The discussion that took place between Theodore Beza and Jacob Andreae during the Colloquy of Montbeliard in 1586 highlights the differences among the French Reformed doctrine, the doctrine derived from the Basle Reformation, and the Lutheran doctrine. It also makes very clear how consistendy the Genevan Reformers related their sacramental theology, their understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit, and their doctrine of predestination.
the local communities and explains why this "third estate" did not achieve supremacy by supplanting the gentry or forestalling the hierarchy. On a more spiritual plane he sketches the interior synthesis of its collective experience at which the community arrived in its devotional life between 1750 and 1840. In a concluding (but not convincing) chapter, following up his earlier, scattered comparisons of Catholics with dissenters, he tries to assign a place to the community in the tradition of English nonconformity. Dr. Bossy does not give a narrative history of the Catholic Church in England. He presupposes that the reader is already aware of the political and ecclesiastical events that determined the mode of its perseverance through these centuries. He does not recount, for example, the enactment or enforcement of the penal laws, the execution, imprisonment, and other punishments of Catholics for their religion, their relations with the papacy or with the Catholic powers, their founding of seminaries, colleges, and religious houses on the continent, their actual or alleged involvement in plots and conspiracies, their internal dissensions and rivalries (with a few exceptions), or their eventual winning of relief and emancipation. Instead of narration he offers interpretation. Consequently, this book would be more baffling than enlightening to those who are seeking a first acquaintance with the history of English Catholicism. To those, on the other hand, who wish to study its development at a more profound level Dr. Bossy gives fresh and stimulating, if not always definitive, answers to new and penetrating questions.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.