Cases of Conscience: Alternatives open to Recusants and Puritans under Elizabeth 1 and James 1

by Elliot Rose

Overview

The history of religious dissent has usually been written from the point of view of the martyr for his faith. Elliot Rose's aim in this book is to look at the religious troubles of the Elizabethan age from the point of view of those who sympathized with ardent Catholics or Puritans but were not anxious to be martyrs. Two questions arise: What options other than martyrdom were open to them in practice? And what did their religion tell them about the morality of evasion or half-compliance? Answers to these would help to answer the larger question of how groups survive under conditions of permanent and official repression. Mr Rose does not attempt to measure persecution by statistics. He has examined the casuistic writings of the period for their teachings on resistance and evasion of law, and shows how little 'casuistry' deserves its reputation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521081146
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/18/2008
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.63(d)

Table of Contents

Part I. The Papists: 1. The situation on paper; 2. The situation in practice: the chance of not getting caught; 3. Private arrangements; 4. Pressure: how it increased and where it hurt; 5. Legal means against the law; 6. Internal debate - 'casuistry'; 7. Solutions; Part II. - The Puritans: 8. The nature of the quarrel; 9. Half a loaf: Endnote - half a Banbury cake; 10. Legal devices; 11. Puritan casuistry and internal debate 12. Patrons and protectors.