Vestments controversy

The vestments controversy arose in the English Reformation, ostensibly concerning vestments, but more fundamentally concerned with English Protestant identity, doctrine, and various church practices. First initiated by John Hooper's rejection of clerical vestments in the Church of England under Edward VI and revived under Elizabeth I, the controversy sheds much light on the development of English forms of Puritanism and Anglicanism, though both of these are problematically broad labels covering a manifold of different positions.

Related Topics:
English Reformation - Vestment - Protestant - John Hooper - Clerical - Church of England - Edward VI - Elizabeth I - Puritanism - Anglicanism

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The vestments controversy is also known as the vestiarian crisis or, especially in its Elizabethan manifestation, the edification crisis. The latter term arose from the debate over whether or not vestments, if they are deemed a "thing indifferent" (adiaphora), should be tolerated if they are "edifying" — that is, beneficial. Their indifference and beneficial status were key points of disagreement. The term "edification" comes from 1 Corinthians 14.26, which reads in the 1535 Miles Coverdale version: "How is it then brethren? Whan ye come together, euery one hath a psalme, hath doctryne, hath a tunge, hath a reuelacion, hath an interpretacion. Let all be done to edifyenge".

Related Topics:
Adiaphora - 1 Corinthians - 1535 - Miles Coverdale

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As Norman Jones writes, "edification became one of the chief duties of the supreme head or governor of the church of England and was enshrined in the laws which enforced Protestantism in the reigns of Edward VI and Elizabeth. Combined with the belief that most of the externals of worship were adiaphora, the concept of edification justified and circumscribed the monarch's right to intervene in the church's affairs". In section 13 of the Act of Uniformity, the monarch had the authority "to ordeyne and publishe suche further Ceremonies or rites as maye bee most meet for the advancement of Goddes Glorye, the edifieing of his church and the due Reverance of Christes holye mistries and Sacramentes".

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