Description
The Reformation era has long been seen as crucial in developing the institutions and society of the English-speaking peoples, and study of the Tudor and Stuart era is at the heart of most courses in English history. The influence of the Book of Common Prayer and the King James version of the Bible created the modern English language, but until the publication of Gerald Bray’s Documents of the English Reformation there had been no collection of contemporary documents available to show how these momentous social and political changes took place.
This comprehensive collection covers the period from 1526 to 1700 and contains many texts previously relatively inaccessible, along with others more widely known. The book also provides informative appendixes, including comparative tables of the different articles and confessions, showing their mutual relationships and dependence. With fifty-eight documents covering all the main Statutes, Injunctions and Orders, Prefaces to prayer books, Biblical translations and other relevant texts, this third edition of Documents of the English Reformation is an invaluable resource for students, and a useful aide memoire for scholars in Theology, the English Church, and late medieval and early modern English history.
About the Author
Reverend Dr Gerald Bray has a PhD from Paris-Sorbonne. He worked as Professor of Anglican Studies at Beeson Divinity School, and is now a Research Professor for the same institution. He is also Director of Research at the Latimer Trust. He has published with James Clarke and Co Ltd The Books of Homilies: A Critical Edition (2016), and The Institution of a Christian Man (2018).
Contents
Introduction to the Third Edition
Before the Break with Rome (1526-1534)
The Henrician Reformation (1534-1547)
Cranmer’s Reformation: The Reign of Edward VI (1547-1553)
Reaction and Recovery (1553-1559)
The Progress of Protestantism (1560-1625)
The Protestant Schism and the Final Settlement (1625-1701)
Supplementary Texts
Appendixes
Notes
Index
Endorsements and Reviews
A timely collection of official formularies relating to the English Reformation
The Expository Times
Magnificient work, which must (and will) prove itself by generations of use as an indispensable tool of English Reformation studies. No recent book has come my way of greater intrinsic value in its own sphere than this – or one which will repay more abundantly the price asked for its range, its detail and its length.
Epworth Review
It is a most welcome contribution to the study of theology and ecclesiastical history, and will establish itself as an essential reference for all students of the Tudor and Stuart experience of the Protestant faith
David Parnham
It will serve at least three very useful purposes: first, a salutary source of information; second, it should provide a stark reminder to those engaged in the various ministries of the Church of England: third, it will remind over-secularized modern analysts that the Reformation, even in England, did have a lot to do with religion, its understanding and practice.
Theology
A well designed collection which will meet a widely felt need … probably the most comprehensive one of its type to appear this century … outstandingly useful.
R.A. Houlbrooke, in Parliamentary History
A very useful primary source collection … The timespan is generously conceived … From a scholarly point of view admirable, and the standard of editing is very high
Teaching History
This is an essential reference work for anyone interested in this important period of church history.
Reformed Theology Journal
Gerald Bray has compiled a rich compendium of fifty-eight primary source documents that bring readers into direct contact with a variety of important pronouncement and declarations connected with the English Reformation … This book will serve as a helpful reference book and textbook for someone wishing to chart the progress of English Protestantism in the Tudor and Stuart eras. No other volume contains such a wide variety of useful material along these lines.
Gary Steward, in Anglican and Episcopal History, Vol 91, No 4, December 2022
Gerald Bray’s Documents of the English Reformation is an indispensable resource for those interested in studying the English Reformation. Its thorough selection of documents, informative appendices, and accessible format make it an invaluable aid for students and a useful reference for both laymen and scholars in theology and history. I can’t recommend this book highly enough! KristiyaKnow, Marc Daniel Rivera, October 10, 2023.
