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Anti-Arminians: The Anglican Reformed Tradition from Charles II to George I
This book is a study of the Anglican Reformed tradition (often inaccurately described as Calvinist) after the Restoration. Hampton sets out to revise our picture of the theological world of the later Stuart period. Arguing that the importance of the Reformed theological tradition has frequently been underestimated, his study points to a network of conforming reformed theologians which included many of the most prominent churchmen of the age. Focusing particularly on what these churchmen contributed in three hotly disputed areas of doctrine (justification, the Trinity and the divine attributes), he argues that the most significant debates in speculative theology after 1662 were the result of the Anglican Reformed resistance to the growing influence of continental Arminianism.
Hampton demonstrates the strength and flexibility of the Reformed response to the developing Arminian school, and shows that the Reformed tradition remained a viable theological option for Anglicans well into the eighteenth century. This study therefore provides a significant bridge linking the Reformed writes of the Elizabethan and early Stuart periods to the Reformed Evangelicals of the eighteenth century. It also shows that, throughout its formative period, Anglicanism was not a monolithic tradition, but rather a contested ground between the competing claims of those adhering to the Church of England's Reformed doctrinal heritage and the insights of those who, to varying degrees, were prepared to explore new theological avenues.
Hampton demonstrates the strength and flexibility of the Reformed response to the developing Arminian school, and shows that the Reformed tradition remained a viable theological option for Anglicans well into the eighteenth century. This study therefore provides a significant bridge linking the Reformed writes of the Elizabethan and early Stuart periods to the Reformed Evangelicals of the eighteenth century. It also shows that, throughout its formative period, Anglicanism was not a monolithic tradition, but rather a contested ground between the competing claims of those adhering to the Church of England's Reformed doctrinal heritage and the insights of those who, to varying degrees, were prepared to explore new theological avenues.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published May 29, 2008
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July 9, 2018
Hampton explains several things in this fascinating study. First, he explains how the Restoration Stuart period was not simply a monolithic collapse into Socinianism, but that there was a strong and vocal remnant of Reformed orthodoxy within the ranks of the Church of England. This is was accounts for the Evangelical awakening. Secondly, he notes that the descent in Socinianism was precipitated by the influence of Arminianism. This is what explains the shift toward moralism.
Something that is suggested, but not developed (because it was outside the scope of the book's subject) is that the fall of the Anglican Church into Socinianism and moralism is a direct result of a faulty doctrine of the Trinity – and that this faulty doctrine of the Trinity is at the heart of Arminianism. This explains why the Church of England's descent into Socinianism (i,e., denial of the Trinity, denial of Christ's deity, etc) came right on the heels of her acceptance of Arminian teachings on justification. Hampton closes the book with these statements:
“As we have seen, the major controversies in speculative theology which divided the post-Restoration Church, were sparked by an attempt to promote the new Arminian system. George Bull's Harmonia Apostolica is deeply marked by the influence of Simon Episcopius; William Sherlock's Vindication represents a creative development of the views of Jean Leclerc; Samuel Clarke's of the Scripture-Doctrine of the Trinity is little more than a republication of the Trinitarian teaching of Etienne de Courcelles. The defining controversies of this period are, in other words, the result of an Arminian gambit, and the Reformed reaction which it provoked.
“Admittedly, it was not the Reformed who finally saw off Samuel Clarke's version of Arianism; though they consistently advanced a Christology which ran counter to his. Nonetheless, it was precisely the Reformed response to Bull and then to Sherlock, which created the two controversies first on justification and then on the Trinity, which were the loudest intra-Anglican theological debates of the later seventeenth century. Lurking behind all these debates there was also a growing divide within the Church of England about the nature of God, a divide which resulted from the adoption of advanced Arminian ideas by Anglican writers.”
Something that is suggested, but not developed (because it was outside the scope of the book's subject) is that the fall of the Anglican Church into Socinianism and moralism is a direct result of a faulty doctrine of the Trinity – and that this faulty doctrine of the Trinity is at the heart of Arminianism. This explains why the Church of England's descent into Socinianism (i,e., denial of the Trinity, denial of Christ's deity, etc) came right on the heels of her acceptance of Arminian teachings on justification. Hampton closes the book with these statements:
“As we have seen, the major controversies in speculative theology which divided the post-Restoration Church, were sparked by an attempt to promote the new Arminian system. George Bull's Harmonia Apostolica is deeply marked by the influence of Simon Episcopius; William Sherlock's Vindication represents a creative development of the views of Jean Leclerc; Samuel Clarke's of the Scripture-Doctrine of the Trinity is little more than a republication of the Trinitarian teaching of Etienne de Courcelles. The defining controversies of this period are, in other words, the result of an Arminian gambit, and the Reformed reaction which it provoked.
“Admittedly, it was not the Reformed who finally saw off Samuel Clarke's version of Arianism; though they consistently advanced a Christology which ran counter to his. Nonetheless, it was precisely the Reformed response to Bull and then to Sherlock, which created the two controversies first on justification and then on the Trinity, which were the loudest intra-Anglican theological debates of the later seventeenth century. Lurking behind all these debates there was also a growing divide within the Church of England about the nature of God, a divide which resulted from the adoption of advanced Arminian ideas by Anglican writers.”
April 12, 2018
Hampton explains that what happened in the Restoration Stuart period was not an unbridled descent into Socinianism and moralism, which was only halted by the Evangelical awakening, but rather there was a robust Reformed voice within Anglicanism. The growth of Socinianism was precipitated by the Arminian resurgence, which accelerated the shift toward moralism. But what emerges is quite a different picture of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
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