Doctrine of grace in the Caroline Divines (1625-1685)

Abstract

The crucial issue of the doctrine of grace in the formative period of the Church of England's life and thought constitutes the theological thought and historical background of this thesis. This work represents, through an examination of primary source material, an attempt to place the Church's thinking at this period within the continuity of Reformed thought with particular reference to the doctrine of torace.

The Method by which this attempt is curried through is set forth in the first two chapters. Ry a critical examination of the works of some of the leading bishops the distinctive element in their thought concerning the doctrine of grace is presented. This element, the eschatological dimension of grace, is an internal framework indigenous to the thought forms of the Caroline writers. The attempt to let the writers speak their own words is a conscious part of the method employed.

Using their own words is a conscious part of the method employed. The period under consideration abounded in some of the greatest controversies ever to confront the Church of England, the ever present struggle with the Church of Rome from without, the puritan conflict within and the numerous heretical opinions given vent to by a growing rationalistic spirit. These controversies centred around some of the fundamental doctrines of the Church and the bishops of the Church of England were fully involved in the continuous theological debates. The last four chapters of the dissertation examine, the doctrine of grace in the light of the controversial issues and this means a structure of Caroline thought has been erected.

A brief examination of the immediate pre Caroline period has been presented in the third chapter and a line of theological thought has been drawn from the Reformation era to show that the Reformed thought in the church of England, though at times modified by a different historic situation, was maintained by the Caroline bishops. It is of course true, as pointed out in the thesis, that the Carolines did not speak with a unanimous voice but within the total structure of thought in the Church of England its Reformed heritage is unmistakeably seen.