English Puritanism

Download or read book English Puritanism, 1603-1689 written by John Spurr and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 1998-10-15 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Puritans of seventeenth-century England have been blamed for everything from the English civil war to the rise of capitalism. But who were the Puritans of Stuart England? How did their neighbors identify them, and how did they recognize one another? Were they apostles of liberty who fled from persecution to the New World? Or were they intolerant fanatics, intent on bringing godliness to Stuart England? This study provides a clear narrative of the rise and fall of the Puritans across the troubled seventeenth century. Their story is placed in context by analytical chapters which describe what the Puritans believed and how they organized their religious and social life. Quoting many contemporary sources, including diaries, plays, and sermons, this is a vivid and comprehensible account, drawing on the most recent scholarship.