The Cambridge Companion To Puritanism

'Puritan' was originally a term of contempt, and 'Puritanism' has often been stereotyped by critics and admirers alike. As a distinctive and particularly intense variety of early modern Reformed Protestantism, it was a product of acute tensions within the post-Reformation Church of England. But it was never monolithic or purely oppositional, and its impact reverberated far beyond seventeenth-century England and New England. This Companion broadens our understanding of Puritanism, showing how students and scholars might engage with it from new angles and uncover the surprising diversity that fermented beneath its surface. The book explores issues of gender, literature, politics and popular culture in addition to addressing the Puritans' core concerns such as theology and devotional praxis, and coverage extends to Irish, Welsh, Scottish and European versions of Puritanism as well as to English and American practice. It challenges readers to re-evaluate this crucial tradition within its wider social, cultural, political and religious contexts.

'Puritan' was originally a term of contempt, and Puritanism is still often interpreted as a uniform, primarily religious phenomenon, confined to 17th century England and colonial America. This text offers a much broader approach, and shows how students and scholars might engage with Puritanism from new angles.

'Puritan' was originally a term of contempt, and 'Puritanism' has often been stereotyped by critics and admirers alike. As a distinctive and particularly intense variety of early modern Reformed Protestantism, it was a product of acute tensions within the post-Reformation Church of England. But it was never monolithic or purely oppositional, and its impact reverberated far beyond seventeenth-century England and New England. This Companion broadens our understanding of Puritanism, showing how students and scholars might engage with it from new angles and uncover the surprising diversity that fermented beneath its surface. The book explores issues of gender, literature, politics and popular culture in addition to addressing the Puritans' core concerns such as theology and devotional praxis, and coverage extends to Irish, Welsh, Scottish and European versions of Puritanism as well as to English and American practice. It challenges readers to re-evaluate this crucial tradition within its wider social, cultural, political and religious contexts.

This book introduces readers to early American literary studies through original readings of key literary texts.

This Companion offers an introduction to Reformed theology, one of the most historically important, ecumenically active, and currently generative traditions of doctrinal enquiry, by way of reflecting upon its origins, its development, and its significance. The first part, Theological Topics, indicates the distinct array of doctrinal concerns which gives coherence over time to the identity of this tradition in all its diversity. The second part, Theological Figures, explores the life and work of a small number of theologians who have not only worked within this tradition, but have constructively shaped and inspired it in vital ways. The final part, Theological Contexts, considers the ways in which the resultant Reformed sensibilities in theology have had a marked impact both upon theological and ecclesiastical landscapes in different places and upon the wider societal landscapes of history. The result is a fascinating and compelling guide to this dynamic and vibrant theological tradition.

In this revelatory account of the people who founded the New England colonies, historian David D. Hall compares the reforms they enacted with those attempted in England during the period of the English Revolution. Bringing with them a deep fear of arbitrary, unlimited authority, these settlers based their churches on the participation of laypeople and insisted on "consent" as a premise of all civil governance. Puritans also transformed civil and criminal law and the workings of courts with the intention of establishing equity. In this political and social history of the five New England colonies, Hall provides a masterful re-evaluation of the earliest moments of New England's history, revealing the colonists to be the most effective and daring reformers of their day.

The comprehensive history of a system of faith that shaped the nation.

"Shedding critical new light on the diverse forms of Puritan belief and practice in England, Scotland, and New England, Hall provides a multifaceted account of a cultural movement that judged the Protestant reforms of Elizabeth's reign to be unfinished"--Provided by publisher.