The Puritans brought many great things to Christian culture. It seems as though many have wrong ideas of who the Puritans were. I would recommend the book Worldly Saints by Leland Ryken for anyone who would like to learn more about the Puritan movement. The book gives many proofs that expose the false ideas of who the Puritans were. It is also very readable and edifying.Upon hearing that I attend Puritan Seminary, I had one person ask me if we kill witches there. Wow!
Here are a few other false ideas of who the Puritans were:
- A Puritan is a person who pours righteous indignation into the wrong things. -GK Chesterton.
- A Puritan through Life's sweet garden goes to pluck the thorn and cast away the rose. -Kenneth Hare
- The Puritan hates bear-bating, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators. -Thomas Macauley
- To the Puritan all things are impure. -DH Lawrence
6 comments:
Was it Lewis who said that the chief charge against Puritanism was that it's too glad to be true? Regardless, it's a good quip.
In Chesterton's defense, he had some good things to say about the Puritans as well. Still, he overall had a skewed view of Calvinism, which is a real shame.
After reading Jonathan Edwards, I figured that Puritans were the cause of diabetes: all this talk of "sweetness" was cloying. Hugh Binning shows a particular affection for the word and its variants as well (not as bad as Edwards, though).
To D.H. Lawrence, on the other hand, everything was impure because HE WAS. Unfortunately I can't find Sidney Horler's exact quote where he called Lawrence a dirty old man. Be assured it exists.
Chesterton was a Roman Catholic. I'd be surprised if he DIDN'T have a skewed view of Calvinism.
It seems as though 'sweet' was the adjective of the day in Puritan writing. It appears all over the place as well as in the British Isles, the Continent, as well as the New World.
Sweet!
Just bought this book last night, can't wait to read it.
Just started reading 'Worldly Saints' really enjoying it.
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