What Matters in Reforming the Church? Puritan Grievances Under Elizabeth I

'It is no small injury which you do unto the word of God, to pin it in so narrow room.'
Puritanism as a reform movement emerged slowly during the reign of Elizabeth I, but the early stages of the struggle to purify the Church of England from every last vestige of Antichrist are not well known. Using the Admonition Controversy (1572-77) as a lens to view early Puritanism, Andrew Cinnamond shows that the tension between Puritans and conformists must be seen within a shared Reformed theological framework, a 'Calvinist Consensus.' This shared heritage began to unravel as the opposing parties developed different perspectives on Scripture and tradition, the normative role of the Primitive Church, the correct interpretation of the Old Testament, and the continuing validity of the Mosaic Law. These disputes weakened the common bond of Anti-popery which existed between English Protestants and would ultimately inflame the divisions that precipitated civil war in the next century.

Andrew Cinnamond is vicar of St. Lawrence, Lechlade in the Cotswolds. He had previously worked for an investment bank in the City of London before training for ordination at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. The past ten years were spent in urban parishes in south London, first Clapham then Wandsworth, where he was Ecumenical Borough Dean and Chair of Wandsworth Street Pastors. He is married to Kate and they have two children.