Introduction: Church History as a Cultural System

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Acknowledgments vii
3. Contents xi
4. The Vale of Gloucester in the Vicinity of Tewkesbury xiii
5. Introduction: Church History as a Cultural System 1
6. I. Social Form, 1590–1690
7. 1. Reverend Histories: Geography and Landscape 25
8. 2. Parts, Persons, and Participants in the Commonwealth: Social Relations, Institutions, and Authority 45
9. 3. Under the Hand of God: Parish Communities and Rites of Mortality 86
10. II. Social Process, 1590–1690
11. 4. Circumcisions of the Heart: Church Courts, Social Relations, and Religious Conflict, 1591–1620 113
12. 5. A Circle of Order: The Politics of Religious Symbolism, 1631–1640 155
13. 6. To Unchurch a Church: Civil War and Revolution, 1642–1660 195
14. 7. Astraea Redux: Religious Conflict, Restoration, and the Parish, 1660–1665 245
15. 8. Bloody Stratagems and Busy Heads: Persecution, Avoidance, and the Structure of Religion, 1666–1689 261
16. Conclusion: Symbol and Boundary: Religious Belief, Ceremony, and Social Order 323
17. Appendix 1. Tables 331
18. Appendix 2. Accusations of Witchcraft in Tewkesbury 343
19. Notes 345
20. Manuscript Sources 439
21. Index 443