Oliver Cromwell: Encyclopedia II - Oliver Cromwell - Religious beliefs

Oliver Cromwell - Religious beliefs

Cromwell's understanding of religion and politics were very closely intertwined. Cromwell was a committed "Puritan", Calvinist, Protestant, who deny free-will and believe that salvation is not something earned by works, nor something one chooses or decides but is a gracious gift of God by faith alone in Jesus Christ. He was passionately opposed to the Roman Catholic Church, which he saw as denying the primacy of the Bible in favour of Papal and Clerical authority, and which he blamed for tyranny and persecution of Protestants in Europe. For this reason, he was bitterly-opposed to Charles I's "reforms" of the Church of England, which introduced Catholic-style Bishops and Prayer Books, in place of Bible study. Cromwell's feelings of association between Catholicism and persecution were deepened with the Irish Rebellion of 1641. This rebellion was marked by massacres by Irish Catholics of English and Scottish Protestant settlers, which were wildly exaggerated in Puritan circles in Britain. This would later be one of the reasons why Cromwell acted so harshly in his later military campaign in Ireland.

Cromwell was also opposed to the more radical religious groups on the Protestant side of the Civil Wars. Although he co-operated with Quakers and Presbyterians, Cromwell was opposed to their authoritarian imposition of their beliefs upon other Protestants. He became associated with the "Independent" faction, which argued for religious freedom for all Protestants in a post-war settlement.

Finally, Cromwell was also a firm believer in "Providentialism" - the belief that God was actively directing the affairs of the world, through the actions of 'chosen people' (whom God had "provided" for such purposes). Cromwell believed, during the Civil Wars, that he was one of these people, and he interpreted victories as indications of God's approval of his actions, and defeats as signs that God was directing him in another direction.

The Oxford historian Christopher Hill has written a semi-popular account of his influential studies in this area in 'God's Englishman' (Penguin, 1970)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Religious beliefs", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki