England's Radical Reformation

England's Reformation was supposed to bind the nation into a single 'Church of England'. In fact the country was shattered into a kaleidoscope of religious variety. Amid the confusion, a few English people embraced radical possibilities: mystics turned religion into an allegory, separatists created democratic, self-governing communes, utopians explored ideas ranging from pacifism to full-blown revolution. This lecture traces how this radical edge of the English Reformation helped shape some of the most apparently secular aspects of the modern world.A lecture by Alec RyrieThe transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/radical-reformationGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollegeSupport the show