不从国教者(Nonconformist),也译不信奉国教者,指的是不信奉英格兰教会(英格兰国教)的新教徒[1]。英格兰持不同意见者(English Dissenters)和这个词时常混用。
这个术语出现于斯图亚特王朝复辟并颁布1662年教会统一法令后。它包括加尔文宗(长老宗和公理会)、浸礼宗、普利茅斯弟兄会、循道宗和贵格会等自由教会信徒[2]。20世纪之前,他们的公民权利和政治权利多有限制。
1662年教会统一法令要求教士遵循公祷书中的所有仪式和规范[3],还要求英格兰教会的所有牧师都需经主教任命。清教徒很厌恶这种行为,结果近2000名神职人员因拒绝遵守该法案而被逐出教会,史称“大驱逐”(Great Ejection)。[3]
长老宗、公理会、浸礼宗、加尔文宗等“改革”教派在法案颁布后也被认定为非国教派[4]。虽然1688年宽容法令给予了他们一定的宗教自由[5],但实际生活中存在各种权利的限制。
英国议会禁止他们担任大多数公职[6]。1732年,伦敦市的不信奉国教者组织起来,抗议政府的不公待遇,并于1828年实现目的[7]。
对不信奉国教者强征的教堂税(Church rate)也在1868年改为自愿[8]。《1836年婚姻法案》(Marriage Act 1836)使他们可以在自己的教堂里结婚,《1880年埋葬法修正案》(Burial Laws Amendment Act 1880)使他们可以在英格兰教会的墓地下葬。[9] :144–147
此外,不信奉国教者也曾受牛津大学和剑桥大学限制。牛津大学要求申请入学的学生遵守国教三十九条信纲,剑桥大学则要求学生必须遵守三十九条才能获得文凭。它们曾在1830年代反对向伦敦大学授予特许状,因为后者没有这样的限制。1854年、1856年牛津和剑桥先后取消限制。[10][9]:147
20世纪,随着宗教势力的衰弱,不信奉国教者也逐渐减少。[11][12][13]
Sell, Alan P. F. Nonconformist Theology in the Twentieth Century. Wipf and Stock Publishers. 2 December 2020: 446. ISBN 978-1-7252-3202-0 (English).
Peberdy, Robert; Waller, Philip. A Dictionary of British and Irish History. John Wiley & Sons. 2 December 2020: 446. ISBN 978-0-631-20154-0 (English).
Owen Chadwick, The Victorian Church, Part One: 1829–1859 (1966) pp. 60–95, 142–58
Richard W. Davis, "The Strategy of 'Dissent' in the Repeal Campaign, 1820–1828". Journal of Modern History 38.4 (1966): 374–393. .
Olive Anderson, "Gladstone's Abolition of Compulsory Church Rates: a Minor Political Myth and its Historiographical Career". Journal of Ecclesiastical History 25#2 (1974): 185–198. doi:10.1017/S0022046900045735.
Richard Helmstadter, "The Nonconformist Conscience" in Peter Marsh, ed., The Conscience of the Victorian State (1979)
Lund, Valerie K., "The admission of religious nonconformists to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and to degrees in those universities, 1828--1871" (1978). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. William & Mary. Paper 1539625037. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-xzep-p808
Steve Bruce, and Tony Glendinning, "When was secularization? Dating the decline of the British churches and locating its cause". British Journal of Sociology 61#1 (2010): 107–126. doi:10.1111/j.1468-4446.2009.01304.x.
Callum G. Brown, The Death of Christian Britain: Understanding Secularisation, 1800–2000 (2009)
Alan D. Gilbert, The making of post-Christian Britain: a history of the secularization of modern society (Longman, 1980).
- Choudhury, Bibhash. English Social and Cultural History: An Introductory Guide and Glossary 2nd. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. 2005. ISBN 8120328493.
- Cross, F.L., E.A. Livingstone , 编, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church 3rd, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997
- Helmstadter, Richard J. The Nonconformist Conscience. Marsh, Peter (编). The Conscience of the Victorian State. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. 1979: 135–72. doi:10.1086/ahr/85.1.126.
- Mitchell, Sally, Victorian Britain An Encyclopedia, London: Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2011, ISBN 978-0415668514
- Reynolds, Noel Beldon, Cole Durham , 编, Religious liberty in Western thought, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003, ISBN 0802848532