ABSTRACT

The oath, then, was remarkably important not only for the political aspect of the relationship between Catholicism and the English regime, but also from a more strictly theologico-religious standpoint. Once the king enacted a measure designed to separate political obedience from religious beliefs, both the Church of Rome and the Church of England found themselves constrained, in this new context, to reconceive certain central elements in the definition of their doctrine and their rapport with one another.