Dissenters and Nonconformists: Phenomena of Religious Deviance Between the British Isles and the European Continent by Thomas Hahn-Bruckart
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Dissenters and Nonconformists: Phenomena of Religious Deviance Between the British Isles and the European Continent by Thomas Hahn-Bruckart The terms "Dissenters" and "Nonconformists" traditionally refer to adherents of Christian groups that separated from or were established outside of the Anglican state church (or "established" church) in early modern England. In the metalinguistic sense, however, these terms can also be used for examples of religious deviance that manifested themselves in social forms in other historical and local contexts in modern Europe, and which were brought about by different circumstances and transfer processes. Ensuing from the traditional meaning of the terms, this article investigates the transfer context of the developments in Great Britain, illuminating exchange processes with the Netherlands in particular, and also relates it to the formation of "Free Churches" on the European continent. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Theory: Norm Creation and Deviance 2. Prior Histories: Religious Nonconformism and Dissent in the Late Middle Ages and the Reformation 3. Dissenters and Nonconformists in Great Britain – and the Netherlands: a History of Relations 4. "Dissenters" in other parts of the Continent? On the Entanglement of Deviating Groups with the English-Dutch Developments 5. British Dissenters and the Formation of Free Churches in Continental Europe: Connections 6. Effects 7. Appendix 1. Literature 2. Notes Indices Citation Theory: Norm Creation and Deviance The terms "Dissenter", "Nonconformist" and also "Separatist" are all relational terms, which arose out of an emphasis on deviation from norms created by groups that were dominant within society.1 They were thus examples of "self" and "other" categorizations that were often connected with value judgements and referred to processes of the formation and the enforcement of norms at a particular point in time. In modern Europe, in the area of religion it was predominantly a state church or at least a church privileged by the authorities that laid down such norms – both as regards the doctrinal content to be adopted and the behavioural norms to be adhered to. In the academic literature, the distinction is thus sometimes made between "Dissent", which tended to imply conflict with orthodox doctrine, and "Nonconformism", which tended to refer to deviations from orthodox practice.2 Research on deviating behaviour has entered historical studies from sociology and has focused in historical studies primarily on questions of criminality and research on marginal social groups. Nonconformism – particularly of the religious kind – fundamentally represented a destabilizing element in the cultural and social order, which the observer either viewed as a productive innovation or as a destructive danger, depending on his/her individual values.3 ▲1 Prior Histories: Religious Nonconformism and Dissent in the Late Middle Ages and the Reformation The "destructive danger" mode of interpretation manifested itself most potently in church history in the form of heresy trials, which were used to eliminate forms of deviation from church doctrine as far as possible and to minimize the danger to the social structure of the church. Of particular significance in the British context in this regard was the pre-Reformation movement known as the Lollards. This movement, which was based on the teachings of John Wycliffe (ca. 1330–1384) (➔ Media Link #ae) and which was fed by desire for reforms in the church and anti-clerical resentment, emphasized the equality of priests and lay people, devalued the sacraments compared with the Bible – which it was argued could be interpreted by any believer – and also pointed to the New Testament as a model and standard for the external structure of the church. The Lollards themselves did not found their own church structure. Instead, they held gatherings in their homes. Up to the 1530s, they were persecuted as heretics and are viewed as having been a "precursor of the Reformation" in England.4 ▲2 During the Reformation, which began on the continent earlier than in England, it was primarily Anabaptists and spiritualists who were marginalized because their positions deviated from those established by the authorities, and they are represented in the historiography as "deviating" forms of Reformation upheaval. The existence of very heterogeneous Anabaptist movements, which nonetheless share the principle – albeit with varying emphases – of adult baptism, is documented in the southern German linguistic region from 1525 onward, in the northern German and Dutch linguistic region from 1530 onward, in Italy from about 1540 and from 1565 in the form of the Anabaptist-Antitrinitarian Polish brethren. This list already demonstrates that the traditional narrow focus both of normative Benderian research and of revisionist Anabaptist research5 on German and Dutch Anabaptism should be dispensed with – particularly if one is investigating how the different contexts influenced and affected each other.6 Conceptualizations of a voluntary church were perceived as being politically explosive, as they undermined both the basis of the late-medieval social order and the national-church approaches of the Reformation leaders. In the Netherlands, the Anabaptists – in the form of the Mennonites – were granted a limited degree of toleration from 1570 onward. The Mennonites also received a legal status outside of the usual estate order in a number of territories of the Holy Roman Empire and in the kingdom of Poland in the 16th century, which generated additional income for the authorities in those territories due to the economic power of the Anabaptists. Due to this pressure to be economically successful, but also due to their strong internal discipline, Anabaptist groups tolerated in this way tended to behave in a way that Michael Driedger (*1967) (➔ Media Link #ah) has described as "conforming nonconformity", that is, behaviour that compensates for religious deviation by intensively fulfilling the norms and expectations of society and of the authorities.7 Even though the historiography of Anabaptism does to a degree trace connections back to pre-Reformation movements, some of which – such as the Bohemian Brethren – used baptism as a means of conversion, there is no dependable historical evidence for this.8 Contrary to research of the 1960s, which made a much greater effort to establish clear classifications, more recent research places much greater emphasis on the transitions and grey areas between Anabaptism and spiritualism.9 ▲3 Dissenters and Nonconformists in Great Britain – and the Netherlands: a History of Relations There is a certain plausibility to the thesis that the movements described above – along with Calvinism (➔ Media Link #al), which emerged subsequently – played a not insignificant role in the emergence of English Dissent. The continuity between the latter and Lollard traditions seems obvious, though it is very difficult to prove in individual cases. But it is very probable that there was a connection between English Dissent and Anabaptist views. There are indications that Anabaptist views had spread to England and proof that Anabaptists were subjected to persecution there as early as the 1530s,10 and also a larger number of sources from the mid- 16th century that prove that not only Dutch religious refugees but also English people propounded and adapted elements specifically of Melchiorite theology. This can be observed particularly clearly in regions with older Lollard traditions – which would appear to support the thesis of a connection between the two strands.11 It is also clear from the contemporary heresiological vocabulary that the term "Anabaptist" (➔ Media Link #am) was used to refer to those people who propounded "radical" views that were close to those of the Lollards and that were inspired by "heterodox" views from the Netherlands – without this necessarily being connected with a focus on believer’s baptism (baptism exclusively of people who are old enough to make an independent profession of faith).12 ▲4 This already hints at the fact that the Netherlands was a space with which Great Britain was connected in numerous ways. On the one hand, there were the economic relationships, while on the other hand there was an intensive exchange in the area of religion, which in the 16th century initially consisted primarily of flows of religious refugees between the two countries. Initially, supporters of the Reformation of various hues from the southern provinces of the Netherlands sought refuge in England in the mid-16th century, which – along with refugees from other parts of the continent after the Augsburg Interim of 1548 – gave rise to separate foreign congregations. There were concentrations of Dutch people in London, Norwich, Canterbury, Colchester, Yarmouth, Southampton, Maidstone and Sandwich in particular.13 Then during the reign of Mary Tudor (1516–1558) (➔ Media Link #an), English Protestants – who mainly belonged to the upper class – left England for the sake of their religious beliefs and predominantly settled in Protestant cities on the continent (Emden, Basel, Aarau, Zürich, Geneva, Antwerp).14 The Netherlands only became a potential haven on a much larger scale later on, after freedom of conscience was proclaimed in the Union of Utrecht of 1579, which occurred in the context of the division of the Netherlands between 1566 and 1585 and which formed the basis of the republic in the north. The Reformed church was privileged; but in general the northern Netherlands