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Richard Baxter (1615–1691) was arguably the greatest English Puritan of the seventeenth century. He is well known for his ministerial manual "The Reformed Pastor", in which he expressed the unusual conviction that parish ministers were better off unmarried. And yet, Baxter seemed to contradict himself by marrying one of his parishioners, Margaret Charlton. Though Baxter claimed to be happily married, he continued to champion celibacy for the rest of his life. This book explores Baxter's argument for clerical celibacy by placing it in the context of his life and the turbulent events of seventeenth-century England. His viewpoint was shaped by several factors, including the Puritan literature he read, the context of his parish ministry, his burdensome model of soul care, and the formative life experiences shaping his theology and perspective. These factors not only explain why Baxter became the only Puritan to champion clerical celibacy but also why he continued to do so even after marrying.
Huddled on dank ships and tossed about in the waves of the Atlantic, English Puritans envisioned a new society predicated on the values of individual and communal humility. Pride, a pervasive sin, jeopardized their very survival and incited God’s wrath. The first generation of New England settlers, deeply affected by the miseries of their migration experience, crafted New England society on the dichotomy of pride and humility. Embracing demonstrative suffering as essential, Puritans embraced perpetual martyrdom, often taking great pride in the extent of their humiliation. This ideology affected self-perceptions and informed legal codes, theology, and community values. Anxieties around pride resulted in violent efforts to eradicate “proud” individuals, but also whole communities as demonstrated by the Pequot War (1636-37). The dichotomy of pride and humility permeated all aspects of New England Puritanism.
In Fire under the Ashes, John Donoghue recovers the lasting significance of the radical ideas of the English Revolution, exploring their wider Atlantic history through a case study of Coleman Street Ward, London. Located in the crowded center of seventeenth-century London, Coleman Street Ward was a hotbed of political, social, and religious unrest. There among diverse and contentious groups of puritans a tumultuous republican underground evolved as the political means to a more perfect Protestant Reformation. But while Coleman Street has long been recognized as a crucial location of the English Revolution, its importance to events across the Atlantic has yet to be explored. Prominent merchan...
Sympathetic Puritans places sympathy at the heart of Puritanism and challenges the literary history of sentimentalism. It argues that a Calvinist theology of fellow feeling shaped the politics, religion, rhetoric, and literature of seventeenth-century New England, influencing the development of American culture.
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