Moderate Radical explores an exciting period of English, and British, history: Elizabethan and Early Stuart religious politics. Tobie Matthew (c. 1544-1628) started Elizabeth's reign as a religious radical, yet ended up running the English Church during the tumultuous years leading up to the British Civil Wars. Moderate Radical provides a new perspective on this period, and an insight into the power of conforming puritanism as a political and cultural force. Matthew's vision of conformity and godly magistracy brought many puritans into the Church, but also furnished them with a justification for rebellion when the puritanism was seriously threatened. Through exciting new sources - Matthew's annotations of his extensive library and newly discovered sermons - Rosamund Oates explores the guiding principles of puritanism in the period and explains why the godly promoted the national church, even when it seemed corrupt. She demonstrates how Matthew protected puritans, but his protection meant that there was a rich seam of dissent at the heart of the Church that emerged when the godly found themselves under attack in the 1620s and 1630s. This is a story about accommodations, conformity and government, as well as a biography of a leading figure in the Church, who struggled to come to terms with his own son's Catholicism and the disappointments of his family. Moderate Radical makes an important contribution to the emerging field of sermon studies, exploring the rich cultures derived from sermons as well as re-creating some of the drama of Matthew's preaching. It offers a new insight into tensions of the pre-Civil War Church.

About the Author
Rosamund Oates is a specialist in early modern religious cultures, with particular interest in reading practices and preaching. She has published on puritanism and the monarchical republic, sacred history, and preaching habits. Based at Manchester Metropolitan University, Rosamund Oates co-ordinates the network and blog 'Communities of Print', which explores the shared use of books in medieval and early modern libraries. Her next project is on signed languages for the deaf and preaching in early modern England.

Reviews
What Oates has produced is a book that illuminates a vibrant model of godly episcopacy in the North of England, as well as demonstrating convincingly that the seeds of the Jacobean Church's eventual destruction lay in the very forces that had initially held it together. * JONATHAN WILLIS, University of Birmingham, Europe: Early Modern and Modern *
This is an excellent book that integrates Matthew's story with the political events around which his career required him to manoeuvre. * MARY MORRISSEY, University of Reading, The Journal of Theological Studies *
Moderate Radical is a splendid study and one which greatly advances our understanding of the politico-religious developments of the period. * NCHOLAS TYACKE, University College London, History *
This is an ambitous and welcome book on aspects of the life of Tobie Matthew * Andrew Foster, The Seventeenth Century *
This splendid study will enhance appreciation of Matthew as a "moderate radical." * CHOICE *
An important book which greatly enhances our understanding of the pastoral and theological priorities of a key figure in the Elizabethan and Jacobean Church. * William Sheils, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198804802
Author Rosamund Oates
Format Hardback
Page Count 274
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 590g
Dimensions(mm) 241mm * 164mm * 24mm