‘Welcome Dear Feast of Lent’: Rival Understandings of The Forty-Day Fast in Early Stuart England
Both during and after the Reformation, Lutherans and Reformed theologians alike had condemned the way in which Lent was observed within the Roman Catholic Church as a superstitious mockery of biblical fasting. As a result, most Protestant churches in Europe either ceased to observe Lent altogether,...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2012
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| In: |
The journal of theological studies
Year: 2012, Volume: 63, Issue: 2, Pages: 608-648 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Both during and after the Reformation, Lutherans and Reformed theologians alike had condemned the way in which Lent was observed within the Roman Catholic Church as a superstitious mockery of biblical fasting. As a result, most Protestant churches in Europe either ceased to observe Lent altogether, or made the Lent fast a matter of personal conscience. In England, by contrast, the Lent fast was enshrined by statute during the reign of Edward VI, and repeatedly enforced by royal proclamation thereafter. Early Stuart theologians responded to this national peculiarity in a number of ways. Some defended the Lent fast as a purely secular observance, intended for political ends; this was the argument favoured within the godly community. Lancelot Andrewes and John Cosin, by contrast, defended Lent as an apostolic institution, which the Church of England shared with both the early church and the Church of Rome; their argument was sufficiently similar to that of Robert Bellarmine to provoke accusations of popery. A third group of writers attempted to chart an alternative path, arguing that the Lent fast was a venerable and laudable spiritual institution, but one which was under the jurisdiction of the Church’s governors. These three positions illuminate different positions on the Church of England’s theological identity in the period after the Elizabethan Settlement. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4607 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of theological studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jts/fls111 |