesticity and sanctity, what constituted properly pious lay behavior, and attitudes towards women (in particular older women). Materials used include vita, devotional texts, confraternal records, sermons, treatises, and works of art across the time period under investigation. After a definite period of decline during the mid-sixteenth century (as evidenced by lower pilgrimage statistics, confraternity records, and a lack of text production), St. Anne enjoyed a revival in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Catholicism in a "purified" form, reconfigured to suit new religious and social norms which emphasized patriarchal authority within the household and obedience to the Catholic Church among the laity. In this context, St. Anne became a humble, pious widow whose own purity serves as proof of Mary's Immaculate Conception, and whose meek devotion to her holy daughter and grandson exemplified properly obedient reverence for the laity.</p> / Dissertation

Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Universität Essen, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 294-318).