Throughout history there have been examples of religions being considered traditional and people disagreeing with traditional religion. This essay will trace the traces of tradition and dissent from Christianity in England between the 16th and 19th centuries by examining the statement "...the 'dissent' of an earlier generation itself becomes a 'tradition,' and a tradition previously dominant becomes dissidence. (Tradition and dissent p72). With particular reference to the differences between Protestants and Catholics. Before the Reformation, England was a Roman Catholic society ruled by the Pope in Rome. Religious life followed a very traditional and structured way of life and was “deeply embedded in the entire social and mental fabric of the country” (Russell, 1996, p. 262). The Roman Catholics were a very visual and ritual-based religion and their churches were extremely lavish in design and contained highly decorated furniture inside (Wolffe, 2008). Religious changes in England over the centuries have tended to follow the religion of each king or queen (The Crown and the Bible, 2011). England's dissent from the Catholic Church began with King Henry VIII (1491-1547). After Catherine of Aragon failed to produce a male heir, Henry filed for divorce. The Pope rejected Henry's request, leading Henry to dissolve all ties with the Roman Catholic Church and change the direction of religion in England. Henry VIII's motivations for change were personal gain rather than changing religious beliefs (Christianity in Britain, 2011). An act was passed in 1534 authorizing Henry VIII to declare himself head of the new Church of England, this decision allowed Henry VIII to divorce Catherine and...... middle of paper ......z/kjb /canterbury_kjb /index.shtmlKnight, M. and Mason, E. (2006). Religion and literature of the 19th century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lambert, T. (2014). A Brief History of Christianity in England. Retrieved May 5, 2014, from http://localhistories.org/christian.html Russell, C. (1996). The Reformation and the creation of the Church of England, 1500-1640. In J. Morrill (Ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor and Stuart Britain (pp. 258-292). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Schomp, V. (2011). The Church. New York, NY: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark. Steele, P. and MacDonald, F. (2007). Miles Kelly's book on British history. Essex, Great Britain: Miles Kelly. Wolfffe, J. (2008). Tradition and Dissent in English Christianity. In C. Price (Ed.), The arts past and present: tradition and dissent (pp. 71-106). Milton Keynes, England: The Open University.