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Here isa plea to save the English parish church, still standing after the convulsionsof the Reformation, the English civil war and social alteration. Roy Strongwould like to see the churches preserved, just as he strove to preserve Englishcountry houses and country gardens while he was director of the Victoria and AlbertMuseum in London in the 1970s.
Earlyworship by Christians was deeply spiritual, ritualistic and physical. Images ofsaints adorned the walls of the church, where parishioners came for allthe sacraments that represented the life cycle of ordinary people. Feastdays and saints' days were many, the congregation stood during services,coming and going, talking and kneeling. The building boom of elaboratelybeautiful churches reached its height in the 14th and 15th centuries.
TheReformation began in the 1530s, but lasted way beyond Thomas Cromwell'sdissolution of the monasteries, with the government of evangelical EdwardVI continuing the work of stripping the churches and banning ritual.Worshippers were ordered to cease their devotions to images or relics, or“kissing or licking the same”. What the parishioner lost was enormous. Thechurch was the meeting place for the community as well as a place of worship.Churchgoers were left to stare at a whitewashed wall, or an empty niche where a statue of the Virginonce stood. People were forced to give up religious ceremonies practised for1,000 years. It is surprising how little rebellion there was.
Yetthese upheavals were nothing, Sir Roy claims, in comparison to the puritanical purges of the civil war, during themid-1600s, which devastated not only the fabric of the church but also thesocial communion of the congregation. Moreover, theloss of income, particularly from banning the making and selling of church ales,meant that the buildings started to crumble. The book's illustrations showchurches stripped bare and others in which the gaudy tombs of the elite have replaced images of saints. A reusablecoffin from the civil-war period (shown above) is an unfortunate early sign ofrecycling.
TheGeorgian era was not just a peaceful one for the church, but also an apparentlylackadaisical one. Churches were restored and “exuded the light andclarity of the age of Enlightenment”. Most welcome of all, there was a returnto music, introduced gently, so as not to bear the faintest whiff of popery.The aristocracy ran the parish church, their tenant farmers and workers makingup the congregation. Plaques andfamily pews proliferated; the gentryeven had their own fireplaces in some churches. They nearly always grabbed thejob of clergyman for their sons. One historian called it “the age ofnegligence”, as the clergy distanced themselves from the congregation andabsented themselves from their pastoral ministry.
Sir Royends with the church facing an uncertain future in the 21st century. He doesindeed cover the whole story in a relatively “little” book. For his account ofthe Reformation, he draws from Eamon Duffy's “The Stripping of the Altars”(Yale, 1992). And this is ideal further reading for those keen to find outmore.
1. The book mentioned in this passage is most probably _____
[A] a plea to save the English parish church.
[B] on the ups and downs of the English parish church.
[C] about the change of design and style of the English parish church.
[D] on the history of the English parish church since the beginning of Christianity.
2. Which one of the following statements is TRUE of the Reformation?
[A] The Reformation was not ended until Thomas Cromwell’s dissolution of the monasteries.
[B] The government of Edward VI was not against the Reformation.
[C] The Reformation was carried out so as to banish the religious belief.
[D] The Reformation was causing less damage than the civil war to the church.
3 The puritanical purges in civil war are different from the Reformation in affecting the church in the following aspects except_____
[A] destroying the social communion of the church.
[B] cutting off the earnings of the church.
[C] devastated the buildings.
[D] banning the sale of church ales.
4. The Georgian ear was called by one historian as “the age of negligence” because_____
[A] the aristocracy neglected the presence of the clergy.
[B] the clergy did not function their duty.
[C] the churches were neglected by the Reformation.
[D] the aristocracy disregarded the original ceremonies.
5. In the last sentence of this passage, “this” refers to _____
[A] “The Stripping of the Altars”.
[B] Sir Roy’s “little” book.
[C] Sir Roy’s account of the Reformation.
[D] the history of the parish church.
[答案]
1. B
2. B
3. C
4. B
5. A
