The British Delegation and the Synod of Dort (1619-1619) by Anthony MiltonReview by: William den BoerThe Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 38, No. 3 (Fall, 2007), pp. 770-771Published by: The Sixteenth Century JournalStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20478500 .

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770 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXVIII/3 (2007)

The British Delegation and the Synod of Dort (1619-1619). Ed. Anthony Milton. Church of England Record Society 13. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2005. lix + 411 pp. f 60.00. ISBN 978-1-84383-157-0.

REVIEWED BY: William den Boer, Theological University Apeldoorn

With his punctual, carefully edited collection of many previously unpublished letters and other documents concerning the role which the British delegates played at "perhaps the most important Reformed synod to meet before modern times" (xviii), Anthony Milton has rendered a great service to a wide circle of scholars and interested readers.

Milton has divided the primary source material, which is placed in context by a useful introduction, into ten parts, and each part deals with an important aspect of the topic. The Latin documents are preceded by an adequate English summary, essential for anyone who cannot read Latin. This summary also encourages mastery of Latin, which is so important for the study of this period. The first four parts contain source materials dealing with the political and the theological background to the synod, the opening preliminaries of the synod, and the prosecution of the remonstrants. What is very interesting is the fifth part, which deals with the divisions among the British delegates themselves. At the Synod of Dort, Reformed theologians from across Europe gathered to discuss delicate theological themes: predestination, reprobation, the extent of the atonement by Christ, the way in

which grace works, the freedom of human will, human involvement in taking part in God's grace, the perseverance of the saints, and so forth, while in the background the different opinions about the relationship between church and state certainly played a part. Although all delegates gravitate toward the Genevan, Zurich, and Strasbourg Reformation (even by its opponents the gathering is described as "a Representative of all the Calvinian Churches of Europe" [cf. xviii]), during the synod also the mutual differences became manifest, not only between the different delegations from the diverse parts of Europe, such as for example between Bremen and the Palatinate, but also within the delegation of one country. This book documents positions of British delegates, specifically with respect to the second article of the Remonstrance on atonement. This, in turn, illustrates the doctrinal diversity repre sented by the Reformed churches of Europe. Therefore the Synod of Dort has been pre sented too often as representing unity. There was more difference among the delegates than perhaps the participants themselves would have wished to become commonly known. It was not very opportune for them to expand upon these differences. However, for a right view on the period around this synod, and for our knowledge of the situation of the Reformed churches of Europe at that moment, it is important to realize this fact. Now that we know this, the more astonishing it is to see that they could respect each other in subordinate ques tions, that they would not break down the synod or end in failure. The reason behind this was an awareness of the breadth of Reformed doctrine and, over against the Remonstrants, of complete agreement in the main points of it. In light of this fundamental unity, next the differently placed emphases deserve our full attention. In my opinion this research may lead to further-or broader-explanations of the canons of Dort than presently exist.

A reexamination and reassessment of the Synod of Dort is not only necessary with respect to the second article of the Remonstrance treated by the synod, but also with respect to the remaining topics handled by Milton in parts 6-10: "The Collegiate Suffrage of the British Divines," "The Canons of Dort," "After the Canons," "Aftermath of the Synod," and, the last part, "The Later Defence of the British Delegation." This present volume has raised good expectations for the second volume which Anthony Milton is preparing (in collaboration with Donald W. Sinnema). Provisionally entitled "The Genesis of the Canons

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Book Reviews 771

of Dort," it will reproduce some of the more substantial Latin documents and will be particularly concerned with materials relating to the draft canons of the synod and the British delegation's proposed amendments to them. I hope that these books are the first in a series of publications with documents and studies around the famous and infamous, known and unknown Synod of Dort. In this respect, the International Conference, 6-7 April 2006, held at the city of the synod and entitled "Re-examining the Synod of Dordt (1618-1619)" as one of the firstfruits of the publication of Milton's book, is a reason for hope.

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John Mirk's Festial: Orthodoxy, Lollardy, and the Common People in Fourteenth Century England. Judy Ann Ford. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2006. 168 pp. $80.00. ISBN 978-1-84384-001-5.

REVIEWED BY: Katherine L. French, SUNY-New Paltz

Judy Ford provides a long-overdue study of Mirk's sermon collection. Written some time in the 1380s by Augustinian canon John Mirk, the Festial enjoyed wide popularity in England up to and beyond the Reformation. Twenty-six complete or near complete manu script versions survive along with an additional twelve partial ones. Moreover, the Festial enjoyed twenty-four printed editions, two of which were by Caxton. While clearly a pop ular text in the Middle Ages, it has not received much scholarly attention because scholars have defined it as a mediocre imitation ofJacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend, which was written in the 1260s. Working from the Early English Text Society's published edition (ed. Theodore Erbe, EETS 96 [1905]), Ford argues that Mirk's work was far more innovative and radical than previously considered by scholars. By placing Mirk's modifications of the Golden Legend in the context of England's Revolt of 1381 and its early battles with Lollardy, Ford shows that Mirk crafted his sermons to steer the peasantry away from both heresy and rebel lion. In the process, he created a version of Christianity that promoted lay activism and agency within the bounds of orthodoxy and political subservience. The popularity of this work and Mirk's original vision of Christian practice are significant to understanding the evolution of late medieval religious practice. To understand Mirk's ideas, Ford focuses on the ideological implications of his exempla or illustrative stories, which taken together offer "an image of Christianity that fully accommodates a popular culture in the process of marginal ization by the literate culture of London and the court" (147).

After an introduction, which sets up England's political and religious situation, Ford advances her argument in four chapters. Drawing on the wealth of scholarship on literacy and literate practices, chapter 1 discusses the role of literacy and vernacular writing in both Lollardy and the Revolt of 1381. While vernacular writing and texts played important roles in both, most people were effectively excluded from participating in the written culture of both heresy and revolt because they were unable to read either Latin or English. It is to this group, potentially attracted to both, that Mirk directed his sermons. Chapter 2 discusses the role of the clergy within the context of the growing prominence of confession and the increasing importance of the doctrine of transubstantiation, both of which the Lollards denounced as part of their anticlerical stance. Over the course of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, confession and transubstantiation grew in importance and as a result they are critical to Mirk, while largely absent from Voragine. Mirk's exempla that address both issues adhered to the orthodox line on the clergy's necessity and promoted a vision of the laity as active in their ability to choose to receive the sacraments. The laity can encounter Christ, but only by choosing to go to confession or Mass. Narratively, the clergy are minor

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