The Pastoral Ministry of Thomas Hall (1610–1665) in the English Revolution

Abstract

Historians have often made negative judgements in assessing the pastoral role of Presbyterian clergymen during the English Revolution. Recent scholarship has posited a far more nuanced picture of their achievements at parish level, cautioning against taking their own gloomy polemic as factual evidence, and showing instances of progress and outright success alongside the well-known setbacks and failures. This study examines the pastoral ministry of Thomas Hall of Kings Norton, Worcestershire, a particularly rigid Presbyterian, showing his theory and, where possible, his practice of pastoral care. It reveals his endeavours, frustrations, successes and failures as he wholeheartedly embraced the challenge to bring about further Protestant reformation from the roots upwards. In contrast to much of the historiography, Hall’s ministry demonstrates that it was his Calvinist doctrine that drove his remarkably positive attitude and inclusive pastoral approach, while he considered his Presbyterian ecclesiology the most just and temperate for nation and parish. Even after ejection in 1662, his own verdict was that he and his parishioners had proved a credit to their godly mission.