Fundamentally revising our understanding of the nature and intellectual contours of early English Protestantism, Karl Gunther argues that sixteenth-century English evangelicals were calling for reforms and envisioning godly life in ways that were far more radical than have hitherto been appreciated. Typically such ideas have been seen as later historical developments, associated especially with radical Puritanism, but Gunther's work draws attention to their development in the earliest decades of the English Reformation. Along the way, the book offers new interpretations of central episodes in this period of England's history, such as the 'Troubles at Frankfurt' under Mary and the Elizabethan vestments controversy. By shedding new light on early English Protestantism, the book ultimately casts the later development of Puritanism in a new light, enabling us to re-situate it in a history of radical Protestant thought that reaches back to the beginnings of the English Reformation itself.

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This article examines the development of Protestant thought in early Elizabethan England by analysing James Pilkington's 1560 commentary on the Old Testament book of Aggeus (Haggai). Pilkington's commentary contained ideas about the Church and its reform that had deep affinities with radical Marian Protestant thought about purity, separation and resistance to ungodly monarchs. The way in which Pilkington transformed these ideas in a time of Protestant political ascendancy provides valuable insights into the nature and development of English Puritanism. J ames Pilkington was an influential figure within the early Elizabethan Church of England. He was Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge from 1550 until the death of Edward VI and, after spending Mary's reign in peripatetic exile, returned to Cambridge in February 1559, where he quickly became Master of St John's College and Regius Professor of Divinity. 1 An active preacher at court and St Paul's during the early 1560s, Pilkington played a role in crafting the new religious settlement through his work on the Book of Common Prayer, the Thirty-Nine Articles and the Book of Homilies. 2 At Cambridge, he also played an important role in Earlier versions of this article were delivered to audiences at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference and the 'Religious History of Britain, 1500-1800 ' seminar at the Institute for Historical Research. I would like to thank these audiences, as well as Peter Marshall, David Como, Tom Freeman, Peter Lake and an anonymous reader for this JOURNAL for their helpful comments. Special thanks go to Ethan Shagan for reading and commenting upon several drafts of the article. I would also like to thank the Trustees of Dr Williams's Library for permission to quote from the Morrice manuscripts.