Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Medieval Angel, c. 1480–1530
- 2 The Protestant Angel, c. 1530–80
- 3 The Church of England Angel, c. 1580–1700
- 4 The Confessionalized Angel, c. 1580–1700
- 5 The Catholic Angel, c. 1550–1700
- 6 The People's Angel, c. 1550–1700
- 7 The Empirical Angel, c. 1650–1700
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Introduction
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Medieval Angel, c. 1480–1530
- 2 The Protestant Angel, c. 1530–80
- 3 The Church of England Angel, c. 1580–1700
- 4 The Confessionalized Angel, c. 1580–1700
- 5 The Catholic Angel, c. 1550–1700
- 6 The People's Angel, c. 1550–1700
- 7 The Empirical Angel, c. 1650–1700
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
A generation of men there is, who would have all the talk and enquiry about Angels and Spirits to pass for Old-wives stories, or at best the waking-dreams of persons idly disposed … Now, what pity and shame is it, when the holy Scriptures have told us so much and plainly concerning this excellent sort of Creatures, and the good turns we receive continually from their Attendance and Ministry, and the admirable vertues we have to copy out in their Example; and we Christians profess to expect the happiness of being made like unto them, and bless'd hereafter in their Society; we should yet continue so profane, and sceptical, and indifferent in our belief, esteem, thoughts, and speeches about them?
Despite what Protestant minister Benjamin Camfield suggests in this passage, angels, those spiritual beings that were one step down from God, one step up from men in the universal hierarchy, were not considered Old-Wives tales in early modern England. Rather, faith in the reality of their existence was commonplace. Belief about angels was a mainstay of the Christian church, and numerous responsibilities and theological assumptions were associated with these evocative and often mysterious supernatural beings.
In recent decades historians of the early modern period have become increasingly interested in many aspects of the supernatural, and subjects such as prodigies, portents, miracles and ghost stories have all attracted greater notice, supplementing the already extensive scholarship on witchcraft and demonology.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Angels and Belief in England, 1480–1700 , pp. 1 - 12Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014