Assembly of the Lord: Politics and Religion in the Westminster Assembly

In this definitive study, the issues of the Assembly, its historical context and its great influence on subsequent events are explored in unprecedented detail and with a finely balanced historical judgment. The systematic use of all the original source material sheds a great deal of light on the Assembly For example, the interplay between religion and politics in the Assembly in the context of the political struggles of the English Civil War, is seen to be of crucial importance to any fundamental understanding of the Assembly itself.

Professor Paul contends that the issues which gave rise to the Assembly, the Grand Debate between rival Presbyterian and Congregational forms of government, are very much alive today, and essential background to current ecumenical thinking.

"So thorough is the present work, and so definitive is Dr. Paul's treatment of the nub of the matter... that it is hard to imagine students needing to turn anywhere else for the next hundred years". -- The Irish Theological Quarterly