On Laudianism

Laudianism was both a way of being Christian and a political ideology. This definitive account establishes the theological roots and political resonances of Laudianism, and shows how it was based on the recuperation of the theological principles and ecclesiastical and pietistic ambitions that underpinned it. Peter Lake shows how the Laudians' famous obsession with the beauty of holiness contained a plan for the reinvigoration of both the church and the state. It represented a self-conscious reaction against the long-term evils of puritanism and of the immediate political crisis of the 1620s, caused in turn by the evils of (an often puritan) popularity. The result was a coherent account of the theological, liturgical and political essence of the Church of England. On Laudianism explores how this intensely controversial movement, and the strong reactions it provoked, helped cause the English Civil War, but over the long term provided one of the visions of the national church, one that has been in contention to define 'Anglicanism' ever since.

Peter Lake is the University Distinguished Professor of History at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of twelve books, including Moderate Puritans and the Elizabethan Church (Cambridge University Press, 1982) and Bad Queen Bess?: Libels, Secret Histories, and the Politics of Publicity in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth I (2015). He is a Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the British Academy and has published widely on the religious and political history of post-reformation England.

Introduction: Part I. Laudianism, where it Came From: 1. A Trinitarian and incarnational theology; 2. Andrewes' political theology; 3. Andrewes' anti-puritanism; 4. Puritan politics; 5. The tree of repentance and its fruits; 6. Absent presences; the role of predestination in Andrewes' divinity; 7. The visible church and its ordinances; Part II. Laudianism, what it was: 8. The house of God; 9. The house of God and the beauty of holiness; 10. The beauty of holiness and ceremonial conformity; 11. Church ceremonies, the authority of the church and the authority of scripture; 12. Prayer; 13. Preaching; 14. The sacrament and the altar; 15. The sacrament and the social body of the church; 16. The altar and visible succession; 17. The feasts and festivals of the church, or putting the sabbath in its place; 18.Sunday sports and the re/constitution of the Christian community and the social order; 19. The sabbath and the Laudian attitude to authority; Part III. Laudianism, what it was n't: 20. Order, puritanism and the state of the English church; 21. Puritan 'privacy', or the forms of puritan voluntary religion anatomized; 22. A religion of the word and the question of authority; 23. Puritanism, popularity and politics; 24. Of moderate puritans and popular prelates; 25. The puritan threat, the church of England and the Personal Rule as a period of reformation; Part IV. Laudianism and Predestination: 26. Laudianism, puritanism and Arminianism revisited; 27. The language of mystery; 28. Fatal necessity; 29. Predestination, the positive case: of justice and mercy, prescience and predestination; 30. Faith, hope and charity; 31. Effort without merit; repentance, amendment and the works of penitence; Part V. Laudianism as Coalition, the Constituent Parts: 32. Dis-aggregating, or the pleasures and benefits of splitting; 33. Of converts, collaborators and apostates, i, puritans; 34. Of converts, collaborators and apostates, ii, Calvinist conformists; 35. Of apparatchiks, zealots and coming men; 36. The Laudian avant garde, (i) young men in a hurry; Cambridge University in the 1630s; 37. The Laudian avant garde, (ii) old men in a hurry; Robert Shelford, James Buck and Edward Kellett; 38. Tacking and trimming; negotiating the end of 'the Laudian moment'; 39. Conclusion.