The long argument : English Puritanism and the shaping of New England culture, 1570-1700 / Stephen Foster.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Foster, Stephen, 1942- author.

Series:

Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Puritans--New England.

Puritans.

Puritans--England.

New England--Civilization--17th century.

New England.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (416 p.)

Edition:

2nd ed.

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill, [North Carolina] ; London, [England] : Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, by the University of North Carolina Press, 1991.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this wide-ranging study Stephen Foster explores Puritanism in England and America from its roots in the Elizabethan era to the end of the seventeenth century. Focusing on Puritanism as a cultural and political phenomenon as well as a religious movement, Foster addresses parallel developments on both sides of the Atlantic and firmly embeds New England Puritanism within its English context. He provides not only an elaborate critque of current interpretations of Puritan ideology but also an original and insightful portrayal of its dynamism. According to Foster, Puritanism represented a loose and incomplete alliance of progressive Protestants, lay and clerical, aristocratic and humble, who never decided whether they were the vanguard or the remnant. Indeed, in Foster's analysis, changes in New England Puritanism after the first decades of settlement did not indicate secularization and decline but instead were part of a pattern of change, conflict, and accomodation that had begun in England. He views the Puritans' own claims of declension as partisan propositions in an internal controversy as old as the Puritan movement itself. The result of these stresses and adaptations, he argues, was continued vitality in American Puritanism during the second half of the seventeenth century. Foster draws insights from a broad range of souces in England and America, including sermons, diaries, spiritual autobiographies, and colony, town, and court records. Moreover, his presentation of the history of the English and American Puritan movements in tandem brings out the fatal flaws of the former as well as the modest but essential strengths of the latter.

Contents:

Cover; Contents; Preface; Acknowledgments; A Note on Dating, Transcription, Citation, and Bibliography; Introduction: The Puritan Movement; 1. The Elizabethan Contribution: The Celebration of Order, 1570-1610; 2. Continuity and Ambiguity: ""The Gospel Doing,"" 1590-1630; 3. From Engagement to Flight: The Failure of Politics, 1610-1630; 4. From Exodus to Revelation: The Move toward Sectarianism in England and America, 1630-1650; 5. Reconstruction and Conflict: The Halfway Covenant and Declension Controversies, 1650-1680

6. Israel's Fate: The Definition of Establishment in Puritan America, 1681-1700Envoi: The Long Argument and Its Ending; Appendix: Editions and Pressruns before the Civil War; Notes; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 319-375) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

979-88-908754-3-3

979-88-908754-4-0

0-8078-3826-8

1-4696-0047-1

OCLC:

966756657