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Santos no Mundo: Os puritanos como realmente eram
Dr.Ryken's presentation of the Puritan view and style of life is perceptive and accurate. He allows them to speak for themselves on topics ranging from"Church and Worship" to "Money" and "Marriage and Sex". While criticizing the Puritans for their faults, the author paints a sympathetic portrait of them.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
93 people are currently reading
1066 people want to read
About the author
Leland Ryken
128 books139 followersDr. Ryken has served on the faculty of Wheaton College since 1968. He has published over thirty books and more than one hundred articles and essays, devoting much of his scholarship to Bible translations and the study of the Bible as literature. He served as Literary Chairman for the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible and in 2003 received the distinguished Gutenberg Award for his contributions to education, writing, and the understanding of the Bible.
He is the father of Philip Graham Ryken
He is the father of Philip Graham Ryken
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
October 28, 2012
Leland Ryken offers a thorough examination of the Puritans "As They Really Were". His goal throughout the book was to peel back the layers of unfounded criticism against the Puritans - and in the process help us to see the Puritans in a more balanced and objective light. What results is a story of a movement that was certainly radical in many ways, but also a movement that offers us great challenges for our faith today. Ryken likens them to spiritual giants - and after reading this book you will agree. Their belief in the "wholeness" of life being a service to God impacted all of life (both social and spiritual). In our segregated and compartmentalized culture today, this seems so extreme. Yet, the Puritans offer us insights on how our lives are actually more fittingly called extreme. Whereas the Puritans kept their lives centered on faith, ours is a faith that is driven by so many external factors outside of faith.
I appreciate Ryken's very systematic and organized approach in this book. He walks through one topic at a time before approaching the next. This makes the book easy to follow and organize your thoughts.
This book is a part of some research that I am doing, but I found that this book did not read like a research essay at all. It actually was easy to follow and I read much larger portions than my normal pace. For those interested in this time period in our nation's history, I would highly recommend this resource to offer balance to the harshly critical picture painted of the Puritans in American history.
I appreciate Ryken's very systematic and organized approach in this book. He walks through one topic at a time before approaching the next. This makes the book easy to follow and organize your thoughts.
This book is a part of some research that I am doing, but I found that this book did not read like a research essay at all. It actually was easy to follow and I read much larger portions than my normal pace. For those interested in this time period in our nation's history, I would highly recommend this resource to offer balance to the harshly critical picture painted of the Puritans in American history.
January 29, 2024
Citind această carte am devenit tot mai conștient de comoara neprețuită pe care o moștenim de la înaintașii noștri în credință. Este o veritabilă introducere în gândirea și practica puritanilor. O carte ce m-a răscolit puternic. Ce credință fermă aveau, ce pasiune pentru Evanghelie, ce dragoste față de Cristos. Trăirea acestor oameni nu poate decât să inspire un om la o viață cât mai evlavioasă.
June 5, 2023
This was a helpful book on the Puritans. I didn't agree with all Ryken's analyses in the final two chapters, but as a corrective to the terrible and false view of the Puritans most folks have this book is excellent.
February 17, 2009
Just great.
August 3, 2021
Great introduction to the unfairly maligned Puritans. A couple of quotes from the end. 'Like Nicodemus, who was a teacher in Israel but did not know about the New Birth, evangelical Protestants tend toe be strangers to what is best in their own tradition. Puritanism can give us a place to stand. The Puritans believed that all of life is God's. This enabled them to combine personal piety with a comprehensive Christian worldview.' 'In Puritanism, a theology of personal salvation was wedded to an active life in the world.' This is why the author calls them, 'worldly saints'.
Quotes:
(1) Forward, pg. xiii (Packer): Today, however, Christians in the West are found to be on the whole passionless, passive, and one fears, prayer less. Cultivating an ethos that encloses personal piety in a pietistic cocoon, they leave public affairs to go their own way and neither expect nor, for the most part, seek influence beyond their own Christian circle. Where the Puritans prayed and labored for a holy England and New England--sensing that where privilege is neglected and unfaithfulness reigns, national judgment threatens--modern Christians gladly settle for convencional social respectability and, having done so, look no further. Surely it is obvious that at this point also the Puritans have a great deal to teach us.
(2) Ch. 2: What Were the Original Puritans Life?
-pg. 3 (The Puritans were opposed to sports and recreation): It is true that the Puritans banned all recreation on Sundays and all games of chance, gambling, bear baiting, horse racing, and bowling in or around savers at all times. They did so, not because they were opposed to fun, but because they judged these activities to be inherently harmful or immoral.
-pg. 3 (The Puritans were money-grubbing workaholics who would do anything to get rich): The Puritans were obsessed with the dangers of wealth...On the positive side, the Puritans did believe that work was a moral virtue, that idleness was a vice, and that thrift or deliberate underconsumption for the sake of moderation and avoiding debt was a good thing.
-pg. 5 (The Puritans were overly strict): Of course, everyone is strict about the things he or she values most highly. Athletes are strict about training, musicians about practicing, business people about money. The Puritans were strict about their moral and spiritual activities.
-pg. 7 (The Puritans were ignorant people who opposed education): The founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony established their first college (Harvard) only six years after landing. The colony itself, 'with over 100 graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, was surely the best educated community the world has ever known, before or since.'
-pg. 7 (Exactly who were the Puritans?): Horton Davies says that 'puritanism began as a liturgical reform, but it developed into a distinct attitude towards life.'
-pg. 11 (Some leading traits of Puritanism): Of all the key terms used by the Puritans, the foremost were reform, reformation, or the adjective reformed. These terms were not the coinage of later historians but were the words on everyone's lips during the Puritan ear itself. It was an age in which rulers were urged 'to reform their countries,' churchmen to effect 'the reformation of religion,' and fathers 'to reform [their] families.' At a more personal level, the Puritan impulse was to 'reform the life from ungodliness and unrighteous dealing.'
-pg. 13 (traits: persecuted minority): Puritan leaders were in and out of prison as a way of life...Puritan young people who would not sign the Act of Uniformity could not get degrees from Oxford and Cambridge universities. Ministers who refused to wear Anglican vestments or support Anglican ceremony or read services from the Prayer Book were ejected from their positions.
-pg. 13 (trait: Bible central to everything): The Puritan movement was an educated movement. Its goal was the reform of religious, national, and personal life, and its adherents quickly sensed that one of the most effective ways of influencing their society was through the schools.
-pg. 15 (key Puritan doctrines): Related to the doctrine of Creation was the strong Puritan emphasis on Providence. The Puritans were par excellence the people who saw God in everyday events.
-pg. 17 (Likes and Dislikes): Spiritual complacency and mediocrity were the greatest of all Puritan aversions.
(3) Ch. 2: Work
-pg. 24 (Background: division between sacred and secular): Sacred word was done by members of the religious profession. All other work bore the stigma of being secular.
-pg. 24 (background): This sacred-secular dichotomy was exactly what the Puritans rejected as the starting point of their theory of work.
-pg. 25 (sanctity of all legitimate types of work): It makes every job consequential by making the arena for glorifying and obeying God and for expressing one's love (through service) to one's neighbor.
-pg. 30 (The motivation and rewards of work): William Perkins asserted that, 'the main end of our lives...is to serve God in the serving of men in the works of our callings...Some man will say perchance: What, must we not labor in our callings to maintain our families? I answer: this must be done: but this is not the scope and end of our lives. The true end of our lives is to do service to God in serving of man.'
-pg. 30 (motivation cont.): As for the riches that might come from work, the 'may enable us to relieve our needy brethren and to promote good works for church and state.'
-pg. 31 (motivation cont.): Richard Baxter urged: 'Choose that employment or calling in which you may be most serviceable to God. Choose not that in which you may be most rich or honorable in the world; but that in which you may do most good, and best escape sinning.'
-pg. 34 (Moderation in Work): Even 'spirituality' was no excuse for idleness in the view of this Puritans. Richard Steele spoke against 'neglecting a man's necessary affairs upon pretense of religious worship.'
(4) Ch. 3: Marriage and Sex
-pg. 40 (Sex in the Middle Ages): Jovinian was excommunicated for daring to suggest that marriage was no worse in God's sight than virginity... This tradition culminated in the Council of Trent's denouncing people who denied that virginity was superior to the married state.
-pg. 42 (The Puritan rejection of the Medieval Attitude): In his treatise on marriage the Catholic theologian Erasmus had praised as ideal a marriage in which husband and wife learned to live without sexual intercourse.
-pg. 47 (The purpose of Marriage and Sex): While individual writers might modify the scheme, the general framework was a threefold purpose for marriage--procreation, a remedy against sexual sin, and mutual society. The distinctive contribution of the Puritans within this framework was to shift the primary emphasis from procreation to companionship.
-pg. 48 (The purpose cont.): In Catholic doctrine, the only thing that had salvaged sex in marriage was the procreation of children.
-pg. 51 (Romantic love as the context for sex): C.S. Lewis has shown that 'the conversion of courtly love into romantic monogamous love was... largely the work of English, and even Puritan, poets.'
(5) Ch. 4: Money
-pg. 58 (Is Money Good or Bad?): Samuel Willard theorized that 'riches are consistent with godliness and the more a man hath, the more advantage he hath to do good with it, if God give him an heart to it.'
-pg. 60 (What about poverty?): If godliness is not a guarantee of success, then the converse is also true: success is not a sign of godliness.
-pg. 61 (WAP?): In thus vindicating poverty, the Puritans were careful to distinguish themselves from Catholic teaching about poverty as meritorious in itself.
-pg. 61 (WAP?): In their view, poverty is not an unmitigated misfortune, but it is certainly not the goal that we should have for people.
-pg. 62 (The Dangers of Wealth): Samuel Willard believed that 'it is a very rare thing to see men that have the greatest visible advantages... to be very zealous for God.'
-pg. 63 (TDOW): The acquisition of wealth, said the Puritans, also has a way of absorbing so much of a person's time and energy that it draws him or her away from religion and moral concern for others.
-pg. 64 (How much is enough?): For the Puritans, the crucial issue was not how large a person's income was but how much money was spent on oneself.
-pg. 66 (HMIE): (William Perkins) But his own suggestion was eminently practical: 'we must follow the example of the most sober-minded and the most modest in our social class and of about the same age as ours.'
-pg. 66 (What is Money For?): The more we explore Puritan attitudes, the more apparent it becomes that the key to everything they said on the topic was their conviction that money is a social good, not a private possession. Its main purpose is the welfare of everyone in society, not the personal pleasure of the person who happens to have control over it.
-pg. 69 (The Puritan critique of Modern Business ethics): William Perkins said, 'The end of a man's calling is not to gather riches for himself...but to serve God in the serving of man, and in the seeking the good of all men.'
(6) Ch. 5: Family
-pg. 74 (What is family for?) According to Isaac Ambrose, husband and wife have the task of 'erecting and establishing Christ's glorious kingdom in their house.'
-pg. 74 (WIFF?): Once the primary purpose of the family had been defined, the Puritans went on to state further goals. They believed that the family was the foundational unit of a godly society. 'Such as families are,' wrote James Fitch, 'such at last the church and commonwealth must be.'
-pg. 75 (The Headship of the Husband/Father): Modeled on Christ's headship of the church, the husband's headship, according to the Puritans, is not a ticket to privilege but a charge to responsibility.
-pg. 76 (THOTHF): According to Samuel Willard, a good husband will so rule 'as that his wife may take delight in [his headship], and not account it a slavery but a liberty and privilege.'
-pg. 77 (The place of the Wife/Mother): Like Calvin, the Puritans distinguished between spiritual and social equality. Spiritually husband and wife are equal. In the social institution of the family, however, there is a hierarchy of authority.
-pg. 79 (Parental Responsibility to Children): According to New England laws, every father was required to see that his children were instructed 'in some honest lawful calling, labor or employment, either in husbandry, or some other trade profitable for themselves and the commonwealth.'
-pg. 85 (The spiritualization of the Family): The Puritans knew that the church can never be a substitute for the religious life of a family. In fact, the health of the church depends on what happens in the family.
(7) Chapter 6: Puritan Preaching
-pg. 91: If we look at the English Puritans for a moment through the eyes of their religious opponents, we find that what these antagonists feared most about the Puritans was their preaching.
-pg. 96 (The importance of Intellect in Preaching): The occasion for the founding of Harvard College only six years after the Puritans' arrival in Massachusetts was the dread of leaving 'an illiterate ministry to the churches, when our present ministers shall lie in the dust.'
-pg. 99 (Expository Preaching from the Bible): William Perkins, for example, encouraged the reading of patristic sources in sermon preparation, but also the concealment of this study in the citations made from the pulpit.
pf. 102 (The Practical Application of Doctrine): It is obvious that Puritan preachers knew what they wanted to achieve with their preaching. They were goal-oriented. The ultimate goal was holy living; doctrinal truth was a means to that end.
(8) Ch. 7: Church and Worship
-pg. 111: As that Puritan platform suggests, the very name Puritan first denoted a desire to purity the established Church of England from Catholic vestiges in worship and church government.
-pg. 115 (The Church as a Spiritual Reality): It was the notion that the church is a spiritual reality. It is not impressive buildings or fancy clerical vestments. It is instead the company of the redeemed.
-pg. 115: (TCASR) The Puritans repeatedly showed their acceptance of Luther's dictum that 'the church is a spiritual assembly of souls...The true, real, right, essential church is a matter of the spirit and not of anything external.'
-pg. 116 (TCASR): The most memorable statement along these lines is that by George Gillespie: unto us Christians no land is strange, no ground unholy; every coast is Jewry, every house is Sion; and every faithful company, yea, every faithful body a Temple to serve God in.'
-pg. 119 (The elevation of the Laity): The Puritans permanently changed church architecture from the two-room principle, in which members were onlookers as the clergy performed the liturgy, to a one-room sanctuary.
pg. 121 (Simplifying the Worship Service): For the Catholic/Anglican schedule of saints' days and holy days, the Puritans simply substituted Sunday worship; in the words of Richard Greenham, 'Our Easter day, our Ascension day, our Whitsuntide is every Lord's day.'
-pg. 124 (Congregational Participation in the Worship Service): Notetaking at sermons and repetition of the sermon at home also attests how active the Puritans expected listeners of the sermon to be.
-pg. 125 (The primacy of the Word): Puritan worship services, therefore, were far from being devoid of images and symbols. These were simply embodied in the sermon instead of visible to the eye in the church sanctuary.
-pg. 127 (Keeping Worship Creative and Fresh): For the Puritans, praying from a prayer book was equivalent to greeting family members at the breakfast table by reading the greetings from a book.
-pg. 128 (KWCAF): In addition to encouraging private worship, the Puritans fosters creativity in worship in their homes. Some of this worship was family worship, while some of it involved neighbors and friends. Puritan families organized their own thanksgiving days and fast days.
-pg. 129 (The Puritan Sabbath): In doing so, however, they distinguished between the Old Testament Sabbath as a ceremonial law and as a moral law.
-pg. 130 (TPS): Part of the moral dimension of Sunday observance became a stress on works of very to those in need. Milton spoke of suing the day 'to quicken withal the study and exercise of charity,' and George Wither of 'the charity we owe to our neighbors.'
(9) Chapter 8: The Bible
-pg. 148 (Principles of Biblical Interpretation): J.I. Packer has said that 'with Luther, the Reformers saw all Scripture as being, in the last analysis, either law or gospel--meaning by 'law' all that exposes our ruin through sin and by 'gospel' everything that displays our restoration through faith.'
Quotes:
(1) Forward, pg. xiii (Packer): Today, however, Christians in the West are found to be on the whole passionless, passive, and one fears, prayer less. Cultivating an ethos that encloses personal piety in a pietistic cocoon, they leave public affairs to go their own way and neither expect nor, for the most part, seek influence beyond their own Christian circle. Where the Puritans prayed and labored for a holy England and New England--sensing that where privilege is neglected and unfaithfulness reigns, national judgment threatens--modern Christians gladly settle for convencional social respectability and, having done so, look no further. Surely it is obvious that at this point also the Puritans have a great deal to teach us.
(2) Ch. 2: What Were the Original Puritans Life?
-pg. 3 (The Puritans were opposed to sports and recreation): It is true that the Puritans banned all recreation on Sundays and all games of chance, gambling, bear baiting, horse racing, and bowling in or around savers at all times. They did so, not because they were opposed to fun, but because they judged these activities to be inherently harmful or immoral.
-pg. 3 (The Puritans were money-grubbing workaholics who would do anything to get rich): The Puritans were obsessed with the dangers of wealth...On the positive side, the Puritans did believe that work was a moral virtue, that idleness was a vice, and that thrift or deliberate underconsumption for the sake of moderation and avoiding debt was a good thing.
-pg. 5 (The Puritans were overly strict): Of course, everyone is strict about the things he or she values most highly. Athletes are strict about training, musicians about practicing, business people about money. The Puritans were strict about their moral and spiritual activities.
-pg. 7 (The Puritans were ignorant people who opposed education): The founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony established their first college (Harvard) only six years after landing. The colony itself, 'with over 100 graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, was surely the best educated community the world has ever known, before or since.'
-pg. 7 (Exactly who were the Puritans?): Horton Davies says that 'puritanism began as a liturgical reform, but it developed into a distinct attitude towards life.'
-pg. 11 (Some leading traits of Puritanism): Of all the key terms used by the Puritans, the foremost were reform, reformation, or the adjective reformed. These terms were not the coinage of later historians but were the words on everyone's lips during the Puritan ear itself. It was an age in which rulers were urged 'to reform their countries,' churchmen to effect 'the reformation of religion,' and fathers 'to reform [their] families.' At a more personal level, the Puritan impulse was to 'reform the life from ungodliness and unrighteous dealing.'
-pg. 13 (traits: persecuted minority): Puritan leaders were in and out of prison as a way of life...Puritan young people who would not sign the Act of Uniformity could not get degrees from Oxford and Cambridge universities. Ministers who refused to wear Anglican vestments or support Anglican ceremony or read services from the Prayer Book were ejected from their positions.
-pg. 13 (trait: Bible central to everything): The Puritan movement was an educated movement. Its goal was the reform of religious, national, and personal life, and its adherents quickly sensed that one of the most effective ways of influencing their society was through the schools.
-pg. 15 (key Puritan doctrines): Related to the doctrine of Creation was the strong Puritan emphasis on Providence. The Puritans were par excellence the people who saw God in everyday events.
-pg. 17 (Likes and Dislikes): Spiritual complacency and mediocrity were the greatest of all Puritan aversions.
(3) Ch. 2: Work
-pg. 24 (Background: division between sacred and secular): Sacred word was done by members of the religious profession. All other work bore the stigma of being secular.
-pg. 24 (background): This sacred-secular dichotomy was exactly what the Puritans rejected as the starting point of their theory of work.
-pg. 25 (sanctity of all legitimate types of work): It makes every job consequential by making the arena for glorifying and obeying God and for expressing one's love (through service) to one's neighbor.
-pg. 30 (The motivation and rewards of work): William Perkins asserted that, 'the main end of our lives...is to serve God in the serving of men in the works of our callings...Some man will say perchance: What, must we not labor in our callings to maintain our families? I answer: this must be done: but this is not the scope and end of our lives. The true end of our lives is to do service to God in serving of man.'
-pg. 30 (motivation cont.): As for the riches that might come from work, the 'may enable us to relieve our needy brethren and to promote good works for church and state.'
-pg. 31 (motivation cont.): Richard Baxter urged: 'Choose that employment or calling in which you may be most serviceable to God. Choose not that in which you may be most rich or honorable in the world; but that in which you may do most good, and best escape sinning.'
-pg. 34 (Moderation in Work): Even 'spirituality' was no excuse for idleness in the view of this Puritans. Richard Steele spoke against 'neglecting a man's necessary affairs upon pretense of religious worship.'
(4) Ch. 3: Marriage and Sex
-pg. 40 (Sex in the Middle Ages): Jovinian was excommunicated for daring to suggest that marriage was no worse in God's sight than virginity... This tradition culminated in the Council of Trent's denouncing people who denied that virginity was superior to the married state.
-pg. 42 (The Puritan rejection of the Medieval Attitude): In his treatise on marriage the Catholic theologian Erasmus had praised as ideal a marriage in which husband and wife learned to live without sexual intercourse.
-pg. 47 (The purpose of Marriage and Sex): While individual writers might modify the scheme, the general framework was a threefold purpose for marriage--procreation, a remedy against sexual sin, and mutual society. The distinctive contribution of the Puritans within this framework was to shift the primary emphasis from procreation to companionship.
-pg. 48 (The purpose cont.): In Catholic doctrine, the only thing that had salvaged sex in marriage was the procreation of children.
-pg. 51 (Romantic love as the context for sex): C.S. Lewis has shown that 'the conversion of courtly love into romantic monogamous love was... largely the work of English, and even Puritan, poets.'
(5) Ch. 4: Money
-pg. 58 (Is Money Good or Bad?): Samuel Willard theorized that 'riches are consistent with godliness and the more a man hath, the more advantage he hath to do good with it, if God give him an heart to it.'
-pg. 60 (What about poverty?): If godliness is not a guarantee of success, then the converse is also true: success is not a sign of godliness.
-pg. 61 (WAP?): In thus vindicating poverty, the Puritans were careful to distinguish themselves from Catholic teaching about poverty as meritorious in itself.
-pg. 61 (WAP?): In their view, poverty is not an unmitigated misfortune, but it is certainly not the goal that we should have for people.
-pg. 62 (The Dangers of Wealth): Samuel Willard believed that 'it is a very rare thing to see men that have the greatest visible advantages... to be very zealous for God.'
-pg. 63 (TDOW): The acquisition of wealth, said the Puritans, also has a way of absorbing so much of a person's time and energy that it draws him or her away from religion and moral concern for others.
-pg. 64 (How much is enough?): For the Puritans, the crucial issue was not how large a person's income was but how much money was spent on oneself.
-pg. 66 (HMIE): (William Perkins) But his own suggestion was eminently practical: 'we must follow the example of the most sober-minded and the most modest in our social class and of about the same age as ours.'
-pg. 66 (What is Money For?): The more we explore Puritan attitudes, the more apparent it becomes that the key to everything they said on the topic was their conviction that money is a social good, not a private possession. Its main purpose is the welfare of everyone in society, not the personal pleasure of the person who happens to have control over it.
-pg. 69 (The Puritan critique of Modern Business ethics): William Perkins said, 'The end of a man's calling is not to gather riches for himself...but to serve God in the serving of man, and in the seeking the good of all men.'
(6) Ch. 5: Family
-pg. 74 (What is family for?) According to Isaac Ambrose, husband and wife have the task of 'erecting and establishing Christ's glorious kingdom in their house.'
-pg. 74 (WIFF?): Once the primary purpose of the family had been defined, the Puritans went on to state further goals. They believed that the family was the foundational unit of a godly society. 'Such as families are,' wrote James Fitch, 'such at last the church and commonwealth must be.'
-pg. 75 (The Headship of the Husband/Father): Modeled on Christ's headship of the church, the husband's headship, according to the Puritans, is not a ticket to privilege but a charge to responsibility.
-pg. 76 (THOTHF): According to Samuel Willard, a good husband will so rule 'as that his wife may take delight in [his headship], and not account it a slavery but a liberty and privilege.'
-pg. 77 (The place of the Wife/Mother): Like Calvin, the Puritans distinguished between spiritual and social equality. Spiritually husband and wife are equal. In the social institution of the family, however, there is a hierarchy of authority.
-pg. 79 (Parental Responsibility to Children): According to New England laws, every father was required to see that his children were instructed 'in some honest lawful calling, labor or employment, either in husbandry, or some other trade profitable for themselves and the commonwealth.'
-pg. 85 (The spiritualization of the Family): The Puritans knew that the church can never be a substitute for the religious life of a family. In fact, the health of the church depends on what happens in the family.
(7) Chapter 6: Puritan Preaching
-pg. 91: If we look at the English Puritans for a moment through the eyes of their religious opponents, we find that what these antagonists feared most about the Puritans was their preaching.
-pg. 96 (The importance of Intellect in Preaching): The occasion for the founding of Harvard College only six years after the Puritans' arrival in Massachusetts was the dread of leaving 'an illiterate ministry to the churches, when our present ministers shall lie in the dust.'
-pg. 99 (Expository Preaching from the Bible): William Perkins, for example, encouraged the reading of patristic sources in sermon preparation, but also the concealment of this study in the citations made from the pulpit.
pf. 102 (The Practical Application of Doctrine): It is obvious that Puritan preachers knew what they wanted to achieve with their preaching. They were goal-oriented. The ultimate goal was holy living; doctrinal truth was a means to that end.
(8) Ch. 7: Church and Worship
-pg. 111: As that Puritan platform suggests, the very name Puritan first denoted a desire to purity the established Church of England from Catholic vestiges in worship and church government.
-pg. 115 (The Church as a Spiritual Reality): It was the notion that the church is a spiritual reality. It is not impressive buildings or fancy clerical vestments. It is instead the company of the redeemed.
-pg. 115: (TCASR) The Puritans repeatedly showed their acceptance of Luther's dictum that 'the church is a spiritual assembly of souls...The true, real, right, essential church is a matter of the spirit and not of anything external.'
-pg. 116 (TCASR): The most memorable statement along these lines is that by George Gillespie: unto us Christians no land is strange, no ground unholy; every coast is Jewry, every house is Sion; and every faithful company, yea, every faithful body a Temple to serve God in.'
-pg. 119 (The elevation of the Laity): The Puritans permanently changed church architecture from the two-room principle, in which members were onlookers as the clergy performed the liturgy, to a one-room sanctuary.
pg. 121 (Simplifying the Worship Service): For the Catholic/Anglican schedule of saints' days and holy days, the Puritans simply substituted Sunday worship; in the words of Richard Greenham, 'Our Easter day, our Ascension day, our Whitsuntide is every Lord's day.'
-pg. 124 (Congregational Participation in the Worship Service): Notetaking at sermons and repetition of the sermon at home also attests how active the Puritans expected listeners of the sermon to be.
-pg. 125 (The primacy of the Word): Puritan worship services, therefore, were far from being devoid of images and symbols. These were simply embodied in the sermon instead of visible to the eye in the church sanctuary.
-pg. 127 (Keeping Worship Creative and Fresh): For the Puritans, praying from a prayer book was equivalent to greeting family members at the breakfast table by reading the greetings from a book.
-pg. 128 (KWCAF): In addition to encouraging private worship, the Puritans fosters creativity in worship in their homes. Some of this worship was family worship, while some of it involved neighbors and friends. Puritan families organized their own thanksgiving days and fast days.
-pg. 129 (The Puritan Sabbath): In doing so, however, they distinguished between the Old Testament Sabbath as a ceremonial law and as a moral law.
-pg. 130 (TPS): Part of the moral dimension of Sunday observance became a stress on works of very to those in need. Milton spoke of suing the day 'to quicken withal the study and exercise of charity,' and George Wither of 'the charity we owe to our neighbors.'
(9) Chapter 8: The Bible
-pg. 148 (Principles of Biblical Interpretation): J.I. Packer has said that 'with Luther, the Reformers saw all Scripture as being, in the last analysis, either law or gospel--meaning by 'law' all that exposes our ruin through sin and by 'gospel' everything that displays our restoration through faith.'
September 27, 2024
This is a great book for modern evangelicals, most of whom aren't aware of the richness of their tradition. The Puritans show us that a life lived to the glory of God can be an exciting adventure, and not just a grumpy walk to heaven. They were so thorough about their doctrine because "theology is the science of living blessedly forever", and we can take their example and fill out minds and hearts with God's Word.
Of course Ryken's style makes it easy to read something that you wouldn't even be that interested in, always having a musicality and a pleasant rhythm to his texts.
Of course Ryken's style makes it easy to read something that you wouldn't even be that interested in, always having a musicality and a pleasant rhythm to his texts.
October 7, 2012
A false and distorted picture of the Puritans, a caricature, has gone largely unchallenged in popular culture: the idea that "even if they were in fact responsible citizens,[they] were comic and pathetic in equal degree, being naive and superstitious, primitive and gullible, superserious, overscrupulous, majoring in minors, and unable or unwilling to relax" (p. x). "The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy" (p. 1). This grossly incorrect and dishonoring error is simply and clearly debunked in this Wheaton College professor's readable and worthwhile book.
One detail that personally struck me was the valid criticism of the Puritans as being characterized by "prolixity" - the vice of being long-winded and verbose. At Cotton Mather's ordination he prayed for an hour and a quarter after which he preached for an hour and three quarters. Anthony Burgess preached 145 sermons on John 17 and another Puritan preacher preached for four months on Joseph's coat of many colors.
Conclusion: I was born some 350 years too late!
One detail that personally struck me was the valid criticism of the Puritans as being characterized by "prolixity" - the vice of being long-winded and verbose. At Cotton Mather's ordination he prayed for an hour and a quarter after which he preached for an hour and three quarters. Anthony Burgess preached 145 sermons on John 17 and another Puritan preacher preached for four months on Joseph's coat of many colors.
Conclusion: I was born some 350 years too late!
August 19, 2018
I am quite fond of the puritans myself. That being the case it was a breath of fresh air to read this book in a culture (Even in Christian environments) where the puritans are seen as negative, harsh, stoic, and well, puritanical. He carefully exposed the myths people are led to believe about these "American Church Fathers". Some might be disconcerted by his layout but I found it very helpful as I couldn't read it all in a few sittings due to time constraints.
June 15, 2009
Successfully beats to a pulp the view of the Puritans as uptight, undersexed killjoys.
June 22, 2019
Vivemos numa época de crescente interesse pelo puritanismo, ao menos entre cristãos de confissão reformada. Ainda assim, há uma generalizada falta de conhecimento sobre o que os puritanos realmente pensaram sobre diversos assuntos; Leland Ryken se propõe então a expor, por meio de fontes primárias, como era de fato o pensamento puritano sobre trabalho e dinheiro; sexo, casamento e família; igreja e culto; a Bíblia; a educação e a ciência; a sociedade, a política e a ação social. Ele faz isso com um esforço de considerar o contexto histórico em que os puritanos viveram e, apesar do seu claro apreço pelas ênfases do puritanismo, não joga para debaixo do tapete os erros e exageros do movimento (há um capítulo inteiro dedicado às "faltas" puritanas).
Apesar do caráter introdutório, o livro contém muita informação relevante e é um ótimo ponto de partida para se conhecerem as idéias puritanas sobre os temas que o autor decidiu abordar. É também interessante a ampla utilização de fontes do puritanismo norte-americano, em geral menos conhecido do que sua contraparte britânica. No fim, a obra de Ryken estimula e encoraja nós protestantes a aprendermos com o exemplo puritano e suas ênfases teocêntricas; em vez de corrermos para as tradições eclesiásticas católicas e anglo-católicas, temos uma rica herança puritana da qual beber.
"Os puritanos foram protagonistas numa grande batalha espiritual entre o bem e o mal, Deus e Satanás. Como cristãos guerreiros e andarilhos, estavam assegurados da vitória porque estavam do lado de Deus."
Apesar do caráter introdutório, o livro contém muita informação relevante e é um ótimo ponto de partida para se conhecerem as idéias puritanas sobre os temas que o autor decidiu abordar. É também interessante a ampla utilização de fontes do puritanismo norte-americano, em geral menos conhecido do que sua contraparte britânica. No fim, a obra de Ryken estimula e encoraja nós protestantes a aprendermos com o exemplo puritano e suas ênfases teocêntricas; em vez de corrermos para as tradições eclesiásticas católicas e anglo-católicas, temos uma rica herança puritana da qual beber.
"Os puritanos foram protagonistas numa grande batalha espiritual entre o bem e o mal, Deus e Satanás. Como cristãos guerreiros e andarilhos, estavam assegurados da vitória porque estavam do lado de Deus."
March 13, 2024
A very balanced perspective on the puritans. 10/10
May 11, 2024
Excellent survey of the Puritans; their contributions, virtues and faults. Much wisdom to be gained from these Christian forefathers.
September 27, 2019
Super good. I very much appreciate the effort Mr. Ryken put to research how these men really were, and then share his findings with his readers in such an engaging way.
September 25, 2015
Leland Ryken gives a fascinating and truly informative look at the Puritans, one of the most reviled and ridiculed groups in the history of the world.
The genius of the book is that Ryken basically "mythbusts" all the false views on the Puritans--everything from handling money to sex--and we finally get a true historical perspective of them "as they really were."
Most of these myths were attributed to the Puritans when the ones actually responsible for the perceived attitudes were the Roman Catholics (which the Catholics were perfectly willing to let the Puritans shoulder--no love lost there.)
Ryken does all this by apologizing in the preface for including what most scholars and publisher would deem as "far too many quotations." In his own defense, however, he states that the very nature of the book requires them; disproving historical lies can only BE done with historical facts.
And there are MANY. Ryken's bookshelves must REALLY hate him; they have to be sagging like a python's belly in a cow pasture. The sheer amount of historical data he includes in this book is staggering, and it's no wonder the man wears glasses after THAT much research. WORLDLY SAINTS'bibliography takes up practically an eighth of the book and is a treasure trove of sanctified knowledge all its own.
Ryken isn't going to be accused of being another Reformed yes-man, either; in true Christian fashion, he gives us an entire chapter on where the Puritans "got it wrong." He's as blunt as some of the Puritans' opponents and clearly states that one can see how some of the Puritans' detractors formed their opinions of them, based on these faults.
Not sure how long this book will be in print, but you need to get your justified mitts on this and devour it. Ryken shows the good and the bad, but still resoundingly (and rightly) believes and shows how the Puritans may have been the closest we'll ever come pre-Kingdom to a godly society.
The genius of the book is that Ryken basically "mythbusts" all the false views on the Puritans--everything from handling money to sex--and we finally get a true historical perspective of them "as they really were."
Most of these myths were attributed to the Puritans when the ones actually responsible for the perceived attitudes were the Roman Catholics (which the Catholics were perfectly willing to let the Puritans shoulder--no love lost there.)
Ryken does all this by apologizing in the preface for including what most scholars and publisher would deem as "far too many quotations." In his own defense, however, he states that the very nature of the book requires them; disproving historical lies can only BE done with historical facts.
And there are MANY. Ryken's bookshelves must REALLY hate him; they have to be sagging like a python's belly in a cow pasture. The sheer amount of historical data he includes in this book is staggering, and it's no wonder the man wears glasses after THAT much research. WORLDLY SAINTS'bibliography takes up practically an eighth of the book and is a treasure trove of sanctified knowledge all its own.
Ryken isn't going to be accused of being another Reformed yes-man, either; in true Christian fashion, he gives us an entire chapter on where the Puritans "got it wrong." He's as blunt as some of the Puritans' opponents and clearly states that one can see how some of the Puritans' detractors formed their opinions of them, based on these faults.
Not sure how long this book will be in print, but you need to get your justified mitts on this and devour it. Ryken shows the good and the bad, but still resoundingly (and rightly) believes and shows how the Puritans may have been the closest we'll ever come pre-Kingdom to a godly society.
Read
January 22, 2019Only read chapter 10 on social action.
January 18, 2019
Excelente para quem está descobrindo o puritanismo.
June 29, 2012
I rather enjoyed reading this book. Ryken sets out to dispel certain myths about the Puritans, especially those myths propagated by the ignorance of our school textbooks. He does a great job at demonstrating what Puritan life was like (family, money, worship, sexuality, etc.), but seems to come close to contradicting himself in a few spots. Particularly helpful are the chapters that summarize what the Puritans did well and where they erred (though it's in these very chapters where he two parts from the same quote to demonstrate how the Puritans treated women with respect and then that they were dumb like animals compared to men). I recommend Worldly Saints to all who are ignorant of the Puritans and would like to introduced to their way of thinking in a fair and entertaining way!
Read
February 20, 2015A very different--yet extremely helpful--look at the Puritans from a Christian's perspective. The author outlines some of the controversies surrounding the Puritans, debunks popular myths and accusations, and shares real facts about a misrepresented people group. Ryken allows the Puritans to explain their beliefs themselves with quotes from both well- and lesser-known Puritan pastors, authors, etc. Each chapter is rich with information.
August 26, 2012
I started this book a while ago. It helps dispel misconceptions of the Puritans, while acknowledging that they had their faults. Chapter 2 on Work is especially useful, since many Christians tend to look at "sacred" callings (as opposed to "secular" ones) as being what God truly values.
November 9, 2018
Before my students are swayed by Hawthorne's dark, legalistic Puritanic hell, I offer them chapters from Ryken's history before reading The Scarlet Letter every year. It remains a favorite and highly readable resource.
March 18, 2019
I've been wanting to read this book since I heard my pastor mention it in one of our premarital counseling sessions and it did not disappoint. The Puritans have been particularly fascinating to me lately as I've been more curious about the history of my faith.
This book does a great job addressing misinformed stereotypes in the first chapter and continues topically, focusing on elements that set the Puritan movement apart from its religious rivals.
Throughout the book, I found myself highlighting and noting comments and quotations far more often than I tend to. In part, this is thanks to its generous use of quotations, allowing the Puritans to speak for themselves. The chapters I found particularly insightful and compelling were the two on family and on social action. I greatly appreciate the Puritan's approach on parenting, especially the understanding of children being "innocent vipers" and the family being a kind of "little church." The social action chapter was helpful for me because I had a misconception that the Puritans were not active in their local communities, which served as a point of contention between them and the Quakers. However, this is not the case and it appears that the Puritans had a far more robust theology on how to practically serve the poor and needy than I have personally observed in modern church communities.
I do wish that this book had been arranged chronologically. The Puritans were prevalent for about two centuries and were located on two continents. I found the chapters to be a little choppy since it was necessary to jump timelines and countries in order to give a thorough overview of Puritan thought on each subject. The last two chapters dealt with positives and negatives of the Puritans, some of which seemed to reiterate what was discussed in the stereotype chapter and contained information that would have been relevant to other chapters as well. While I enjoyed the author's voice and being able to interact with his thoughts, I was hoping for a book outlining Puritan history, theology, and livelihood while allowing the reader to draw his own conclusions about them.
Worldly Saints is full of great insight and discussion, and provides an ample list for further reading as well. Overall, besides my structuring and organizational preferences, this book was an engaging and appreciative overview of the Puritans and I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more and confront their own misconceptions about them.
This book does a great job addressing misinformed stereotypes in the first chapter and continues topically, focusing on elements that set the Puritan movement apart from its religious rivals.
Throughout the book, I found myself highlighting and noting comments and quotations far more often than I tend to. In part, this is thanks to its generous use of quotations, allowing the Puritans to speak for themselves. The chapters I found particularly insightful and compelling were the two on family and on social action. I greatly appreciate the Puritan's approach on parenting, especially the understanding of children being "innocent vipers" and the family being a kind of "little church." The social action chapter was helpful for me because I had a misconception that the Puritans were not active in their local communities, which served as a point of contention between them and the Quakers. However, this is not the case and it appears that the Puritans had a far more robust theology on how to practically serve the poor and needy than I have personally observed in modern church communities.
I do wish that this book had been arranged chronologically. The Puritans were prevalent for about two centuries and were located on two continents. I found the chapters to be a little choppy since it was necessary to jump timelines and countries in order to give a thorough overview of Puritan thought on each subject. The last two chapters dealt with positives and negatives of the Puritans, some of which seemed to reiterate what was discussed in the stereotype chapter and contained information that would have been relevant to other chapters as well. While I enjoyed the author's voice and being able to interact with his thoughts, I was hoping for a book outlining Puritan history, theology, and livelihood while allowing the reader to draw his own conclusions about them.
Worldly Saints is full of great insight and discussion, and provides an ample list for further reading as well. Overall, besides my structuring and organizational preferences, this book was an engaging and appreciative overview of the Puritans and I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more and confront their own misconceptions about them.
April 15, 2021
"Puritan attitudes toward this world were shot through with paradox. They both accepted and rejected this world."
Terrific book that thematically addresses the theology and lives of the Puritans, giving solid historical context to the movement and filled with a plethora of primary source citations. Not only was it great historical writing, but it was spiritually edifying. Particularly interesting was Ryken's clearing away
of the smog by correcting common misconceptions about the Puritans, as well the stuff on civil laws in New England. I love reading works by the Puritans, and though I would hardly claim to be on their level, I find it encouraging to read people from centuries ago talking about the exact same things I am talking about today. In reading this book I was both stirred up by the Puritans' fidelity to Christ, and sobered by the number of ways in which they went too far. Highly recommended.
Terrific book that thematically addresses the theology and lives of the Puritans, giving solid historical context to the movement and filled with a plethora of primary source citations. Not only was it great historical writing, but it was spiritually edifying. Particularly interesting was Ryken's clearing away
of the smog by correcting common misconceptions about the Puritans, as well the stuff on civil laws in New England. I love reading works by the Puritans, and though I would hardly claim to be on their level, I find it encouraging to read people from centuries ago talking about the exact same things I am talking about today. In reading this book I was both stirred up by the Puritans' fidelity to Christ, and sobered by the number of ways in which they went too far. Highly recommended.
March 10, 2024
4.5 ⭐️
I really enjoyed learning more about the Puritans. I had very limited knowledge on the Puritans and what they really believed/how they actually lived outside of fictional literature.
This book was very informative, but it didn’t read too much like a textbook although it was well supported with many quotes and resources.
One of my only qualms with the book was the organization of the topics and the ending of the book not seeming to be in line with the structure of the rest of the book.
I enjoyed reading Leland Ryken’s perspective on the Puritans based on his research, and this book has made me more interested in the Puritans as well as their beliefs, culture, and habits. I would certainly enjoy reading more about their history and their day-to-day life after getting this more general and topical overview of their beliefs and culture within the historical context.
I really enjoyed learning more about the Puritans. I had very limited knowledge on the Puritans and what they really believed/how they actually lived outside of fictional literature.
This book was very informative, but it didn’t read too much like a textbook although it was well supported with many quotes and resources.
One of my only qualms with the book was the organization of the topics and the ending of the book not seeming to be in line with the structure of the rest of the book.
I enjoyed reading Leland Ryken’s perspective on the Puritans based on his research, and this book has made me more interested in the Puritans as well as their beliefs, culture, and habits. I would certainly enjoy reading more about their history and their day-to-day life after getting this more general and topical overview of their beliefs and culture within the historical context.
December 7, 2024
The Puritans were men of action—passionate individuals who sought to be biblical in all aspects of life. In stark contrast, we often find ourselves passionless, wrapped in our own made-up pietism. Ryken dismantles the common perception of Puritans as joyless figures, cautioning readers against confusing them with the 19th-century pejorative “Puritanism.”
One aspect that personally resonated with me was the chapter on the Puritan doctrine of work. The author highlights how the Puritans warned against overworking as much as they did about idleness, presenting a balanced view that is relevant today.
Their perspective on poverty and wealth struck me as well. The Puritans were closer in spirit to Paul and James' teachings on the dangers of wealth and did so without idealizing poverty. For them, wealth was a type of stewardship. They viewed money as a social good, emphasizing that everything depends on how a person uses their money.
I also liked Ryken's corrective on the Puritan view of recreation. They were not opposed to recreation in general, just recreation on the Lord's Day. They actually argued that employers should give workers time for recreation during the week, allowing the Lord’s Day to be hallowed. However, Ryken also points out that their strict views about recreation led them to see it only as a means to aid work, not as a gift that should be enjoyed in itself.
Overall, I learned more about the Puritans from this work. I didn't agree with all of Ryken's views in his section about Puritan errors, but I respected his well-reasoned presentation and eloquence throughout, allowing us to see them as passionate, ethical individuals rather than mere caricatures.
One aspect that personally resonated with me was the chapter on the Puritan doctrine of work. The author highlights how the Puritans warned against overworking as much as they did about idleness, presenting a balanced view that is relevant today.
Their perspective on poverty and wealth struck me as well. The Puritans were closer in spirit to Paul and James' teachings on the dangers of wealth and did so without idealizing poverty. For them, wealth was a type of stewardship. They viewed money as a social good, emphasizing that everything depends on how a person uses their money.
I also liked Ryken's corrective on the Puritan view of recreation. They were not opposed to recreation in general, just recreation on the Lord's Day. They actually argued that employers should give workers time for recreation during the week, allowing the Lord’s Day to be hallowed. However, Ryken also points out that their strict views about recreation led them to see it only as a means to aid work, not as a gift that should be enjoyed in itself.
Overall, I learned more about the Puritans from this work. I didn't agree with all of Ryken's views in his section about Puritan errors, but I respected his well-reasoned presentation and eloquence throughout, allowing us to see them as passionate, ethical individuals rather than mere caricatures.
January 30, 2025
It was good. I think people can use this more so as a reference book. It’s written like a normal book but has some good reminders that id like to come back to later. If you’re a fan of the puritans than this is a must read. I find the puritans fascinating in their purity towards the Word and devotion that this was good to see what they believed about marriage, sex, education, work, and the battles they fought against the Catholic Church. Mostly id say that read this only if you like the puritans. It’s meant to dispel myths people have about the puritans. I liked it. It didn’t blow me away but had some good highlights i can refer back to later.
April 15, 2023
Fantastic!
November 14, 2024
Informative history of the Puritans. Easy to read and comprehend. Back to the basics and to scripture.
Read
March 20, 2025Chapters 1, 2, 4
November 14, 2024
As usual, I'd rather read the Puritans themselves, but this was a good summary of who they were and what they believed.
Narrator was not great.
Narrator was not great.
March 30, 2020
The book, “Worldly Saints” by Leland Ryken rather thoroughly describes what the Puritan ministry of the period wanted their followers to believe. Professor Ryken deftly provides the readers a good sense of what the Puritans needed to create and the reasoning of their establishment from the Roman Catholic/ British Anglican Church with quote after quote from the Puritan ministry such as William Perkins. Ryken neglects, however, to describe the reality of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1630 through 1695 under the Puritan leadership of Endicott, Craddock, Winthrop and ultimately Phipps. He quotes extensively from Cotton Mather, his father Increase Mather and Samuel Willard, preachers from the period as well as a touch from Deodat Lawson, all extensive players in 1692 Essex County, Massachusetts Bay’s travails. As a descendant of the Massachusetts Bay Puritans and a 12th great nephew of Reverend William Perkins as well as a direct descendant of two great grandparents and one great uncle who were executed for witchcraft in the 1692 Salem Trials, I found the professor’s neglect to be rather unfortunate. He paints a rosy portrait of an otherwise intolerant, hostile, vindictive crowd who through the abuse of young minds, coupled with superstition executed 20 women and men. I was very disappointed with the fact that one small paragraph on page 206 was devoted to the horror brought about by the blending of their church and state.
“Francis Higginson said about Salem village that “our greatest comfort and means of defense above all others is that we have here the true religion and holy ordinances of Almighty God among us.”
If what you are looking for in this book is the history of Puritanism and what they ideally stood for, you will find it. If what you are looking for is the actuality of what the American Puritans did you will be disappointed or rather deluded.
“Francis Higginson said about Salem village that “our greatest comfort and means of defense above all others is that we have here the true religion and holy ordinances of Almighty God among us.”
If what you are looking for in this book is the history of Puritanism and what they ideally stood for, you will find it. If what you are looking for is the actuality of what the American Puritans did you will be disappointed or rather deluded.
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