Nicodemism an the English Calvin, 1544-1584 / / Kenneth J. Woo.

• Superior document: Brill's Series in Church History and Religious Culture ; Volume 78
• VerfasserIn: Woo, Kenneth J.,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2019]; ©2019
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Brill's series in church history and religious culture ; Volume 78.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

In Nicodemism and the English Calvin Kenneth J. Woo reassesses John Calvin's decades-long attack against Nicodemism, which Calvin described as evangelicals playing Catholic to avoid hardship or persecution. Frequently portrayed as a static argument varying little over time, the reformer's anti-Nicodemite polemic actually was adapted to shifting contexts and diverse audiences. Calvin's strategic approach to Nicodemism was not lost on readers, influencing its reception in England. Quatre sermons (1552) presents Calvin's anti-Nicodemism in the only sermons he personally prepared for publication. By setting this work in its original context and examining its reception in five sixteenth-century English editions, Woo demonstrates how Calvin and others deployed his rhetoric against Nicodemism to address concerns having little to do with religious dissimulation.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- List of Illustrations -- Calvin Against the Nicodemites …. Again? -- Exile as Apology: Quatre Sermons and the Diverse Goals of Calvin’s Anti-Nicodemism -- The Religious Context of Calvin’s Anti-Nicodemism in England -- Unintended Consequences: Quatre Sermons in England—The Translations of 1561, 1581, and 1584 -- A Justification of Flight: Robert Horne’s 1553 Translation -- A Subtler Admonition: John Field’s Anti-Nicodemism -- The Story of Quatre Sermons in England (and Geneva) -- Back Matter -- Appendix on Terminology -- Bibliography -- Index.