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Thinking of the Laity in Late Tudor England

Anglican Theological Review, Fall 2005 by Stafford, John K

Thinking of the Laity in Late Tudor England. By Peter Iver Kaufman. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004. xi + 175 pp. $40.00 (cloth); $20.00 (paper).

Thinking of the Laity seeks to examine two features of life in Tudor England that have often been considered separate areas-the theological motivation for reform, and its sociological counterpart. Peter Kaufman explores the hidden outlooks and attitudes of the "giddy common people," and also the "middlers" who undertook the practical management of parish life as Tudor England moved alternately through the Henrician reforms to Edward, the Marian counter-reforms, and the re-reformation under Elizabeth. Kaufman s thesis is predicated on the idea that regardless of the powerful convictions and certainties of faith held by "preaching-obsessed" (p. 90) Puritan clergy, the lower strata of Tudor society remained trapped by the excesses of such preaching in William Faulke's (1574) "relickes of syn," to which even the elect were evidently prone. The author's purpose is to "repossess part of that life and to discover what laymen . . . thought important and necessary" (p. 90).

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The author concludes that even preeminent Puritans such as Thomas Cartwright conceded that broad participation in church governance was not something to which the purity of reform could be trusted because of lay gullibility. Jewel argued in much the same way but saw lay literacy as the proper response. Two centuries later, Wesley would come to view lay education as the necessary strategy to sustain revival. In an interesting note respecting lay participation, Kaufman (p. 41) observes Richard Hooker casting a skeptical eye upon Calvin's Genevan democracy wherein he exploited lay respect in order to perpetuate "secret dependency and awe."

Be that as it may, Kaufman has reminded us that religious reform takes place alongside a sociology of reform, political agendas notwithstanding. Elizabeth had, after all, a nation-state to run. The instability of Elizabeth's settlement was felt among the laity also and contributed to the uneven appropriation of reform where many commoners entertained the unexpressed hope for a return to the settled patterns of Catholicism. Chapter 4, "Populist Initiatives," on the general effects of "prophesying," is especially interesting for its depiction of local subversion and the response of government.

Kaufman achieves this portrayal through the use of parish records (details of spending, almsgiving, rents, and so on) and moves from a more theological depiction of Puritanism early in the book, citing Faulke and Perkins as exemplars, to analysis of the social framework, responsibilities, and aspirations of parish wardens. Later Puritans, such as John Owen and Richard Baxter, came to share many of the views Hooker expressed in the preface to the Lawes regarding the trustworthiness of popular reform when unenlightened by education. In their hands, such views implied no contempt for the masses, but rather a love of order as the best setting to contemplate the Word of God.

Readers will find the author's style direct and inviting. A prior grasp of the controversies underlying Tudor reforms is necessary to set the author's thesis in context. Students will find sufficient breadth of supporting material to continue their own investigations, and the index is sufficient for a volume of this size. In the history of the early modern period, the "human interest" dimension is often overlooked, giving a sense that the Reformation in England was the exclusive domain of the monarchy, or the ecclesiastical and academic elite. Kaufman's work demonstrates that the laity (so-called) lived out their lives not in a social or theological shadow, but as men and women who grappled with the implications of a new gospel (as it were) and a newfound independence from traditional ecclesiastical authority.

With patterns of ministry being reassessed within Western Anglicanism at least, it is timely to rediscover (and "repossess") the role of local lay leadership that has evaded the historian's scrutiny, but remains a vital concern for the theological integrity of Anglican ministry. This volume is a welcome reminder that reform occurred not only in the universities, but also in village, field, and workshop.

JOHN K. STAFFORD

St. John's College

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Thinking of the Laity in Late Tudor England

Anglican Theological Review, Fall 2005 by Stafford, John K

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