The Reformation of the Decalogue: Religious Identity and the Ten Commandments in England, c.1485-1625

Description

The Reformation of the Decalogue tells two important but previously untold stories: of how the English Reformation transformed the meaning of the Ten Commandments, and of the ways in which the Ten Commandments helped to shape the English Reformation itself. Adopting a thematic structure, it contributes new insights to the history of the English Reformation, covering topics such as monarchy and law, sin and salvation, and Puritanism and popular religion. It includes, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of surviving Elizabethan and Early Stuart 'commandment boards' in parish churches, and presents a series of ten case studies on the Commandments themselves, exploring their shifting meanings and significance in the hands of Protestant reformers. Willis combines history, theology, art history and musicology, alongside literary and cultural studies, to explore this surprisingly neglected but significant topic in a work that refines our understanding of British history from the 1480s to 1625.

Jonathan Willis is a Reformation historian and Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Birmingham. He is author of Church Music and Protestantism in Post-Reformation England (2010); editor of Sin and Salvation in Reformation England (2015); and co-editor of Dying, Death, Burial and Commemoration in Reformation Europe (2015) and Understanding Early Modern Primary Sources (2016). He is also Director of the University of Birmingham's Centre for Reformation and Early Modern Studies.

'... a wide-ranging and erudite study that will be of value to scholars of many disciplines working in England's long sixteenth century. Furthermore, this book will reward each new reading with further insights about the role of the Ten Commandments in early modern culture.' Janice Liedl, Renaissance and Reformation 'The Reformation of the Decalogue is an outstanding achievement that adds to our knowledge of the conformity with which the English people accepted the vast changes that the Reformation brought.' Susan Wabuda, The American Historical Review