One Small Candle: The Plymouth Puritans and the Beginning of English New England

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bremer, Francis J.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pilgrims (New Plymouth Colony).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (257 pages) : illustrations, maps

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, [2020]

Summary:

"One Small Candle tells how the religious values of the Pilgrims prompted their settlement of the Plymouth Colony and how those values influenced the political, intellectual, and cultural aspect of New England life a hundred and fifty years before the American Revolution. It begins in early seventeenth-century England with their persecution for challenging the established national church, and their struggles as refugees in the Netherlands in the 1610s. It then examines the challenges they faced in planting a colony in America, including relations with the Native population. The book emphasizes the religious dimension of the story, which has been neglected in most recent works. In particular it focuses on how this particular group of puritan congregationalists was driven by the belief that ordinary men and women should play the determinative role in governing church affairs. Their commitment to lay empowerment is illustrated by attention to the life of William Brewster, who helped organize the congregation in its early years and served as the colony's spiritual guide for its first decade. The participatory democracy that was reflected in congregational church covenants played a greater role in the shaping of Massachusetts churches than has previously been accepted. This outlook also influenced the earliest political forms of the region, including the Mayflower Compact and local New England town meetings. Their rejection of individual greed and focus on community was an early form of an American social gospel. ""-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Prologue: Disease and Death in Early Plymouth

Introduction

1. The Religious Scene in Early Modern England

2. To Tarry or Not to Tarry

3. Refugees

4. Setting a New Course

5. Dawn Land

6. Small Beginnings

7. The Godly Community

8. Sustaining the Vision

9. Plymouth and the Bay

10. Congregationalism Advanced

Conclusion: Defending Plymouth Congregationalism

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliographical Essay

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-19-751007-8

0-19-751005-1

9780197510063