Analyses the tensions and contradictions within the 'religion of protestants' that dominated great swathes of the early Stuart church. This book studies puritan theology and intra-puritan theological dispute. It also studies lay clerical relations and the politics of the parish.
Originally published in 1988, this was the first full and scholarly account of the formal Elizabethan and Jacobean debates between Presbyterians and conformists concerning the government of the church.
This book is an examination of the puritanism of a series of divines, including Dering, Cartwright, Whitaker and Chaderton, all of whom passed through the University of Cambridge between 1560 and 1600. Dr Lake gives a detailed analysis of their careers and opinions.