Clergy of Winchester, England, 1615-1698: A Diocesan Ministry in Crisis

Description

This book attempts to assess the ministry of the Church in Winchester a premier diocese in the seventh century a time of outstanding upheaval as it underwent the awesome challenges of Archbishop Lauds Arminianism, abolition during the wars and emergence after the Restorations into an age of Toleration. The focus is the parish. While the hierarchy was immersed in national policy, the parish clergy were the front line the interface between Church and people. They performed the essential rites of passage in the communities, from baptisms to communion and with the churchwardens, oversaw the fabric of their church, its fittings and charity. Five critical points 1615, 1637, 1663, 1675, and 1697 form the basis of this study. Early chapters examine such characteristics as class, education, and income of the clergy; later chapters, likewise, parochial activity over the century. It is the contention of this survey that the mid-century upheavals smashed traditional loyalties but that the parish clergy and their overlords, when restored, reverted to type and failed to heed the lessons of the 1640s/50s. Problems from outmoded parochial boundaries to pluralism and working into old age remained unaddressed, depriving the church of the vigorous ministry needed in the changed circumstances of post-restoration Britain.