Westminster Assembly

Historical Context Essay

Chad Van Dixhoorn (Reformed Theological Seminary)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.04: English Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century, 1625-1688.
Vol. editors: Jennifer Brady (Rhodes College), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne), Claire Preston (Queen Mary, University of London), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University)

Domains

Church of England (Anglicans)
Moral and Religious Reform

Dates

Date of occurrence 1643-1653

Places

England (Location)

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

The Westminster assembly took its name from the abbey in which it met from 1643-1653. The assembly, comprised of one hundred and twenty theologians and thirty members of parliament, had been summoned by the Long Parliament and was known to British and Irish contemporaries as “the assembly of divines”, and to foreign observors as “the synod of London”.

Called to reform the doctrine, liturgy, and discipline of the Church of England, the gathering had its hand in one of the most significant revolutions in the history of that church. For decades the English parliament had been expressing its discontent, and then its resentment, with the growth and perceived abuse of episcopal power. James VI and I and Charles I and their courtiers were unresponsive to these complaints. More than that,

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

3808 words

Citation: Van Dixhoorn, Chad. "Westminster Assembly". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 December 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=13891, accessed 27 November 2024.]

Westminster Assembly

Domains

Dates

Places

Resources

Save this article

Leave Feedback