Christianity

Simonds D’Ewes: A Puritan at Cambridge

Simonds D’Ewes’ record of his personal experiences gives us a vivid picture of University life at the beginning of the seventeenth century, as seen by a devout young Protestant with “an insatiable appetite for sermons.” By Meyrick H. Carré.

Angels: the History of an Idea

S.G.F. Brandon explains how the images of angelic ministrants that play so large a part in Christian symbolism were derived by European painters and sculptors from the religious conceptions of the ancient Near East.

How Soapy was Sam? A Study of Samuel Wilberforce

Despite being denounced by Huxley as a man who used high gifts to discredit humble seekers after truth, David Newsome writes of how this Victorian prelate has also been acclaimed as the greatest bishop of his age.

The Convocation of 1563

J.C. Barry looks at how the Thirty-Nine Articles, defining the doctrine of the Church of England, were drawn up by a Convocation that met in London in the 16th century.

The Devil in Faith and History

S.G.F. Brandon suggests the influence of the idea of the Devil in Christian culture has been profound, inspiring both noble works of art and the most degrading superstitions.

The Birth of the Old Pretender

J.P. Kenyon describes how, in 1688, there were weighty reasons to suppose that the new royal heir was a changeling, smuggled to the Palace in a warming pan.

The Architecture of Dissent

Esther Moir brings us on a visit to the Nonconformist chapels of England, products of a long tradition in vernacular architecture, and well adapted to the needs of local worshippers.

Church and State in Russia

J.H. Shennan offers a study of the relationship between Russian Orthodoxy and the secular power in the time of the Tsars.

The Exclusion Crisis, Part I

J.P. Kenyon describes how the childlessness of the Queen, and the conversion of James, Duke of York, to Roman Catholicism, produced a febrile state of opinion in Restoration London, out of which rumours of a “Popish Plot” naturally arose.

Ochrida: Holy City of Bulgaria

Anthony Bryer explains how Byzantines, Bulgars and Serbs all left their imprint on medieval Macedonia; for six turbulent centuries the Churches of Ochrida exerted a powerful influence on Balkan politics and Eastern Christianity.