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A biographical study of the family environment of Nicholas Ferrer, whose ministry helped inspire the voluntarist tradition within the Church of England.
A portrait of Nicholas Ferrar and his family, to whom he dedicated his ministry, with a focus on his background and the education and experiences that shaped that ministry and the circumstances that brought them to Little Gidding. This book appeals for its detailed account of a family's life together as well as the spiritual aspirations that made their household a community. Later generations appealed to their example both for its mission and its method. Not only does Ransome describe the man and the family in a way that brings them alive but also encompasses both their strength and their human frailties and indicates their contemporary and future significance. The book is aimed at both an academic and general audience of readers interested in history, religion, education, and family relationships including the role of women.
A portrait of Nicholas Ferrar and his family, to whom he dedicated his ministry, with a focus on his background and the education and experiences that shaped that ministry and the circumstances that brought them to Little Gidding. This book appeals for its detailed account of a family's life together as well as the spiritual aspirations that made their household a community. Later generations appealed to their example both for its mission and its method. Not only does Ransome describe the man and the family in a way that brings them alive but also encompasses both their strength and their human frailties and indicates their contemporary and future significance. The book is aimed at both an academic and general audience of readers interested in history, religion, education, and family relationships including the role of women.
Price: $40.95
Pages: 287
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: James Clarke
Publication Date:
28 July 2011
Trim Size: 9.21 X 6.14 in
ISBN: 9780227173480
Format: Paperback
The story of Nicholas Ferrar and the community he and his family established at Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire has been described in earlier biographies of Nicholas Ferrar himself, but despite his name being added to the Anglican Calendar in 1980, the history of Little Gidding is not well-known. Joyce Ransome has written a scholarly survey of the life of Nicholas and of the community he founded. Her aim is to offer a critical study of Litte Gidding, moving beyond the hagiography of earlier accounts, which have largely accepted at face value the materials collected by John Ferrar after his brother's death. The picture that emerges from these pages is far more complex and reveals a much more interesting mix of a deep commitment by many of the Ferrar family leading the life of a Christian community alongside a constant struggle to maintain a balance between voluntary acceptance and subtle spiritual pressures to conform. ... Joyce Ransome has also succeeded in showing the importance of Nicholas Ferrar and Little Gidding in the story of the Church of England. Nicholas himself emerges as a more nuanced figure than in earlier hagiographic accounts, and all the more credible and interesting for that. He certainly warrants his place in the Calendar.
— Bob Whyte: Reviews
'Taking as an interpretive motif the intricate and beautiful biblical harmonies produced, almost against the odds, within this contemplative retreat, Ransom judiciously reassesses Little Gidding as a functioning community.'
— Peter Thompson (St Cross College, Oxford)
All those with an interest in Huntingdonshire's history and particularly members of our Society will welcome this new biography of Nicholas Ferrar [...] The book will appeal to both an academic and an informed general audience [...] It was enjoyable to read and explores not just the life of Nicholas Ferrar and the community but sheds light on several aspects of contemporary social and economic history.
— Ken Sneath
'...Joyce Ransome has written a very helpful biography of the Little Gidding community and in particular Nicholas Ferrar. This is a significant work that has completed original research in the letters and documents associated with this important 17th- century Anglican community...[...] The book includes much original research, careful weighing of evidence, and most helpfully analysis of the influence of this original society on later societies within the Church of England.
— Phillip Tovey
— Bob Whyte: Reviews
'Taking as an interpretive motif the intricate and beautiful biblical harmonies produced, almost against the odds, within this contemplative retreat, Ransom judiciously reassesses Little Gidding as a functioning community.'
— Peter Thompson (St Cross College, Oxford)
All those with an interest in Huntingdonshire's history and particularly members of our Society will welcome this new biography of Nicholas Ferrar [...] The book will appeal to both an academic and an informed general audience [...] It was enjoyable to read and explores not just the life of Nicholas Ferrar and the community but sheds light on several aspects of contemporary social and economic history.
— Ken Sneath
'...Joyce Ransome has written a very helpful biography of the Little Gidding community and in particular Nicholas Ferrar. This is a significant work that has completed original research in the letters and documents associated with this important 17th- century Anglican community...[...] The book includes much original research, careful weighing of evidence, and most helpfully analysis of the influence of this original society on later societies within the Church of England.
— Phillip Tovey
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Editorial Conventions
Note on Sources
Abbreviations
Introduction
Formative Years 'the time of his ingathering'
The New Household at Little Gidding 'United not only in Cohabitation but in Hartes'
Enlarging the Community The 'Web of Friendship'
Voluntarism and the Wider Mission 'A Light upon a Hill could not be hid'
Temperance and Tensions
'Frayltie & Fears'
Harmonies Royal 'Rarities in their Kind'
Nicholas Posthumous
Conclusion
Appendix: The Ferrar and Collet Families
Notes
Family Trees: Ferrars, Collets and Mapletofts
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements
Editorial Conventions
Note on Sources
Abbreviations
Introduction
Formative Years 'the time of his ingathering'
The New Household at Little Gidding 'United not only in Cohabitation but in Hartes'
Enlarging the Community The 'Web of Friendship'
Voluntarism and the Wider Mission 'A Light upon a Hill could not be hid'
Temperance and Tensions
'Frayltie & Fears'
Harmonies Royal 'Rarities in their Kind'
Nicholas Posthumous
Conclusion
Appendix: The Ferrar and Collet Families
Notes
Family Trees: Ferrars, Collets and Mapletofts
Bibliography
Index