Synopses & Reviews
Religion, and Puritanism in particular, was a crucially important influence in seventeenth-century England. This book attempts to trace the way in which Puritan clergymen saw themselves and the world in which they lived. It discusses the changes they wanted to make to the Church of England in terms of services and in terms of how they wanted to replace bishops. By looking at such matters through the networks of friendship and alliances made by the ministers, a new picture emerges of the role played by Puritans in the decades leading up to the English Civil War.
Review
"...his conceptual framework expressed in the spirit....If significant books are those which rearrange our perception of some important matter of inquiry, then this is a significant book....Webster's title promises more than his book delivers....Webster's book is a useful, detailed account." Richard L.Greaves, Studies in Christianity and Culture"...a new approach to the early Stuart Puritan movement." Theology Digest"...this extremely detailed volume...will be a valued addition to any serious collection devoted to religious or Tudor-Stuart history." Sheldon Hanft, History"...Webster's book is interesting and perceptive...." Robert J. Frankle, Journal of Church and State"Tom Webster's Godly Clergy in Early Sturat England is an important regional study of Puritan preachers in early seventeenth-century England....a convincing study by an obviously gifted archivist and scholar of religious history." Melinda S. Zook, Journal of Modern History
Synopsis
An analysis of the networks constructed between Puritan ministers before the English Civil War.
Synopsis
This book reconsiders the existence of an early Stuart Puritan movement, and examines the ways in which Puritan clergymen encouraged sociability with their like-minded colleagues, so that they came to define themselves as âa peculiar peopleâ, a community distinct from their less faithful rivals.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. Society, Clerical Conference and the Church of England: 1. Clerical education and the household seminary; 2. Profitable conferences and the settlement of godly ministers; 3. Fasting and prayer; 4. Clerical associations and the Church of England; Part II. The Godly Ministry: Piety and Practice: 5. The image of a godly minister; 6. Religiosity and sociability; Part III. âThese Uncomfortable Timesâ: Conformity and the Godly Ministers 1628 38: 7. Thomas Hooker and the conformity debate; 8. Trajectories of response to Laudianism; 9. The ecclesiastical courts and the Essex visitation of 1631; 10. Juxon, Wren and the implementation of Laudianism; 11. The diocese of Peterborough: a see of conflict; 12. The metropolitical visitation of Essex and the strategies of evasion; Part IV. âThese Dangerous Timesâ: The Puritan Diaspora 1631 42; 13. John Dury and the godly ministers; 14. Choices of suffering and flight; 15. The ânon-separating Congregationalistsâand Massachusetts; 16. Thomas Hooker and the Amesians; 17. Alternative ecclesiologists to 1642; 18. Conclusion.