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Studies In The Anticatholic Origins Of The Anglo-American Self, John Patrick Thaddeus Barrington

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Anticatholicism in the early modern, English-speaking world was far more than a crude prejudice. Instead, anticatholic ideas and rhetoric provided an important stimulus for public discussion of a wide range of theological, political, economic, and social issues. Hatred of the Catholic Church was a vital factor in the early development of the public sphere in the English Empire.;The question of English, Protestant identity was central to much of the discourse that took place in the public sphere. Although all participants in this discourse agreed about certain elements of what constituted "popery" and English Protestantism, there was wide disagreement about other …