What did people in Restoration England think the correct relationship between church state should be? And how did this thinking evolve? Based on the author's published essays, revised and updated with a new overarching introduction, this book explores the debates in Restoration England about "godly rule". The book assesses some of the crucial transitions in English history: how the late Reformation gave way to the early Enlightenment; how Royalism became Toryism and Puritanism became Whiggism; how the power of churchmen was challenged by virulent anticlericalism; how the verities of "divine right" theory revived and collapsed. Providing a distinctive account of English thought in the era between the two revolutions of the Stuart century, "Contesting the English Polity, 1660-1688" discusses the ideological foundations of emerging party politics, and the deep intellectual roots of competing visions for the commonwealth, placing the power of religion, and the taming of religion, squarely alongside constitutional battles within secular politics.

About the Author
Mark Goldie is Emeritus Professor of Intellectual History in the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Churchill College. He has edited or authored 12 books and published more than 60 essays on British political, religious, and intellectual history in the period 1650-1800. Two of his books are published by Boydell and Brewer: The Entring Book of Roger Morrice and Roger Morrice and the Puritan Whigs.


Book Information
ISBN 9781783277360
Author Mark Goldie
Format Hardback
Page Count 344
Imprint The Boydell Press
Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Weight(grams) 1g