Nonconformists

Terminology

Such believers are known in English as "Dissenters" or "Nonconformists," and Korean commonly renders both terms with a single word. An established church is the official church designated by the state through law, so the concept of Nonconformity is defined in relation to the established Church of England. Several Protestant movements were grouped together under this name, including Presbyterians, Independents (Congregationalists), Baptists, and Quakers.

Background

Through the English Reformation, the Church of England separated from Rome and became an established church with the monarch as its head. The established church retained government by bishops and worship according to the Book of Common Prayer. The Puritans regarded this reformation as still incomplete and argued that worship and church government required further reform. Their influence was considerable during the Puritan Revolution. However, with the accession of Charles II and the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, episcopacy was reestablished.

Development

• 1661: The Savoy Conference was convened to address questions concerning the Book of Common Prayer. The Great Ejection of the following year is regarded as an outcome of this conference.
• 1662: Parliament enacted the Act of Uniformity. Ministers who would not accept the revised 1662 Book of Common Prayer were to be expelled from the established church as of August 24, St. Bartholomew's Day. The number of ministers who left in this way is generally given as about 2,000, though the contemporary minister Oliver Heywood estimated it at 2,500. The event is known as the "Great Ejection," and Nonconformists called the day "Black Bartholomew's Day," since it fell on the anniversary of the 1572 massacre of French Protestants. The theologian John Owen also lost his position at this time, and John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim's Progress, was imprisoned during this period.
• 1664–1665: The Conventicle Act (1664), which restricted religious gatherings outside the established church, and the Five Mile Act (1665), which restricted the activities of ejected ministers, followed in succession. These acts, together with other laws restricting Nonconformists, are collectively known as the "Clarendon Code." During the Great Plague of London in 1665, some Nonconformists argued that the laws prohibiting their worship had provoked the wrath of God, which led to disputes with the established church.
• 1689: Following the Glorious Revolution, the Act of Toleration was enacted. Trinitarian Protestant Dissenters were permitted to worship publicly in licensed meeting places. Ministers, however, were required to subscribe to the Thirty-Nine Articles of the established church, except for the articles concerning baptism and church government. Roman Catholics and those who denied the Trinity were excluded from these provisions.

Results and Influence

After the Act of Toleration, approximately 2,536 Nonconformist meeting places were licensed between 1691 and 1710. Nevertheless, Nonconformists continued to face social and political restrictions, including exclusion from public office and the universities. The category of "Nonconformist" created by the Great Ejection endured for a long time, and a substantial portion of English society remained excluded from public life for roughly a century and a half. These restrictions were eased only gradually, over a long period, through measures such as the Dissenters' Relief Act of 1779. The historian Edmund Calamy compiled accounts of the lives of the ejected ministers, and his records became the foundation on which the Nonconformist community remembered its history. Denominations now also present in Korea, such as the Presbyterian, Congregational, and Baptist churches, formed part of this movement in England.

Assessment

In the Nonconformist tradition, 1662 is remembered as a time when believers suffered for keeping their faith according to conscience. Those who framed the Act of Uniformity, by contrast, declared their aim to be securing peace in society by making public worship uniform. Assessments of the Act of Toleration are divided. Some point out that it did not grant full toleration, as its formal title—an act exempting certain persons from the penalties of certain laws—suggests; others regard it as a milestone that gave legal recognition to churches outside the established church. In Korea as well, interest in the faith and writings of Puritan and Nonconformist theologians continues, particularly within Reformed circles.