Friends of the Library Celebrate Patterson’s Book

The Friends of the Library of the University of the South will sponsor a symposium on “William Perkins and Elizabethan England” on Friday, February 27, in Gailor Auditorium at 3:30 p.m. The occasion of the symposium is the publication of W. Brown Patterson’s book, “William Perkins and the Making of a Protestant England” (Oxford University Press, 2014). Patterson, C’52, is the Francis S. Houghteling Professor of History, emeritus.

James W. Dunkly, associate University librarian and School of Theology librarian, will preside at the symposium. The Rev. Benjamin J. King, associate professor of church history, will introduce the program. He will be followed by J. Ross Macdonald, assistant professor of English, who will speak on William Perkins and Christopher Marlowe, and by Patterson, who will talk about William Perkins and Richard Hooker. James F. Turrell, professor of liturgics and associate dean of the School of Theology, will provide a commentary. There will be an opportunity for questions and discussion.

The program will be followed by a reception and a book-signing in the foyer of Gailor Auditorium. The symposium is free and open to the public. 

The publisher describes Patterson’s book as “a new interpretation of the theology and historical significance of William Perkins (1558–1602), a prominent Cambridge scholar and teacher during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.” It adds that Perkins’ “contributions to English religious thought had an immense influence on an English Protestant culture that endured well into modern times.” An endorsement by Diarmaid MacCulloch, professor of the history of the church at Oxford University, states that the book “excitingly recovers an English divine usually portrayed as an arch-Puritan.”

Patterson has written widely on British and European history and religion. His publications include “King James VI and I and the Reunion of Christendom” (Cambridge University Press, 1997), which won the Albert C. Outler Prize in ecumenical church history from the American Society of Church History. 

More information about the Friends of the Library can be found at <http://libguides.sewanee.edu/FOL>. For more information contact Judy Rollins at 598-1265 or email <jrollins@sewanee.edu>.