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Thomas Goodwin and the Debate on Church Government

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

David Walker
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Extract

When the Westminster Assembly convened in 1643, English puritans were confident that their effort to reform the government and liturgy of the Church of England would at last be completed. Their expectations were not fulfilled. In the early sessions of the Assembly the ‘dissenting brethren’, a group of clerical Independents led by Thomas Goodwin, opposed the establishment of a national Church on a Presbyterian model. The Independents claimed to be as orthodox as the other members of the Assembly in matters of doctrine, but they could find in scripture no ground for synods exercising the authority of excommunication. So deep was the dissension they created that, in spite of all Presbyterian attempts at reconciliation, spiritual harmony was not restored to the puritan crusade.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , January 1983 , pp. 85 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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References

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