The Politics of Prayer in Early Modern Britain : Church and State in Seventeenth-century England

Prayer was regarded as an essential arm of the State and even as a method of 'thought control' in early modern Britain. In the 17th Century period covered by this study, common prayer dominated everyday lives at a national level - in communities and congregations - as well as privately in households. At a time when Britain was struggling to come to terms with the political and social turbulence triggered by the violence of the Civil War, unease over the Commonwealth and uncertainties of the Restoration, prayer represented the search for pattern, order and purpose in and between these different layers of society. Ginn argues that the importance of prayer as a stabilizing force during these times of instability cannot be underestimated; it fostered a sense of national identity, an integrating principle at a vulnerable time, putting the social order in a greater context under a sovereign God. "Prayer was regarded as an essential arm of the State and even a method of 'thought control' in early modern England. In the seventeenth Century, the period covered by Richard Ginn's study, Common Prayer dominated people's everyday lives at a national level, in communities and congregations, as well as privately in households. Ginn demonstrates how prayer represented the search for pattern, order and purpose in and between these different layers of society in a period when England was struggling to come to terms with political and social turbulence, rocked by the violence of the Civil War, unease over the Commonwealth and the uncertainties of the Restoration. Ginn argues that the importance of Prayer as a stabilizing force during these times of instability cannot be underestimated; it fostered a sense of national identity, an integrating principle at a vulnerable time for England, putting the social order in a greater context under a sovereign God."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Contents......Page 6 Introduction......Page 10 1. The Survival of Anglicanism......Page 21 2. Anglican Understandings of Free Prayer in Public......Page 37 3. Restoration and Revision......Page 49 4. The Felt Continuity of Usage with the Early Church......Page 60 5. The Voice of the Prayer Book - In the Nation......Page 70 6. The voice of the Prayer Book - In the Parishes......Page 84 7. The Voice of the Prayer Book - Analysis and Theology......Page 100 8. The 'Sternhold & Hopskins' Metrical Psalter......Page 115 9. Family Prayer......Page 135 10. Private Prayer......Page 146 11. Process in Anglican Worship......Page 156 12. Concluding Review......Page 175 Notes......Page 183 Bibliography......Page 209 Index......Page 229 Prayer was regarded as an essential arm of the State and even a method of 'thought control' in early modern England. This book demonstrates how prayer represented the search for pattern, order and purpose in and between these different layers of society in a period when England was struggling to come to terms with political and social turbulence.