Researching the development of lay leadership in the Catholic Church since Vatican II Book

Peter Lake applies his usual thorough analysis of the religious-political strands of thought in the late Elizabethan period. He sets the stage for the rise of the Laudian/high church element in the English church, in the Jacobean period.

I would have preferred more discussion of the reason for the political sidelining of the Puritan faction, but I guess that is for a different book. He avoids exhaustive treatment of the Admonition Controversy, leaving that with McGinn.

What I found helpful was the in-depth treatment of Richard Hookers' contribution to political thought. Compared to the puritans, Hooker seems so broad-minded, with his proposal of a middle way, between Calvinism and popery. The irony is that Hooker, followed by other anti-Calvinists, would lay the groundwork for the jure divino mentality of the Stuart period, and the ensuing fracturing into civil war.