Debating Perseverance: The Augustinian Heritage in Post-Reformation England

by Jay T. Collier

Overview

The Church of England during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries is usually described as forming either a Calvinist consensus or an Anglican middle way steeped in an ancient catholicity. Debating Perseverance sheds light on the influence of both the early church and the Reformed churches on the church by surveying debates on perseverance of the saints in which readings of Augustine were involved. It begins with a reassessment of the Lambeth Articles (1595) and the heated Cambridge debates in which they were forged, demonstrating that perseverance played a critical role. It then investigates the failed attempt of the British delegation to the Synod of Dort to achieve solidarity with the international Reformed community on perseverance in a way that was also respectful of minority opinions. The study returns to English soil to evaluate the supposedly Arminian Richard Montagu and the turmoil he caused by challenging the Reformed consensus and the Synod of Dort. It finishes by surveying a Puritan debate that occurred following England's civil war, when the pro-Dort party had triumphed. Jay T. Collier's study uncovers competing readings of Augustine on perseverance within the Reformed tradition-one favoring the perseverance of the saints and the other denying it. Rather than emphasizing one source of England's religious identity to the neglect of another, this study recognizes England's struggles with perseverance as emblematic of its troubled pursuit of a Reformed and ancient catholicity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190858544
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2017
Series:	Oxford Studies in Historical Theology
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	728 KB

About the Author

Jay T. Collier is the director of publishing for Reformation Heritage Books, and a research fellow and colloquium director for the Junius Institute for Digital Reformation Research. His research interests include Reformation and post-Reformation studies, colonial North America, and the history of agrarianism.

Table of Contents

1. The Church of England, Sources of Identity, and Theological Distinctives 2. Cambridge Aflame with Controversy: Reassessing the Lambeth Articles 3. Dilemmas at the Synod of Dort: The Conciliatory British Delegation 4. Troubles after Dort: The Case of the "Arminian" Richard Montagu 5. A Further Dilemma for British Divines: Baptism's Effect on Infants 6. Lingering Reluctance among Reformed Englishmen: Puritans and Confessionalism 7. Perseverance, Augustine, and England's Strugglig Identity

Editorial Reviews

"Collier has done an excellent job of unpacking a significant and formative part of our church family history. His study is of value not only for the academy but also for the church." — Ben Clarke, St James' Church, Gerrards Cross - Buckinghamshire, UK, Church Society / The Global Anglican Administrator

"Collier's study effectively dismantles overly simplistic characterizations of the post-Reformation Church of England, and of the reformed tradition more generally. His attentive reading of primary documents contributes to the picture of an Augustinian Protestantism in England that was more diverse and subtle in its internal distinctions than both popular and some scholarly presentations have suggested, specifically because of the importance to virtually all parties of being recognizably reformed and catholic in doctrine and practice." — Thom Bull, Themelios

"This is a compelling and illuminating read that will grip the interests of all who are interested in Reformed soteriology, British Reformed theology, and post-Reformation uses of the church fathers." — Ryan M. McGraw, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Journal of the History of Reformed Pietism

"This is a fascinating book that greatly enlightens some of the major polemical battles that troubled the post-Reformation Church of England. ... this book will be a must read for anyone with an interest in the development of post-Reformation English theology." — Jake Griesel, Renaissance Quarterly

"Jay Collier presents a carefully researched and well-argued investigation of the doctrine of perseverance in the early modern Reformed tradition. He digs past the superficial labels of Calvinist and Arminian and convincingly demonstrates that the theological landscape was more complex. Anyone who desires an expert assessment of these issues will find Collier's work an able and welcome guide."—J. V. Fesko, Academic Dean and Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Westminster Seminary California

"This book describes the slow and complex process by which the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints was established within English Protestantism. In careful readings of key texts and contexts, Jay Collier argues for the contingency of orthodoxy - and sets a compelling new agenda in the study of post-reformation Reformed theology." —Crawford Gribben, Professor of Early Modern British History, Queen's University Belfast, and author of John Owen and English Puritanism: Experiences of Defeat

"Much of the scholarship on the debates surrounding the Lambeth Articles and the controversies over grace in late sixteenth-century Anglicanism have focused on the matter of predestination. In this study, Jay Collier broadens the polemical perspective and demonstrates that the doctrine of perseverance lay at the heart of the various debates. This insight offers a profound new perspective on the matter, placing the English discussions both in a broader continental and deeper pastoral context. This book is a very important contribution to our understanding of how Reformed theology developed in the immediate post-Reformation era." —Carl R. Trueman, Paul Woolley Chair of Church History, Westminster Theological Seminary

From the Publisher