The Freewillers in the English Reformation

In searching for the sources and origins of the liberal theology which toward the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century came to occupy an increasingly important position in English religious thought, historians invariably have turned their attention toward the Continent. Indeed, the impact of this approach suggested by the very label-"Arminianism"-which historically has attached itself to the new theological tendency. But in the preoccupation with continental influences some significant indigenous sources and precedents have been overlooked. The purpose of this article is to call attention to one such precedent-the activities and opinions of an obscure though important religious group which flourished during the reigns of Edward VI and Mary I and which were known to their contemporaries as the "Freewillers

English Reformation · Indigenous · Protestantism · Classics · History · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Religious studies

• The Doctrine of Predestination in the Early English Reformation

  Open Access•Dewey D Wallace•Church History•1974

  Add to list

• The Dry Bones of Quaker Theology

  Open Access•J William Frost•Church History•1970

  Add to list

• The Early English Dissenters in the Light of Recent Research, 1550-1641

  Williston Walker, Champlin Burrage•The American Historical Review•1912

  Add to list

• Tudor Puritanism

  John H Gleason, M M Knappen•The New England Quarterly•1939

  Add to list