The testimony of the spirit, the decline of Calvinism, and the origins of restoration rational religion

Cromartie, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9558-8081 (2021) The testimony of the spirit, the decline of Calvinism, and the origins of restoration rational religion. Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 72 (1). pp. 71-94. ISSN 1469-7637 doi: 10.1017/S0022046920000068

Abstract/Summary

The mid-seventeenth century turn to moralism in English Protestant theology – exemplified here by ‘Ignorance’ in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress – involved a clear rejection of the Calvinistic doctrine of the ‘internal testimony’ of scripture. The upshot was the emergence of a religious impulse that emphasised the salience of a ‘rational account’ of scripture’s credibility. The shift is conventionally traced through Richard Hooker, William Chillingworth, and the Cambridge Platonists. Hooker was, however, more Calvinist and Chillingworth more Laudian than has been recognised. The Cambridge Platonists and their ‘latitudinarian’ successors emerged from and were shaped by puritan culture.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/87556
Identification Number/DOI	10.1017/S0022046920000068
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > Early Modern Research Centre (EMRC) Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Politics, Economics and International Relations > Politics and International Relations
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
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