Three Restoration Divines

Though twentieth-century readers may not value Tillotson’s sermons as highly as did the Bishop of Sarum, they will readily grant that he aptly defined the change that had come over pulpit oratory in England in the course of the seventeenth century. That the new style of preaching had come to stay appears from Thomas Birch’s slight alteration to this passage, which he quoted in the Life of the Author prefixed to his folio edition of Tillotson’s sermons in 1752: “He formed therefore [a pattern] to himself, which has been justly considered as the best model for all succeeding ages”.

Revising dominant accounts of Puritanism and challenging the literary history of sentimentalism, Sympathetic Puritans argues that a Calvinist theology of sympathy shaped the politics, religion, rhetoric, and literature of early New England. Scholars have often understood and presented sentimentalism as a direct challenge to stern and stoic Puritan forebears; the standard history traces a cult of sensibility back to moral sense philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment, not Puritan New England. Abram C. Van Engen has unearthed pervasive evidence of sympathy in a large archive of Puritan sermons, treatises, tracts, poems, journals, histories, and captivity narratives. He demonstrates how two types of sympathy -- the active command to fellow-feel (a duty), as well as the passive sign that could indicate salvation (a discovery) -- permeated Puritan society and came to define the very boundaries of English culture, affecting conceptions of community, relations with Native Americans, and the development of American literature. Van Engen re-examines the Antinomian Controversy, conversion narratives, transatlantic relations, Puritan missions, Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative -- and Puritan culture more generally -- through the lens of sympathy. Demonstrating and explicating a Calvinist theology of sympathy in seventeenth-century New England, the book reveals the religious history of a concept that has previously been associated with more secular roots.

Known for his previous best selling Catholic books such as, The Splendor of Creation and Proper Catholic Perspectives, Rev. Dr. Joseph L. Iannuzzi's long awaited book, The Gift of Living in the Divine Will in the Writings of Luisa Piccarreta, is finally available. Iannuzzi's thoroughly documented and highly researched account of Piccarreta's life is unparalleled in its scope and depth, and is the definitive work of the life and writings of Luisa Piccarreta. Born in 1865 in Corato, Italy, Luisa Piccarreta began receiving revelations at age 12 and was called by God to become a victim soul. At a very tender age God spoke to her about a gift he wishes to bestow upon the world that will set it free and inaugurate an Era of World Peace. God refers to this gift as “Living in the Divine Will”, for it is through an act of God’s will that the earth will be made pure and mankind will become holy. Just as God the Father created the world, and the Son of God redeemed it, so the Holy Spirit will sanctify it through the outpouring of this gift. According to Luisa’s revelations, although God created us without us, he cannot save us without us. Therefore, he reveals himself to Luisa so that through her, we may come to know the loving gift he has prepared for us – the gift that will restore us to the holiness that Adam and Even enjoyed in Eden, and that will set all creation free. St. Paul affirms that “all creation groans with eager longings, waiting to be set free from its slavery to corruption and enjoy the glorious freedom of the sons of God,” and God tells Luisa that those who live in the Divine Will will be those sons of God who set creation free. This book is divided into 7 chapters. Chapter 1 presents a biographical sketch of Luisa’s life; Chapters 2-4 explore the importance of the gift of Living in the Divine Will; Chapters 5-7 compare this gift to the Church’s Eastern and Western traditions. Because this book bears the ecclesiastical “seal of approval” of the Pontifical University of Rome that is authorized by the Holy See, it enjoys a particular status that ensures sound doctrinal content for the Christian faithful. If you are familiar with the extraordinary life of Luisa Piccarreta, then this book will truly bring you deeper into her life and the gift of the “Divine Will”. If you are not, then you are truly in for a special and extraordinary experience that will change your life. It is a story perhaps unparalleled in the history of mystical theology, written by whom many consider the Church’s most authoritative person on the subject.