Visible and Apostolic, Second Edition: The Constitution of the Church in High Church Anglican and Nonjuror Thought 1688-1745 - Hardcover

by Robert D. Cornwall (Author), William Gibson (Foreword by)

Robert Cornwall's revision of Visible and Apostolic, which brings the original book up to date, demonstrates how High Church Anglican and Nonjuror ecclesiology underlay many important controversies that faced church and state during the period 1688 to 1745, a period that ran from the Glorious Revolution to the final Jacobite rebellion in 1745. High Churchmen and Nonjurors--the latter being High Churchmen deprived of their positions because they refused to renounce allegiance to James II and take the oaths to William and Mary--attempted to defend the integrity of the true church in England, a church they believed was visible, episcopal, sacramental, and apostolic. In support of their efforts, these High Churchmen, who sought to turn back threats from Deism, Latitudinarianism, Roman Catholicism, and Protestant Nonconformity, made use of the threefold cord of authority: Scripture, tradition, and reason. Important controversies addressed include attempts at the comprehension of Dissenters into the established church, the Convocation and Bangorian Controversies, as well as debates over the Toleration Act, the practice of occasional conformity, and lay baptism. This edition also explores more deeply than the first edition, the Usages Controversy that divided the later Nonjurors.

Author Biography

Robert Cornwall is Minister Emeritus of Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Troy, Michigan. He holds a PhD in historical theology from Fuller Theological Seminary and is the author/editor of more than twenty books, including Religion, Politics and Dissent in the Long Eighteenth Century (2010), co-edited with William Gibson, along with numerous articles that include contributions to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.