John Bunyan’s Confession of my Faith and Restoration Anabaptism

International audienceThis article examines John Bunyan's work on baptism in the light of contemporary polemics and argues that, despite the Bedford congregation being open communion, Bunyan was considered as a Baptist and not as a Congregationalist in the controversies of the 1670s

Roger L'Estrange and the Huguenots: Continental Protestantism and the Church of England

http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754658009L'Estrange's interest in Continental writing was mentioned only in passing by George Kitchin, L'Estrange's first and only biographer, and it has remained largely unexplored ever since. Accordingly, this chapter examines some of L'Estrange's connections with Continental protestants, most notably French Huguenots, and consider how L'Estrange enlisted their help in his persecution of English Nonconformity. In 1681, L'Estrange translated a French work, entitled, in his version, Apology for the Protestants. This can now be identified as an abridgement of an anonymous text entitled Apologie pour les protestans...published anonymously in 1680, supposedly in Amsterdam, for the Huguenot bookseller Jean-Maximilien Lucas. We shall see that L'Estrange may have been in contact with him during his brief exile in Holland. The book proposes a reunion of Protestants and Catholics. L'Estrange's preface enlists the help of Pierre du Moulin, Jean-Maximilien de L'Angle and Jean Claude, and in doing so, he disregards their staunch anti-Catholic writings. L'Estrange's rapprochement between Catholics and the Church of England can therefore be said to manipulate the Huguenots' position. His appeal to such men as these enabled him to attack both the English dissenters and indirectly the French Whigs under pretence of inclusion. At stake here is L'Estrange's--and the Huguenots'--understanding of what 'conformity' entailed, and at a time when the English regime tolerated French Churches on condition that they adopt the Anglican liturgy, but also when the dragonnades could potentially direct Huguenot sympathies towards their persecuted dissenting brothers in England

The Pourtraiture of John Bunyan' revisited: Robert White and Images of the Author

International audienceThis article examines the work and career of the engraver Robert White in the late 1670s, most notably his involvement with Nathaniel Ponder, the publisher of The Pilgrim's Progress, and his famous engraving of John Bunyan as a sleeper on the title-page of the allegory. It argues that poor derivatives of White's frontispiece have prevented us from seeing it for what it was: the work of a fashionable society engraver and miniaturist whose attention to Bunyan, on Ponder's behalf, was a striking oddity that deserves a closer look. A consideration of Robert White's oeuvre and working practices will illustrate the need to reassess the nature and use of the Bunyan graphite that was allegedly used as a model for the sleeping portrait. The article proposes fresh ways to approach the early illustrations of Bunyan's allegories--from the sleeping portrait to the oval frontispieces engraved by White, by his pupil John Sturt, by Thomas Burnford and Fredrick van Hove. In doing so, it will suggest ways in which early representations of Bunyan may have shaped his reception and reputation in the seventeenth centur

: Early Lives and the Development of the Canon

http://www.cambridge.org/ar/academic/subjects/literature/renaissance-and-early-modern-literature/cambridge-companion-bunyanThis chapter examines the early fortune of John Bunyan and his works inside and outside Nonconformist circles, and the role played by friends and publishers in establishing the canon. Particular attention is given to early biographies. John Bunyan was a major figure in seventeenth-century Puritan literature, and one deeply embroiled in the religious upheavals of his times. This Companion considers all his major texts, including The Pilgrim's Progress and his autobiography Grace Abounding. The essays, by leading Bunyan scholars, place these and his other works in the context of seventeenth-century history and literature. They discuss such key issues as the publication of dissenting works, the history of the book, gender, the relationship between literature and religion, between literature and early modern radicalism, and the reception of seventeenth-century texts. Other chapters assess Bunyan's importance for the development of allegory, life-writing, the early novel and children's literature. This Companion provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to an author with an assured and central place in English literature

L'insurrection de Thomas Venner (1661) : anglicanisme et dissidence au défi des prophéties

This chapter analyses the printed reactions to Thomas Venner's January 1661 insurrection in the City of London that were published within days or weeks of the events. It is proposed that this Fifth-Monarchy rebellion was of paramount importance for the future of dissent in Restoration England but a careful study of the rhetorical war that the opposition waged in the press is still lacking. Particular attention is here given to 1) the type of discourse that was being experimented with to counteract the prophetical writings of future dissenters, 2) the confusion orchestrated by the governement between " Anabaptists " and all religious or political dissenters and 3) the role and representations of the female Fifth Monarchists.Ce chapitre propose une étude de l'ensemble des réactions à l'insurrection du prophète Thomas Venner à Londres, en janvier 1661, qui ont été imprimées dans les jours et les semaines qui suivirent l'événement. On prétend souvent que cette rébellion quinto monarchiste fut d'une importance capitale pour le futur de la dissidence pendant la Restoration anglaise, mais une étude des stratégies mises en place par l'opposition dans la presse n'a jamais été entreprise. Nous nous attachons ici à analyser le discours en réponse aux prétendues prophéties des futurs dissidents, la façon dont le gouvernement a orchestré un confusion entre les " Anabaptistes " et toutes les autres formes de dissidence religieuse et politique et le rôle et les représentations des femmes dans la Cinquième Monarchie

Conversion et « expérience » chez les protestants anglais du XVII e siècle : un récit et sa pratique

International audienceCe chapitre examine les récits d'expériences spirituelles dans le milieu congrégationaliste, au XVIIe, ainsi que les différentes définitions de la conversion en milieu puritain. Il s'attache en particulier à démontrer que le passage de l'oral à l'écrit s'est révélé problématique pour bon nombre de croyants calvinistes à l'époque moderne

The writings of David Crosley and Baptist identity in the eighteenth century

http://baptisthistory.org.uk/baptist-quarterly/International audienceThis article examines the writings of the northern minister David Crosley. An itinerant preacher active in Yorkshire and Lancashire before being called to the pastorate of the Cripplegate congregation in London, Crosley is often considered, with his cousin William Mitchell, to have been the principal disseminator of Baptist principles in northern England, in the post-Toleration years. And yet his excommunication from Cripplegate on the charges of excessive drinking, adultery and lying ensured that his name remained tainted with suspicions of Antinomianism. This article provides the first attempt to reassess Crosley's life and career by taking into account his printed work as well as his manuscript correspondence and tracts. It will argue that far from being an Antinomian, Crosley was not only an orthodox Calvinist concerned with Church order but also a reluctant controversialist seeking to promote dissenting interest, godliness and discipline away from the sectarian partisanship that tore apart the early eighteenth-century Churches

La dragonnade du Poitou et l'exil des huguenots dans la littérature de controverse anglaise

National audienceÀ l'été 1681 fait rage la dragonnade du Poitou, un épisode crucial dans l'histoire du protestantisme français. Certains huguenots quittent alors la France pour l'Angleterre, terre protestante où ils espérent trouver refuge. Cet article examine la façon dont la dragonnade a été représentée dans la presse anglaise et dans la littérature de controverse et comment ces représentations ont influencé les conditions d'accueil des exilés. Alors que l'Angleterre sortait péniblement de la " crise de l'Exclusion " qui visait à empêcher le catholique duc d'York (futur Jacques II) de succéder à son frère Charles II, nous démontrons comment l'exil des Huguenots a été mis en scène par les deux grandes factions, Whig et Tory, à des fins de propagande. Nous nous interrogeons notamment sur la façon dont les auteurs ont manipulé les positions huguenotes pour raviver la querelle sur le futur du protestantisme en Angleterre et l'absolutisme Stuart

Avant-Propos

Cet avant-propos présente un volume qui propose une réflexion sur les relations entre la religion et l'épistolarité en France et en Grande-Bretagne, aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Douze spécialistes de la période, en histoire, théologie et littérature, s'interrogent sur des correspondances officielles ou clandestines, spirituelles ou pastorales, pour présenter un panorama des rapports entre les correspondances manuscrites ou imprimées et l'orthodoxie ou les hétérodoxies. Outil de communication entre les croyants, les églises et les communautés, mais aussi entre les membres du clergé et les fidèles, la lettre, qu'elle soit ouverte ou secrète, qu'elle appelle une réponse ou le silence, qu'elle soit cachée, codée, interceptée, imprimée ou diffusée, qu'elle soit isolée ou fasse partie d'un corpus plus large, fut le principal moyen d'expression de la piété et du sentiment religieux dans des siècles marqués par de profonds bouleversements épistémologiques. Prises dans leur ensemble, ces contributions constituent la première tentative d'étude croisée du religieux et de l'épistolaire dans l'espace européen entre Réforme et Révolution