Church Life

Pastors, Congregations, and the Experience of Dissent in Seventeenth-Century England

Edited by Michael Davies, Anne Dunan-Page, and Joel Halcomb

Considers the history and religious culture of seventeenth-century Dissent from the perspective of the kinds of 'church life' shaped and experienced not just by Dissenting ministers but also ordinary church members
Redefines the 'experience of Dissent' in collective and communal terms, rather than as something characterized solely by individual 'religious experience', notably conversion
Features ten original contributions by internationally recognized scholars who are experts in the fields of seventeenth-century history, literature, and religion

Church Life

Pastors, Congregations, and the Experience of Dissent in Seventeenth-Century England

Edited by Michael Davies, Anne Dunan-Page, and Joel Halcomb

Description

Church Life: Pastors, Congregations, and the Experience of Dissent in Seventeenth-Century England addresses the rich, complex, and varied nature of 'church life' experienced by England's Baptists, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians during the seventeenth century. Spanning the period from the English Revolution to the Glorious Revolution, and beyond, the contributors examine the social, political, and religious character of England's 'gathered' churches and reformed parishes: how pastors and their congregations interacted; how Dissenters related to their meetings as religious communities; and what the experience of church life was like for ordinary members as well as their ministers, including notably John Owen and Richard Baxter alongside less well-known figures, such as Ebenezer Chandler.

Moving beyond the religious experience of the solitary individual, often exemplified by conversion, Church Life redefines the experience of Dissent, concentrating instead on the collective concerns of a communally-centred church life through a wide spectrum of issues: from questions of liberty and pastoral reform to matters of church discipline and respectability. With a substantial introduction that puts into context the key concepts of 'church life' and the 'Dissenting experience', the contributors offer fresh ways of understanding Protestant Dissent in seventeenth-century England: through differences in ecclesiology and pastoral theory, and via the buildings in which Dissent was nurtured to the building-up of Dissent during periods of civil war, persecution, and revolution. They draw on a broad range of printed and archival materials: from the minutes of the Westminster Assembly to the manuscript church books of early Dissenting congregations.

Church Life

Pastors, Congregations, and the Experience of Dissent in Seventeenth-Century England

Edited by Michael Davies, Anne Dunan-Page, and Joel Halcomb

List of Figures
Abbreviations
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: Gathered Church Life and the Experience of Dissent, Michael Davies, Anne Dunan-Page, and Joel Halcomb
1. Godly Order and the Trumpet of Defiance: The Politics of Congregational Church Life during the English Revolution, Joel Halcomb
2. Godly Pastors and their Congregations in Mid-Seventeenth-Century London, Elliot Vernon
3. 'Letting a Room in London-House': A Place for Dissent in Civil War London, Kathleen Lynch
4. God's Physicians: Models of Pastoral Care at the Westminster Assembly, 1643-1653, Chad Van Dixhoorn
5. The Freedom of Association and Ecclesiastical Independence, Polly Ha
6. The Experience of Dissent: John Owen and Congregational Life in Revolutionary and Restoration England, Crawford Gribben
7. The Reformed Pastor as Nonconformist: Richard Baxter After 1662, N. H. Keeble
8. Print and Pastoral Identity: Presbyterian Pastors Negotiate the Restoration, Ann Hughes
9. Life After Bunyan: Ebenezer Chandler and the Bedford Congregation, 1689-1710, Michael Davies
10. 'Not Keeping One's Place in the Church': The Disaffected Dissenters, Anne Dunan-Page

Church Life

Pastors, Congregations, and the Experience of Dissent in Seventeenth-Century England

Edited by Michael Davies, Anne Dunan-Page, and Joel Halcomb

Author Information

Michael Davies, Senior Lecturer in English, University of Liverpool,Anne Dunan-Page, Professor of Early Modern British Studies, Aix-Marseille Universite,Joel Halcomb, Lecturer in Early Modern History, University of East Anglia

Michael Davies is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Liverpool. Among his publications is Graceful Reading: Theology and Narrative in the Works of John Bunyan (2002). He is co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of John Bunyan (with W. R. Owens; 2018).

Anne Dunan-Page is Professor of Early Modern British Studies at Aix-Marseille Universite, where she directs the Research Centre on the Anglophone World. Her books include Grace Overwhelming: John Bunyan, 'The Pilgrim's Progress' and the Extremes of the Baptist Mind (2006), The Cambridge Companion to Bunyan (2010), and Roger L'Estrange and the Making of Restoration Culture (with Beth Lynch; 2008).

Joel Halcomb is Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of East Anglia. He was assistant editor for The Minutes and Papers of the Westminster Assembly, 1643-1652 (2012).

Contributors:

Michael Davies, Anne Dunan-Page, Crawford Gribben, Polly Ha, Joel Halcomb, Ann Hughes, N. H. Keeble, Kathleen Lynch, Chad Van Dixhoorn, Elliot Vernon

Church Life

Pastors, Congregations, and the Experience of Dissent in Seventeenth-Century England

Edited by Michael Davies, Anne Dunan-Page, and Joel Halcomb

Reviews and Awards

"Well researched throughout, and encompassing a broad chronological span, Church Life is a welcome addition to the existing literature on dissenting churches." -- Rosalind Johnson, Journal of British Studies

"Miltonists who are interested in seventeenth-century religious history will want to have a look at this collection of essays about his period... this collection demonstrates a range of issues that could trigger further research into Milton's own idealized considerations of how the church should operate." -- Jameela Lares, University of Southern Mississippi, Milton Quarterly

"Church Life provides scholars with a much-needed, deeper, and more nuanced look at the experience of Dissenting church life and is particularly strong when it comes to scholarship about changes in ecclesial structure and authority." -- Autumn Reinhardt-Simpson , Reading Religion

"This book is to be commended. It is not intimidatingly large, as so many recent, if useful, 'handbooks' have been. Yet it presents many pertinent issues in accessible language from a number of leading scholars. It is clearly encouraging for readers of this magazine to see a wider interest in the history of their own churchmanship. A good book on such subjects, well presented, is always welcome." -- Susan Matthews, Congregational History Society Magazine

"The essays here offer valuable insights into the forces that helped to determine the content and direction of the differing streams through changing ecclesiastical and political times." -- Stephen Copson , Baptist Quarterly