Popular Religion in Sixteenth-Century England pp 96-154 | Cite as
Layfolk Alongside the Church
Abstract
The laity also revealed their religious sensibilities in ways that were connected a little less directly with the church. The line dividing one set of attitudes or actions from another is an arbitrary one, for the borders between ‘inside’ and ‘alongside’, or ‘compulsory’ and ‘voluntary’, are not marked by any clear fences. People could pass freely across them without realising that they were entering another zone. Nevertheless, these distinctions are useful in bringing some structure to the material, and in focusing our minds upon the blend of ‘have to’ and ‘want to’ ingredients that constituted early-modern popular religion.
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Layfolk alongside the Church
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