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Inspiring Hope: Questions of Purpose and Audience in The vocacyon of Johan Bale

Abstract This essay examines how John Bale assembled The Vocacyon, how in the process he authorized himself as a Pauline heir in order to be heard, and why the colophon date of December 1553 should be accepted as the probable date of publication. The essay argues that Bale's text reveals conflicting tendencies, in terms of purpose, strategy and audience, which can be traced to the different sections of the treatise and to Bale's search for an authorizing scriptural voice. Regardless of these conflicts, Bale proclaims to congregational leaders in England a message of hope and a particular sense of deliverance during the early months of Mary's reign when he believed in the possibility of keeping the reformed practice alive despite religious change.