Arts of the Anglican Counter-Reformation

Arts of the Anglican Counter-Reformation: Glory, Laud, and Honour by Graham Parry, 192 pages

Graham Parry's book chronicles the history and products of the "beauty of holiness" movement that began in the reign of James I and reached its peak under Charles I.  The term "Anglican Counter-Reformation" proves oddly appropriate - as a description of an attempt to restore continuity with the pre-Reformation Church, as a recognition of the influences of continental Baroque art, music, and literature on the English, and as an alternative to terms like "Laudianism" which are overly narrow or "High Church" which are anachronistic.  This movement includes not only Hooker, Andrewes, and Laud, but also the Little Gidding community and the Metaphysical poets, along with other Anglicans who were affected by the spirit of the movement without accepting its theological foundation or ideological program.

It is this last group that Parry highlights.  In his account, the momentum of the aesthetic revival of early seventeenth century England was largely the result of the natural desire to honor God and beautify the world, and not exclusively the expression of partisan concerns, whether ecclesiastical or secular.  In this reading, the abuse of this movement by Charles I, Archbishop Laud, and their party provoked, or at least enhanced, the iconoclastic Puritan reaction.  It is possible that Parry overestimates the popularity of Puritanism, but he is clearly correct in his view that the products of the movement were essential to the maintenance of Anglicanism under the Protectorate.