ABSTRACT
The events at Oxford were one episode in a series of doctrinal controversies within the early Stuart church which have attracted the detailed attention of historians. Much of the current interest in Stuart theology can be traced to the pioneering work of Nicholas Tyacke. It is helpful briefly to review this work and the debate it has generated. The first part of Tyacke’s thesis has been subjected to extensive criticism in recent years. According to Peter White, it is unreasonable to claim that Calvinism was the dominant theology of the English church before the accession of Charles I. The reform of church buildings was promoted on a national scale by the metropolitan visitation in 1635, and codified in the canons of 1640. These canons were supported vigorously by John Doughtie, who declared that “there was nothing in them to be disliked”, and suggested that the parliament would have opposed them had they been issued by St Paul himself.
