EBOOK Reforming Printing:Syon Abbey's Defence of Orthodoxy 1525-1534

This book investigates how Syon Abbey responded to the religious turbulence of the        1520s and 1530s. It examines the eleven books three brothers - William Bonde, John        Fewterer and Richard Whitford - had printed during this period and argues that the        Bridgettines used vernacular printing to engage with religious and political        developments that threatened their understanding of orthodox faith. Through these        works - and their some twenty-six editions - the Abbey presented itself as partof        the vanguard of the Church, fighting heterodoxy with a three-fold commitment to        reformed spiritual leadership, vernacular theology and the spiritual education of        the laity. It used its printed books to to augment inferior parochial instruction;        bolster orthodox faith and contradict evangelicalargument; resist Henry VIII's        desire for ecclesiastical supremacy; and defend the monastic way of life.The book        has three principal aims. First, to continue the debate about the nature of late        medieval Catholicism by directing attention to one community that publicly        proclaimed a very specific Catholic identity. Second, to highlight the shifting        nature of that identity, which developed continuously in response to evangelicalism.          Third, to emphasise the importance and impact of conservative vernacular theology in        this period.Reforming Printing makes a strong contribution to our understanding of        the Bridgettine community of Syon Abbey, and more generally the monastic and        Catholic response to the developments that culminated in Henry VIII's break with        Rome. It sheds new light upon the religious climate of the 1520s and 30s and will be        of considerable interest to literary scholars and historians of the English        Reformation, especially those working on early modern religious writing.