The Cambridge Companion to Puritanism (Cambridge Companions to Religion)

Cambridge University Press, 10/9/2008
EAN 9780521860888, ISBN10: 0521860881

Hardcover, 400 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 3 cm
Language: English

'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.

Introduction John Coffey and Paul C. H. Lim
Part I. English Puritanism
1. Antipuritanism Patrick Collinson
2. The growth of English Puritanism John Craig
3. Early Stuart Puritanism Tom Webster
4. The Puritan revolution John Morrill
5. Later Stuart Puritanism John Spurr
Part II. Beyond England
6. Puritanism and the Continental Reformed Churches Anthony Milton
7. The Puritan experiment in New England, 1630–60 Francis J. Bremer
8. New England, 1660–1730 David D. Hall
9. Puritanism in Ireland and Wales Crawford Gribben
10. The problem of Scotland's Puritans Margo Todd
Part III. Major Themes
11. Practical divinity and spirituality Charles Hambrick-Stowe
12. Puritan polemical divinity and doctrinal controversy Dewey D. Wallace, Jr.
13. Puritans and the Church of England
historiography and ecclesiology Paul C. H. Lim
14. Radical Puritanism, c.1558–1660 David R. Como
15. Puritan millenarianism in old and New England Jeffrey K. Jue
16. The Godly and popular culture Alexandra Walsham
17. Puritanism and gender Ann Hughes
18. Puritanism and literature N. H. Keeble
Part IV. Puritanism and Posterity
19. Puritan legacies John Coffey
20. The historiography of Puritanism Peter Lake.