Despite the recent and thorough scholarly attention that the British reformations have received, there are still many lacunae within this period of interplay between religion and politics. The editors argue that the parish church is the perfect microcosm to understand how the “changes and clashes” in religion “were defined and played out” (10).

This collection draws upon the expertise of ten different historians all discussing separate pieces of corporate worship. Hannah Cleugh's essay explores the discrepancies between prescribed beliefs in the prayer books and what the congregants actually believed. Natalie Mear's essay explores liturgies and worship commissioned for special occasions to state and church. Bryan Spinks's essay concentrates on the importance of Elizabethan primers and their use between the reign Mary I and Elizabeth I. Alec Ryrie then considers how these reformations affected fasting, even changing it into a secular practice at times.

Chapters 5–7 all address some form of inquiry into the use and importance of music during this time. McCullough argues against the notion that the British reformations brought with them a hostility toward music in worship. Jonathan Willis argues that “organs, choirs, and choral polyphony did not disappear immediately upon Elizabeth's ascension” (132). Christopher Marsh's essay discusses the use of church bells in the community.

John Craig examines the importance of prayer in the life of the parish as well as the manner in which persons prayed. Trevor Cooper takes a more intimate look at the local parish life with an examination of the public worship of the parish of Little Gidding. Judith Maltby ends the collection with an essay discussing how the absence of the Book of Common Prayer during the interregnum allowed more experimentation and influenced the continuing development of Anglican worship even to this day. It is especially interesting how certain reform-minded clerics who opposed established prayers and sermons before the English Civil War later bemoaned having to come up with their own.

It is quite difficult to do a thorough review of this book as it is more like an encyclopedia than a work arguing one specific thesis. However, it provides an intriguing look into the parish life of early modern Britain and, when accompanied with Martin and Ryrie's initial volume (Private and Domestic Devotion in Early Modern Britain, St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History (Surrey, U.K.: Ashgate, 2012), will be a welcomed addition to the library of any serious student of early modern Britain.