The English were not only distinct they were destined to play a leading role in shaping modernity through the expansion of the British Empire and establishment of a wider Anglophone world. 1 From this perspective, England enjoyed an “exceptional” status that defined itself as distinct from neighboring reformations. Maps charting the spread of reform in the sixteenth century reserved a special confessional shading for England's “Anglican” tradition. It stood in stark contrast to the wider spread of Protestantism in both continental Europe and the rest of the British Isles. The geography of Reformation England used to be clearly defined, if not self-evident.

Expanding English ecclesiastical, theological, exegetical, philological, and cultural interests, the volume calls for a more fluid and “connected history” to understand the full scope of English Reformation thought and its engagement with non-Western churches and traditions.Įnglish Reformation, philological and theological scholarship, Jewish sources, Arabic sources, Greek Orthodox sources I They illustrate how English Protestant scholarship reinforced stereotypes, while also prompting self-reflection and inspiring the reconstruction of England's own traditions and cultural assumptions. The essays examine English Protestant engagement with Hellenic, Hebraic, and Arabic sources and traditions within a wider context than typically explored in existing narratives. England's protracted conflict over its Protestant identity encouraged the diversification of its orientations to sacred texts and religious traditions, stretching it beyond western Europe to the eastern Mediterranean world. This special issue seeks to expand the intellectual landscape of English Protestantism over the course of its long Reformation from the early sixteenth through the late seventeenth centuries.

The Counter-Reformation by A.G. Dickens