Abstract
The mid-sixteenth century English church in Geneva is one of the few refugee churches at this period to have been free of dispute and discord. While its origins in Frankfurt, the absence of Lutheran hostility and the protection provided by Calvin and the local Reformed church may all be counted as reasons for its peaceable nature, it is suggested here that this also has much to do with the Order and Liturgy of the church which emphasised practicality, participation and community. The church was also one where many of its members had work to do: both as artisans and merchants as well as work of a literary nature, the greatest achievement of which was the production of the Geneva bible. Activity was undoubtedly also a factor in protecting the church from internal disputation.
Highlights
A reader of the above title should be forgiven for wondering what on earth could have made possible the existence of an English church in Geneva in the middle of the sixteenth century
While its origins in Frankfurt, the absence of Lutheran hostility and the protection provided by Calvin and the local Reformed church may all be counted as reasons for its peaceable nature, it is suggested here that this has much to do with the Order and Liturgy of the church which emphasised practicality, participation and community
Livre des Anglois, which records the elections of the elders and deacons at the English church and the wide participation of the congregation in these offices - the church of the English exiles gives the appearance of a peaceable, non-contentious community, unlike many of the refugee churches established elsewhere
Summary
A reader of the above title should be forgiven for wondering what on earth could have made possible the existence of an English church in Geneva in the middle of the sixteenth century. One were to adjust the title slightly and refer to this church not as the English Church in Geneva but as the English Refugee Church in Geneva, one would, give the game away. For this church was a gathering of refugees escaping from religious persecution in the England of Mary Tudor. The Order of the church remained unchanged, for the reign of the young king was short and his death in 1553 ushered in the reign of his step-sister, Mary Tudor, a vigorous defender of the traditional church It was the subsequent persecution of supporters of Protestant reform that led to the flight of many of them from England. At a later stage Geneva became a place of refuge, when a dissident group of people left Frankfurt and founded a church of their own in Geneva towards the end of 1555
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