The Early Defence of 'Lambeth Calvinism': Theological and Pastoral Responses in a Lincolnshire Parish

Abstract

Recent analyses of the early Stuart church have generally emphasized James ' attempts at consensus and balance. But to whom would this actually have appealed? Here the argument is made that the godly perceived the old Elizabethan Calvinist hegemony to be under attack right from the beginning of the new reign and so mounted a defence to stem the perceived declension. A case study of a Lincolnshire minister reveals both the doctrinal and pastoral strategies to resist an anti-Calvinist thrust that affected the localities as well as the universities and episcopal bench. At ground level, this conscious defence of the theology summed up in the Lambeth Articles (1595) also involved identifying and gathering the godly community as a form of distinction rather than separation.