KUKU

KU ScholarWorks

  • myKU
  • Email
  • Enroll & Pay
  • KU Directory
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   KU ScholarWorks
    • Dissertations and Theses
    • Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   KU ScholarWorks
    • Dissertations and Theses
    • Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    THE SEMANTICS OF REFORMATION: DISCOURSES OF RELIGIOUS CHANGE IN ENGLAND, C. 1414 – 1688

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Available after: 2018-05-31 (1.926Mb)
    Issue Date
    2016-05-31
    Author
    Guyer, Benjamin Michael
    Publisher
    University of Kansas
    Format
    377 pages
    Type
    Dissertation
    Degree Level
    Ph.D.
    Discipline
    History
    Rights
    Copyright held by the author.
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    The Semantics of Reformation: Discourses of Religious Change in England, c. 1414 – 1688 examines how the events of the sixteenth century were conceptualized as the English Reformation. The word ‘reformation’ was widely used during these centuries, but its meaning changed in significant ways. By adopting a linguistic methodology, the dissertation studies reformation as a concept in motion; consequently, the English Reformation, a term widely used today, is treated not as an analytic category but as a historiographical label that developed contingently. The chapters fall into three roughly equal sections, each of which covers a distinct discourse of reformation. Chapters one and two cover the first discourse, which identified reformation as the work of a church council. This discourse began at the Council of Constance (1414 – 1418) and remained firmly in place in all Christian localities through the mid-sixteenth century, when it was challenged by a new discourse: reformation by armed resistance, which is introduced at the end of chapter two and discussed in chapters three and four. The Anglo-Scots reformer John Knox brought this discourse to England’s doorstep through his work The History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland, which discussed how Knox and his associates pursued a program of religious revolution in mid-sixteenth century Scotland. With Scotland’s church reformed by force, English theological debates about reformation sometimes carried revolutionary implications. When civil war engulfed the entire British Isles in the 1640s, England saw its own reformation by armed resistance. The final two chapters study how Anglican apologists developed a third discourse of reformation in the 1650s. After the regicide of Charles I in 1649 and the ensuing political oppression, Anglican apologists claimed that Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Elizabeth I brought about the English Reformation. They argued that unlike the Scottish Reformation and the reformations of mid-seventeenth century England, which were accomplished by force, Tudor sovereigns accomplished the English Reformation by law. With the restoration of the monarchy and the Church of England in 1660, this apologetic vision became the standard historical assumption in English society.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1808/25759
    Collections
    • History Dissertations and Theses [251]
    • Dissertations [4472]

    Items in KU ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.


    We want to hear from you! Please share your stories about how Open Access to this item benefits YOU.


    Contact KU ScholarWorks
    785-864-8983
    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    Image Credits
     

     

    Browse

    All of KU ScholarWorksCommunities & CollectionsThis Collection

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Contact KU ScholarWorks
    785-864-8983
    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    Image Credits
     

     

    The University of Kansas
      Contact KU ScholarWorks
    Lawrence, KS | Maps
     
    • Academics
    • Admission
    • Alumni
    • Athletics
    • Campuses
    • Giving
    • Jobs

    The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression and genetic information in the University’s programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: Director of the Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, IOA@ku.edu, 1246 W. Campus Road, Room 153A, Lawrence, KS, 66045, (785)864-6414, 711 TTY.

     Contact KU
    Lawrence, KS | Maps