The Historiographical Review: The Recent Historiography of the English Reformation analyses the four different views on how the Reformation came to be. The first two being fast paced but one being organized by above powers, the second being led by the people. The last two were slow paced with the third having influence from above and the last piloted by the people. These four views are supported by prominent historians who believe one of the four is how the Reformation took place.
The first of the views in this document is rapid Reformation from above whose main supporter is G.R. Elton. Elton strongly believes the reformation part of a greater reform program lead by Thomas Cromwell in the 1530s (p.995). There were two parts to the reformation, the political and the religious. The political reformation wanted to ‘nationalize’ the church and the religious wanted to diminish rising superstition from the churches. The government took control of the reformation movement by persuading the public with talks and propaganda; they also enforced change by invoking …show more content…
Duffy dives into the “Catholic revisionism” debate, which is that most revisionist are catholic but in reality most are Protestants. The Catholics think that they were terrorized by the evil new religion whereas the protestants thought they were being saved from the tyranny of Catholicism. Duffy sides with slow reformation from higher powers. As shown, “Reformation had not been achieved on a tidal wave of popular enthusiasm, but had to be worked for, by force, persuasion, and slow institutional transformation”. Like Williams, Duffy believes that the reformation came to be with the establishment of new laws and propaganda to convince the people. Duffy understood that for a reformation so grand to take place it needed time and not just be thrust upon the
The first of the views in this document is rapid Reformation from above whose main supporter is G.R. Elton. Elton strongly believes the reformation part of a greater reform program lead by Thomas Cromwell in the 1530s (p.995). There were two parts to the reformation, the political and the religious. The political reformation wanted to ‘nationalize’ the church and the religious wanted to diminish rising superstition from the churches. The government took control of the reformation movement by persuading the public with talks and propaganda; they also enforced change by invoking …show more content…
Duffy dives into the “Catholic revisionism” debate, which is that most revisionist are catholic but in reality most are Protestants. The Catholics think that they were terrorized by the evil new religion whereas the protestants thought they were being saved from the tyranny of Catholicism. Duffy sides with slow reformation from higher powers. As shown, “Reformation had not been achieved on a tidal wave of popular enthusiasm, but had to be worked for, by force, persuasion, and slow institutional transformation”. Like Williams, Duffy believes that the reformation came to be with the establishment of new laws and propaganda to convince the people. Duffy understood that for a reformation so grand to take place it needed time and not just be thrust upon the