The Puritans - by David D Hall

About the Book

Shedding critical new light on the diverse forms of Puritan belief and practice in England, Scotland, and New England, Hall provides a multifaceted account of a cultural movement that judged the Protestant reforms of Elizabeth's reign to be unfinished.

Book Synopsis

A panoramic history of Puritanism in England, Scotland, and New England

This book is a sweeping transatlantic history of Puritanism from its emergence out of the religious tumult of Elizabethan England to its founding role in the story of America. Shedding critical new light on the diverse forms of Puritan belief and practice in England, Scotland, and New England, David Hall provides a multifaceted account of a cultural movement that judged the Protestant reforms of Elizabeth's reign to be unfinished. Hall's vivid and wide-ranging narrative describes the movement's deeply ambiguous triumph under Oliver Cromwell, its political demise with the Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660, and its perilous migration across the Atlantic to establish a "perfect reformation" in the New World.

A breathtaking work of scholarship by an eminent historian, The Puritans examines the tribulations and doctrinal dilemmas that led to the fragmentation and eventual decline of Puritanism. It presents a compelling portrait of a religious and political movement that was divided virtually from the start. In England, some wanted to dismantle the Church of England entirely and others were more cautious, while Puritans in Scotland were divided between those willing to work with a troublesome king and others insisting on the independence of the state church. This monumental book traces how Puritanism was a catalyst for profound cultural changes in the early modern Atlantic world, opening the door for other dissenter groups such as the Baptists and the Quakers, and leaving its enduring mark on what counted as true religion in America.

Review Quotes

"[The Puritans] guides us steadily, lucidly and authoritatively across a huge landscape of place and time."---Blair Worden, Literary Review

"[An] expert account of why the Puritans have been considered so central to early modern political and socio-cultural history on both sides of the Atlantic, and it shows an understanding of these debates that only a career-long study of the primary sources and decades-worth of scholarship can bring. . . . [The] insights that it offers by drawing the transatlantic strands of Puritanism together will continue to enrich the debate about what Puritanism means."---Mary Morrissey, Renaissance and Reformation

"[Hall] has arguably shaped the field of early American religious history more than any other scholar over the past half-century, contributing key studies in American Puritanism, popular religion, and print culture, among many others. The Puritans is a culmination of his work and achieves the unique breadth and erudition of a seasoned scholar. . . . It is, however, no stagnant summation but a robust historiographical advancement."---Ryan Hoselton, Themelios

"Hall has written a clear and informative guide to Puritan theology and its implications. . . . To read this book is to gain a much better sense of who [the Puritans] were and why they are so important."---Norman Jones, Anglican and Episcopal History

"Hall provides an in-depth and erudite study that scholars will find quite useful . . . . A well-researched study of the Puritans."---Kirkus Reviews

"Hall's book is a fine-grained synthesis of wide scholarship, suffused with all the supranational dynamism of Atlantic history."---Malcolm Gaskill, London Review of Books

"In short, Hall's volume surely ought to be considered the best scholarly history of Puritanism available today."---Matthew Payne, The Global Anglican

"In [David Hall's] new, masterful overview of transatlantic Puritanism, theology is returned to its rightful place at the head of the conversation."---Abram C. Van Engen, Journal of Early American History

"Magnificent and profound. . . nothing less than a masterpiece."---Corinna Norrick-Rühl, Amerikastudien

"Mr. Hall's magisterial work provides a ground-breaking international history of this controversial religious movement as it emerged in the Old World and evolved to shape the New. . . . His voluminous endnotes compress many decades of wide reading into what will become one of the definitive histories of its subject."---Crawford Gribben, Wall Street Journal

"The beauty of it all is that Hall maintains a careful balance between bone-dry dogmas and scholarly wrangling on the one hand and his sympathetic attention to the lived religion of the common people on the other. . . . A 'must read' for anyone interested in this fascinating period."---Reiner Smolinski, ALH Online Review

"The most ambitious of all the works by this distinguished scholar, this book serves as a capstone to his career to date."---Francis J. Bremer, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

"There is a retrospective flavour to the book, and something of an elegiac flavour too, particularly in its closing chapters, as it traces the long slow decay of the Puritan tradition."---Arnold Hunt, Times Literary Supplement

"This book engages deeply with religious politics and theology, serving as a fitting companion to Diarmaid MacCulloch's more broadly conceived The Reformation: A History (2003)."---Carla Gardina Pestana, History Today

"This book is a monumental piece of scholarship that could only have been completed by an author with a lifetime's research under their belt. While readers with particular expertise may wish for greater detail in specific areas, Hall's book offers the most wide-ranging account of the Puritans' world to date."---R. Scott Spurlock, Journal of British Studies

"This book is thoughtful, thorough, accessible, and immensely learned. . . . If you were looking for an authoritative, sympathetic, and absorbing theological history to while away this strange year, you have found it."---Dr Alec Ryrie, Church Times

"Winner of the Philip Schaff Prize, American Society of Church History"

About the Author

David D. Hall is professor emeritus of American religious history at Harvard Divinity School. His books include Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England, A Reforming People: Puritanism and the Transformation of Public Life in New England, and The Faithful Shepherd: A History of the New England Ministry in the Seventeenth Century. He lives in Arlington, Massachusetts.