The Edwardian Church, with its significant reforms and implementation of evangelical theology and practices, tends to be overlooked in Reformation scholarship. Stephen Tong’s new work exploring and recognizing the Edwardian Reformation as a pivotal moment in establishing and charting the Church of England on a new course is a compelling, robust addition to Reformation studies. His work seeks to frame the Book of Common Prayer as “the quintessential expression of mid-Tudor evangelical ecclesiology” (p. 13). Tong challenges existing scholarship by contending that the reforms of the Edwardian Church with regard to public worship transpired within a context of liturgical reformation, specifically within the categories of preaching, the sacraments, and sabbath observance.

Examining the Edwardian Homilies as a case study, Tong sketches the priorities of the Edwardian evangelicals in their preaching, tracing the transformation of the sermon within the “renewed liturgical fabric” of the Church of England (p. 66). He avers that it was the sermons of the Edwardian Church, not those of the Henrician Reformation, that demonstrated a paradigm shift in the religious culture. The content of the sermons paralleled that of the Homilies – a robust exposition of the Bible, a lucid articulation of evangelical doctrine, and a solifidian gospel. The Reformation tenet of and commitment to sola scriptura was on display in these sermons. For the evangelicals, the Bible was the impetus for both the theological content and the devotional facets of the sermons. However, the Edwardian sermons also became political instruments and voices of protest against the Roman Catholic Church and popular subversion during King Edward VI’s reforms, namely the Western Rising in 1549.

Tong’s assessment of sacramental practice by the Edwardian Church delves beyond the individual focus on and participation of the sacraments, a theme which is often portrayed in scholarship. He teases out the communal emphases of the Lord’s Supper and baptism as articulated by the Edwardian evangelicals themselves. The dominating theme in the evangelicals’ treatises concerning the sacraments was one of unity. The theological thrust of the Lord’s Supper was for “true believers to celebrate their fellowship as members of the invisible True Church” (p. 95). Likewise, the liturgy and practice of baptism was a unifying feature for the Edwardian Church in that it distinguished the Church of England from both the Anabaptists and the Roman Catholics. Evangelical treatises on baptism had a polemical edge in repudiating the credobaptism of the Anabaptists and the baptismal regeneration of the Roman Catholic Church.

The evangelicals’ view of the Sabbath Day and how Christians were to observe it were diverse within the Edwardian Church. Tong links the debate over the Sabbath to the larger discussion of adiaphora, demonstrating from Henrician and Edwardian texts that there was no uniform opinion or position on the matter within the evangelical community. He asserts that the Henrician evangelicals held to a figurative interpretation of the Sabbath, that is, it was not confined to a particular day of the week. Rather, the Sabbath was a spiritual Sabbath in that it could be observed on any day because all days were equally sacred to God. The Edwardian evangelicals, however, recognized the Sabbath Day as a literal day on which the catholic church was to gather on the Lord’s Day, Sunday, to worship as a corporate body. The weakness in Tong’s argument is that he devotes space almost solely to John Hooper’s literalist, “covenantal” position, with a brief excursion into Bucer’s similar position, but the assumption is made without textual evidence that all other Edwardian evangelicals took similar positions.

In the remaining chapters, Tong explores the reasons why the Edwardian Church retained episcopacy within its ecclesiological structure. He revisits the Vestiarian Controversy and reads that debate as “an allegory of the divisions within the wider evangelical community” (p. 162). While Tong correctly notes the Continental exchange of theological positions regarding adiaphora, including the linkage between England, Zurich, and Strasbourg, he curiously overlooks the significant sway of the Genevan Church and Calvin on the Edwardian evangelicals, Edward VI, and Protector Somerset. The final chapter addresses the role of John Bale in the Irish Church and stresses the international character of Bale’s ecclesiology. Using Bale’s Vocacyon as a case study, Tong examines the themes of patriotism, suffering and exile, and confessional identity. Bale’s primary contribution, he argues, was “to establish in the mind of the newly arrived refugees a positive memory of the Edwardian Reformation” (p. 225).

Though this work has many merits, there are some areas that hinder its larger argument. While the subtitle of the work references the Book of Common Prayer, a couple of chapters do not explicitly mention or integrate it into the arguments. Tong’s work occasionally ventures into broad statements without substantive textual support. For example, on pages 78–80, he explains that Nicholas Ridley “leaned on the authority of the Church Fathers,” yet only cites one in the section. On pages 103–107, archival data, particularly cases from church record books, would have strengthened some of the claims that were posited regarding discipline in the Edwardian Church. Tong utilizes the terms “evangelicals” and the anachronistic term from the Edwardian perspective, “Protestants,” interchangeably throughout, but he never explains his rationale in doing so.

That aside, Tong’s work is a welcome, important addition to Edwardian Reformation studies. In the examination of his source material, he succeeds in underscoring the complexity, multi-dimensional nature, and often contentious theological and liturgical debates of the mid-Tudor Church. This book reminds scholars that the struggle for a “true church” in the mid-sixteenth century England, though fraught with conflict and turmoil among the evangelicals themselves, was a necessary catalyst for the Edwardian evangelicals in laying the foundations of the Church of England by crafting the Book of Common Prayer and establishing a liturgical and ecclesiological framework for the benefit of its congregants.