davejonescue
Puritan Board Graduate
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Question? How would you define an American Puritan?
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Alan D. Strange
Puritan Board Senior
Are you talking about people like John Cotton, Thomas Hooker, and those of that generation? Or Cotton Mather, Johnathan Edwards, and those of later generations?
Or are you talking about something else altogether?
In other words, what are you asking us?
Peace,
Alan
Or are you talking about something else altogether?
In other words, what are you asking us?
Peace,
Alan
English churchmen influenced by the Reformation who moved to the new world. Some moderns try to distinguish between separatists who were part of the church of England and wanted to leave a compromised church behind while others settlers thought they would or should purify from within. Both groups held to what would now be called a reformed theology, low church worship (with a range of opinions), and a quasi-presbyterian form of church government. They may be distinguished by their church furtherance orientation from those who had a more business/enterprising motive to move across the Atlantic like those at Jamestown.
davejonescue
Puritan Board Graduate
Thank you all for your comments. What I was trying to do, but kind of realized the impossibility of it, was search Evans and ECCO TCP for works of American Puritanism. Of what I understand, the first arrivals to New England and such were Puritans, so those churches and communities would of been established from that elk. I think I even read somewhere that Harvard was first established as a place to train ministers in the Puritan tradition. But, having done some research, there really is no list or place I can find to specify people holding to this exact tradition, besides some of the ones yall already mentioned, like Cotton, Winthrop, Hooker, Shepard, Eliot, Willard, and the Mathers. These we already have in PuritanSearch. Adding the former, plus Edwards and say Whitefield is probably the best we can do. I can go to Evans-TCP and search for just sermons, and I will find a wide array of different clergymen, but there is no way to tell if they were "puritan minded" so to speak, because even looking them up on places like Wiki only mentions them as ministers and not Puritans or Non-Conformists. Since there were a wide array of leanings, even in early America, I cant just add all from that time period, say the first 50 years or so. So I have decided not really to venture to try and collect a set of works from "American Puritans" besides the ones, like mentioned above, are without dispute. And these, save for Edwards and Whitefield, have already been included in PuritanSearch.
This wiki article is about the best list I can find, and we will research and add those who we dont have, but we already have most. But without a list, I cant look for them in Evans or ECCO. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:17th-century_New_England_Puritan_ministers
Evans-TCP is just teaming with so many works, but I just cant find if they were Puritans. For instance is the case of Experience Mayhew . He seems to fit all of the criteria, of being of the time period, of being a Congregational minister, of having association with early Harvard; but I just cant find a list that I can affirm. And since I am not a Puritan scholar, it is beyond my scope of authority to classify people as Puritans or Non-Conformist who have not been classified as such by a higher authority.
But, if I had a list, I could search. For instance, with the Wiki list, I was able to find works from James Fitch, Jeremiah Shepard, John Hale, John Higginson, and John Williams; people I didnt have before. It kind of irks me wondering how many works are sitting in Evans but untapped.
Edit++++As a question, would this be a good place to look? Clifford K. Shipton, Sibley's Harvard Graduates
I believe vol. 1-4 would get me to 1700, possibly before they say the "corruption" took over.
This is just for example. One of the first names I come across is William Hubbard, 1621-1704; he has 5 works in Evans-TCP. Of him it states "Rev. William Hubbard, M. A., oldest son of William Hubbard, of Ipswich, Massachusetts, and afterward of Boston, came from London in 1635, father, whose wife, Judith, was brought up under the preaching of John Norton at Ipswich, England. For fourteen years after graduation very little is known of him. July 4, 1656, he was desired to preach in Ipswich. There he was ordained, 17 November, 1658, as colleague with Thomas Cobbett." We know that harvard was established to train Pastors in the Puritan tradition, and we know Thomas Cobbett was a Puritan. So to me, this would be a safe bet to consider an American Puritan.
This wiki article is about the best list I can find, and we will research and add those who we dont have, but we already have most. But without a list, I cant look for them in Evans or ECCO. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:17th-century_New_England_Puritan_ministers
Evans-TCP is just teaming with so many works, but I just cant find if they were Puritans. For instance is the case of Experience Mayhew . He seems to fit all of the criteria, of being of the time period, of being a Congregational minister, of having association with early Harvard; but I just cant find a list that I can affirm. And since I am not a Puritan scholar, it is beyond my scope of authority to classify people as Puritans or Non-Conformist who have not been classified as such by a higher authority.
But, if I had a list, I could search. For instance, with the Wiki list, I was able to find works from James Fitch, Jeremiah Shepard, John Hale, John Higginson, and John Williams; people I didnt have before. It kind of irks me wondering how many works are sitting in Evans but untapped.
Edit++++As a question, would this be a good place to look? Clifford K. Shipton, Sibley's Harvard Graduates
Sibley's Harvard graduates : Massachusetts Historical Society , Clifford Kenyon Shipton, John Langdon Sibley : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Book digitized by Google and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.
archive.org
This is just for example. One of the first names I come across is William Hubbard, 1621-1704; he has 5 works in Evans-TCP. Of him it states "Rev. William Hubbard, M. A., oldest son of William Hubbard, of Ipswich, Massachusetts, and afterward of Boston, came from London in 1635, father, whose wife, Judith, was brought up under the preaching of John Norton at Ipswich, England. For fourteen years after graduation very little is known of him. July 4, 1656, he was desired to preach in Ipswich. There he was ordained, 17 November, 1658, as colleague with Thomas Cobbett." We know that harvard was established to train Pastors in the Puritan tradition, and we know Thomas Cobbett was a Puritan. So to me, this would be a safe bet to consider an American Puritan.
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Ed Walsh
Puritan Board Graduate
Puritans in England vs New England, A major difference.
–A distinction that may help explain the difficulty you ran into getting definitive answers in your search for the "American Puritan."
From 1629 through 1643, approximately 21,000 Puritans immigrated to New England.
The Great Migration of Puritans to New England was primarily an exodus of families.
A significant difference between most English Puritans and all Scottish Puritans is that they were Presbyterians. The minority of Independent Puritans, most notably John Owen, in England were not Congregationalists. But, for New England, that all changed during the first half of the 17th century. This Independent minority became the one party in the Northern New World. As these Independents became committed Congragretionalists, the whole order–the glue–that kept the English Presbyterians together for much longer broke down in New England. So also, did any unified identity. Their chosen form of Church governance became reminiscent of the Book of Judges–Each man did what was right in his own eyes.
These views are mine, and I am far from an expert, but for me, the destiny of the Church in New England is a powerful argument in favor of Presbyterianism.
davejonescue
Puritan Board Graduate
That is interesting. I think after stumbling across the book on the records of early Harvard alumni, this enables me to get a better picture of the Puritan landscape, at least clergy wise, to try and compile a list. Of what I researched, they were strict on those they admitted, as well as the administration. For instance, Its first dean attempted to ditch Puritanism in favor of Baptist values. He was then outed as dean and a Mather, I think Increase took his place. So, at least lining up with the "Harvard Line" up towards the 1700's may give me a good list. With Evans-TCP being strictly from around that era, I may find considerable works from these "American Puritans" that have otherwise gone under the radar. The good thing about Selby's work, is that it gives brief biographical sketches of each of the graduates. This seems like a little researched area, even among us Puritan enthusiasts, and it would be awesome, at least I am thinking, to get these works into a searchable format and dig into them.
From Wiki
The colony charter creating the Harvard Corporation was granted in 1650 at the beginning of the English Interregnum. When the college's first president Henry Dunster abandoned Puritanism in favor of the English Baptist faith in 1654, he provoked a controversy that highlighted two distinct approaches to dealing with dissent in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The colony's Puritan leaders, whose own religion was born of dissent from mainstream Church of England, generally worked for reconciliation with members who questioned matters of Puritan theology, but responded much more harshly to outright rejection of Puritanism.
Dunster's conflict with the colony's magistrates began when he failed to have his infant son baptized, believing as an adherent of the Believers baptism of English Baptists and/or Anabaptists that only adults should be baptized. Efforts to restore Dunster to Puritan orthodoxy failed and his apostasy proved untenable to colony leaders who had entrusted him in his job as Harvard's president to uphold the colony's religious mission, thus he represented a threat to the stability of society. Dunster exiled himself in 1654 and moved to nearby Plymouth Colony, where he died in 1658.[6] Because it had been illegal for the colony to establish a college, Charles II rescinded the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter in 1684 by writ of scire facias.[7]
In 1692, the leading Puritan divine Increase Mather became president of Harvard. One of his acts was replacing pagan classics with books by Christian authors in ethics classes and maintaining a high standard of discipline. The Harvard "Lawes" of 1642 and the "Harvard College Laws of 1700" testify to its original high level of discipline.[8] Students were required to observe rules of pious decorum inconceivable in the 19th century and ultimately to prove their fitness for the bachelor's degree by showing that they could "read the original of the Old and New Testament into the Latin tongue, and resolve them logically".[9] Harvard's leadership and alumni (including Increase Mather and his son Cotton Mather) played a central role in the Salem Witch Trials 1692–1693.
The town of Dedham was founded in 1636, the same year as the college. The first minister of the First Church and Parish in Dedham, John Allen, served as an overseer, and every minister through 1861 was connected to the university.[10] Given its population and modest means, the support the community provided to the college was generous.[10] Allen donated two cows, presumably to provide milk for the president and tutors.[10]
During Harvard's early years, the town of Cambridge maintained order on campus and provided economic support, as the local Puritan minister had direct oversight of Harvard and ensured the orthodoxy of its leadership....
...The end of Mather's presidency in 1701 marked the start of a long struggle between orthodoxy and liberalism. Harvard's first secular president was John Leverett, who began his term in 1708. Leverett left the curriculum largely intact and sought to keep the college independent of the overwhelming influence of any single sect.
From Wiki
The colony charter creating the Harvard Corporation was granted in 1650 at the beginning of the English Interregnum. When the college's first president Henry Dunster abandoned Puritanism in favor of the English Baptist faith in 1654, he provoked a controversy that highlighted two distinct approaches to dealing with dissent in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The colony's Puritan leaders, whose own religion was born of dissent from mainstream Church of England, generally worked for reconciliation with members who questioned matters of Puritan theology, but responded much more harshly to outright rejection of Puritanism.
Dunster's conflict with the colony's magistrates began when he failed to have his infant son baptized, believing as an adherent of the Believers baptism of English Baptists and/or Anabaptists that only adults should be baptized. Efforts to restore Dunster to Puritan orthodoxy failed and his apostasy proved untenable to colony leaders who had entrusted him in his job as Harvard's president to uphold the colony's religious mission, thus he represented a threat to the stability of society. Dunster exiled himself in 1654 and moved to nearby Plymouth Colony, where he died in 1658.[6] Because it had been illegal for the colony to establish a college, Charles II rescinded the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter in 1684 by writ of scire facias.[7]
In 1692, the leading Puritan divine Increase Mather became president of Harvard. One of his acts was replacing pagan classics with books by Christian authors in ethics classes and maintaining a high standard of discipline. The Harvard "Lawes" of 1642 and the "Harvard College Laws of 1700" testify to its original high level of discipline.[8] Students were required to observe rules of pious decorum inconceivable in the 19th century and ultimately to prove their fitness for the bachelor's degree by showing that they could "read the original of the Old and New Testament into the Latin tongue, and resolve them logically".[9] Harvard's leadership and alumni (including Increase Mather and his son Cotton Mather) played a central role in the Salem Witch Trials 1692–1693.
The town of Dedham was founded in 1636, the same year as the college. The first minister of the First Church and Parish in Dedham, John Allen, served as an overseer, and every minister through 1861 was connected to the university.[10] Given its population and modest means, the support the community provided to the college was generous.[10] Allen donated two cows, presumably to provide milk for the president and tutors.[10]
During Harvard's early years, the town of Cambridge maintained order on campus and provided economic support, as the local Puritan minister had direct oversight of Harvard and ensured the orthodoxy of its leadership....
...The end of Mather's presidency in 1701 marked the start of a long struggle between orthodoxy and liberalism. Harvard's first secular president was John Leverett, who began his term in 1708. Leverett left the curriculum largely intact and sought to keep the college independent of the overwhelming influence of any single sect.
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@davejonescue
Whitefield as a Puritan???
With your mention of Harvard you might consider Princeton and Yale. If memory serves me correctly, they started as an answer to the beginnings of Harvard's slide.
Whitefield as a Puritan???
With your mention of Harvard you might consider Princeton and Yale. If memory serves me correctly, they started as an answer to the beginnings of Harvard's slide.
davejonescue
Puritan Board Graduate
While we know both Edwards and Whitefield are not technically Puritans, and also Thomas Boston is pushing it and could be out of that realm too, many people, including some publishers put him and them in the mix. Adding him, so those that do consider him one, doesnt bother us too much in PuritanSearch, because the software allows one to select, and deselect whom they would like to include in its searches. Thank you for the Yale and Princeton suggestions too. I dont know if as of now, I am going to try and stick to the Harvard line, since if we are only going to research up to 1700, that still puts the minister living in the 1600's. We also have a line on what was known as "The Log College" and will be investigating if its graduates could fall under the umbrella of American Puritans.
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davejonescue
Puritan Board Graduate
This is going to be so much fun. It just looks like there are a lot of untapped works in Evans-TCP.
davejonescue
Puritan Board Graduate
The list is coming together pretty good. This is still on vol.1 (out of 4.) We already had people like Woodbridge, Hubbard, Wilson, Allin, the Mathers, Cotton, Eaton, Oakes, Weld, Hoar, Mary Rowlandson, Danforth, Nowell, Whiting, etc. But it looks like this may turn out to be quite a comprehensive collection of American Puritan works to add to PuritanSearch.
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Doesn’t someone technically need to be English to be a Puritan?
davejonescue
Puritan Board Graduate
Not really if we consider there are Puritans that are Scottish and Dutch as well. (or rather those that are considered as such.)
Also, for the American Puritans, there were colonies formed by English Puritans who fled persecution from England. So, most of them would be English the same way we would call someone Mexican American, or African American. The very hub for most of it "New England," should say it all.
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I know there are theologians from Scotland and the Netherlands we would colloquially or informally call "Puritans" (e.g., à Brakel), but strictly from a historical perspective, a Puritan is defined as a dissenter of the Church of England, yes? (I'm saying this because I would agree that Boston, being Scottish, isn't technically a Puritan.) For example, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church specifically categorizes Puritans as "English Protestants."
davejonescue
Puritan Board Graduate
And again, I believe most of the colonies were formed by English dissenters fleeing persecution. I think it is known as "The Great Puritan Migration."
I always point people to this short paper when they question or try and place a strict definition of Puritanism. It is good at showing it has been troublesome for quite some time.
I know, I was talking about Boston. Sorry if I wasn’t clear.
davejonescue
Puritan Board Graduate
Brother, THOMAS Boston. Wow. lol
davejonescue
Puritan Board Graduate
Like we discussed, there are attempts at a technical definition of Puritans/Puritanism. That paper I pointed you to shows why even this is hard to do. But then you have the broader aspects of general Non-Conformity. I think within this realm is where you really find the glue to stick them into the Puritan categorization. While investigating this area, I have seen people stretch the area from as early as John Knox to as late as Edwards, Davies, and Whitefield. Some include Boston among that elk, and some do not. Some would completely disregard New England Puritanism as no Puritanism at all. For what we are trying to do with PuritanSearch is include first and foremost the technical spectrum of 1550-1700 English Puritans. Then we stretched it to also include 1550-1700 broader Non-Conformity consisting of dissenting Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Particular Baptists, and Independents. Then, lastly, taking on the suggestions of current Puritan scholars, that Scottish Covenanters, and Dutch Further Reformers are a "form" of Puritanism; and given the reinterest in Colonial Puritanism we are attempting to include them as well. For the latter, this is evidenced by a recent publication by Benge & Pickowics entitled "American Puritanism." The summery and reviews state:
In The American Puritans , Dustin Benge and Nate Pickowicz tell the story of the first hundred years of Reformed Protestantism in New England through the lives of nine key figures:
In the history of Christianity there have been particular times when God uses a particular group of people at a particular place for a particularly great work. Puritan New England is a vibrant example of such a time, people, and place. Between Cape Anne and Cape Cod, huddled close to the coast, lived a concentration of highly educated, thoughtful, and pious people intent on living as Christ would have them live. History ever after cannot be understood without an eye on their influence. The American Puritans is an excellent introduction to these vibrant Christians. --Rick Kennedy, professor of history, Point Loma Nazarene University and author of The First American Evangelical: A Short Life of Cotton Mather
There has been a gap in the vital industry of reprinting the superbly relevant studies written by Puritan theologians and preachers. A survey of the leading American Puritans has been deeply needed. They have lived in the shadow of the extraordinary Jonathan Edwards. There are many others, and they are important to us in the United Kingdom because they lived before the American Revolutionary War, and so they are our Puritans as William Shakespeare is also America's playwright. In the eighteenth century, English Puritanism had been wiped out, destroyed by Unitarianism and yet revived by George Whitefield and the leaders of the Great Awakening. But Puritanism continued across the Atlantic in New England and in the English colonies. To freshly introduce Christians on both sides of the ocean to their spiritual fathers is an enormous achievement. May we grow as familiar with them as we have become with the English Puritans. May God bless their testimony today to revive the witness in the Old Country, which is wilting in the weakness of historic Christianity, which is under constant attack and denigration even in the professing church itself. --Geoff Thomas, visiting professor of historical theology, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan
I am personally excited to see this excellent work, The American Puritans, written by two gifted authors and historians, Dustin Benge and Nate Pickowicz, appear in print. These men have made an important contribution to our understanding of the spiritual leaders who laid the theological and moral foundation for the early American colonies. Four centuries later, we continue to stand on the sturdy shoulders of these giants who first brought the Puritan way of life to American soil. This is a book containing nine concise biographies that I urge you to read. I believe it will both encourage and challenge you in your faith as you study these Puritans of the past. --Steven J. Lawson, president, OnePassion Ministries and professor, The Master s Seminary
This is why we are trying to rigorously follow what I am calling "The Harvard Line." We are also setting a limit to that line, and that is graduates no later than 1701, at the retirement of Increase Mather. Really, because it is like the review has stated; that very little is known to most of us about them. We know that Harvard was created in most part to train Puritan ministers. We know that just to enter Harvard at the time one would have to be fluent in Greek and Latin, so these were no run of the mill laymen. And in my opinion, Selbys book(s) have been the only clear guide I can follow in trying to create a substantial list, and I am so grateful for it. The reason I am showing you this is not to take away from the strict definition of Puritan/Puritanism, but to show that even our contemporary scholars attribute Puritanism to a broader group than can be neatly defined. All in all, we are just trying to do our best to provide the most precise, but also broadest tool for Puritan research if that makes sense. In such, we are not adding people that have not been defined as Puritans & Non-Conformists by a higher authority; or by a general consensus that would be frustrated if they were not included (like people are with Boston, Edwards, Davies, and Whitefield.) We do not plan on expanding this indefinitely, but we are attempting to fit as much Puritanism within the span of Knox to Edwards as we can. So far, following the Harvard line, we have about 50 American Puritans covering about 150 or more works (and I just started vol.2 out of 4 of pre-1702 alumni). Some of them we already had. But, these would be works we wouldn't have in the search if we didn't seek them out. And, it could prove invaluable to shining a light on this period of Puritanism known very little about. Sorry for the long post, but just trying to fully explain. God Bless.
In The American Puritans , Dustin Benge and Nate Pickowicz tell the story of the first hundred years of Reformed Protestantism in New England through the lives of nine key figures:
In the history of Christianity there have been particular times when God uses a particular group of people at a particular place for a particularly great work. Puritan New England is a vibrant example of such a time, people, and place. Between Cape Anne and Cape Cod, huddled close to the coast, lived a concentration of highly educated, thoughtful, and pious people intent on living as Christ would have them live. History ever after cannot be understood without an eye on their influence. The American Puritans is an excellent introduction to these vibrant Christians. --Rick Kennedy, professor of history, Point Loma Nazarene University and author of The First American Evangelical: A Short Life of Cotton Mather
There has been a gap in the vital industry of reprinting the superbly relevant studies written by Puritan theologians and preachers. A survey of the leading American Puritans has been deeply needed. They have lived in the shadow of the extraordinary Jonathan Edwards. There are many others, and they are important to us in the United Kingdom because they lived before the American Revolutionary War, and so they are our Puritans as William Shakespeare is also America's playwright. In the eighteenth century, English Puritanism had been wiped out, destroyed by Unitarianism and yet revived by George Whitefield and the leaders of the Great Awakening. But Puritanism continued across the Atlantic in New England and in the English colonies. To freshly introduce Christians on both sides of the ocean to their spiritual fathers is an enormous achievement. May we grow as familiar with them as we have become with the English Puritans. May God bless their testimony today to revive the witness in the Old Country, which is wilting in the weakness of historic Christianity, which is under constant attack and denigration even in the professing church itself. --Geoff Thomas, visiting professor of historical theology, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan
I am personally excited to see this excellent work, The American Puritans, written by two gifted authors and historians, Dustin Benge and Nate Pickowicz, appear in print. These men have made an important contribution to our understanding of the spiritual leaders who laid the theological and moral foundation for the early American colonies. Four centuries later, we continue to stand on the sturdy shoulders of these giants who first brought the Puritan way of life to American soil. This is a book containing nine concise biographies that I urge you to read. I believe it will both encourage and challenge you in your faith as you study these Puritans of the past. --Steven J. Lawson, president, OnePassion Ministries and professor, The Master s Seminary
This is why we are trying to rigorously follow what I am calling "The Harvard Line." We are also setting a limit to that line, and that is graduates no later than 1701, at the retirement of Increase Mather. Really, because it is like the review has stated; that very little is known to most of us about them. We know that Harvard was created in most part to train Puritan ministers. We know that just to enter Harvard at the time one would have to be fluent in Greek and Latin, so these were no run of the mill laymen. And in my opinion, Selbys book(s) have been the only clear guide I can follow in trying to create a substantial list, and I am so grateful for it. The reason I am showing you this is not to take away from the strict definition of Puritan/Puritanism, but to show that even our contemporary scholars attribute Puritanism to a broader group than can be neatly defined. All in all, we are just trying to do our best to provide the most precise, but also broadest tool for Puritan research if that makes sense. In such, we are not adding people that have not been defined as Puritans & Non-Conformists by a higher authority; or by a general consensus that would be frustrated if they were not included (like people are with Boston, Edwards, Davies, and Whitefield.) We do not plan on expanding this indefinitely, but we are attempting to fit as much Puritanism within the span of Knox to Edwards as we can. So far, following the Harvard line, we have about 50 American Puritans covering about 150 or more works (and I just started vol.2 out of 4 of pre-1702 alumni). Some of them we already had. But, these would be works we wouldn't have in the search if we didn't seek them out. And, it could prove invaluable to shining a light on this period of Puritanism known very little about. Sorry for the long post, but just trying to fully explain. God Bless.
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