The Genius of Puritanism by Peter Lewis Reviewed

Here is my second book review for Reformation Heritage Books.  I really recommend getting your hands on this one.  

         Puritanism has long possessed a mixed legacy within both English and American culture.  On the one hand, the Puritans are known among Reformed Christians as some of the godliest men to grace this earth since the times of the apostles.  Their rigorous piety, unwavering devotion, sensitivity to troubled souls, and God-centered preaching has earned them a rightful place of honor among the many evangelical Christians and theologians since the time of the Reformation.  On the other hand, the Puritans are often despised, scorned as colorless prudes prone towards stifling legalism, hell-fire preaching, and murderous witch-hunts.  Events like The Salem Witchcraft Trials have compounded this misconception, with writers like Nathaniel Hawthorne taking advantage of the witch-burning Puritan stereotype by painting them as monsters and hypocrites.  In light of such confusion, it is truly refreshing to read a piece of literature in which the Puritans are examined for who they really were and what they actually believed and practiced.  Peter Lewis’s The Genius of Puritanism is one such historical study into the life, times, and writings of the Puritans which is thoroughly filled with primary source material.  If anyone wants to learn about who the Puritans really were, there is no better way than to read the Puritans themselves.  This is what Lewis accomplishes, offering sparse personal commentary, and allowing the Puritans to speak for themselves.

              The book is divided into three main sections: The Puritan in the Pulpit, The Puritan in the Pew, and the Puritan in Private.  The material begins with a helpful historical introduction to the cultural, political, and ecclesiastical climate in which Puritanism was born.  The first section offers short biographies of major Puritan figures, along with a basic description of their homiletic methods.  Such figures include the famous William Perkins, Thomas Goodwin, Jeremiah Burroughs, Thomas Manton, Thomas Goodwin, Thomas Brooks, Christopher Love and others.  According to Lewis, Puritan preaching was characterized by a zealous appeal to the law of God, a proclamation of the good news of the gospel, and a very strenuous emphasis upon the practical implications of doctrine for everyday living.  Unlike the self-proclaimed post-modern Christians of the 21^st century with their popular mantra ”doctrine divides”, the Puritans refused to separate doctrine from life.  For the Puritans, true and genuine piety could not exist apart from its necessary doctrinal foundation. 

             The second section of the book covers the Puritan understanding of preparation for corporate worship.  This part of the book is fascinating because it completely nullifies one of the long-standing misconceptions of Puritanism as an exclusively pietistic movement with a low view of the means of grace.  In other words, the Puritans were and often are accused of being rigidly low church in their worship and piety.  Lewis explains that the ordained means of grace occupied a place of centrality in the ecclesiastical ethos of Puritan worship. The preaching of Holy Scripture and the administration of the holy sacraments were so significant to the Puritan mind, that a thorough preparation of mind and heart were deemed necessary in order benefit most fully from the means of grace.  If anything, the Puritans were high church in a very marked way.  Not high church with respect to ornaments, vestments, ceremonies, or liturgical calendars.  But simply high church in their estimation of the kingdom of God and its earthly manifestation in the church of Christ on earth through the means of grace.  The last section of the book examines the private life of the Puritan.  Within this section, Lewis spends much time discussing how exactly the Puritans dealt with the realities despondency, lack of assurance, affliction, and desertion.  Among the prescribed remedies for such harrowing experiences are flying to God, trusting in God’s covenant promises, believing in the accomplished redemption wrought by Christ, resting in God’s holy providence, and most importantly, attending upon the means of grace.  The Puritans were experts in dealing with the troubles, afflictions, and hardships of life, having from experience dealt with exile, persecution, slander, imprisonment, and martyrdom.

             My only quibble with the book is Lewis’s seemingly harsh characterization of 17^th century Presbyterianism in its connection with the English Civil War and the leadership of Oliver Cromwell.  Lewis seems to favor strongly on the side of the Independents, so much so as to glance over the horrific martyrdom of Christopher Love under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell.   Christopher Love, a devout Presbyterian, was somewhat of a royalist who visibly disagreed with the execution of Charles II.  In so doing, Love incurred the wrath of the Parliament, was imprisoned and then beheaded under the orders of Oliver Cromwell.  While historical context and political turmoil make it difficult to fully understand the complications of 17^th century English politics, I think that it is incumbent upon Puritan scholars to explain the tragedy of what happened in the case of Christopher Love and put an end to the myopic defense of Cromwell.  Apart from this minor bias in favor of Cromwell and the Independents, this little book of only 144 pages is, quite possibly, the best and most encouraging book I have read in a long time.  Lewis’s scholarship is unsurpassed, his knowledge of the Puritans extensive, his obvious concern for pastoral ministry deep, and his desire for a thoroughgoing revival of Puritanism in our day compelling and contagious.  Puritanism was not a short-lived movement characterized by fanaticism, legalism, or sterile living.  Much to the contrary, Puritanism was a vibrant movement, which embodied the spirit of the Reformation at its best.  

Revivalism vs. Sabbath Keeping

The chapter on the Sabbath in With Reverence and Awe is worth the price of the entire book.  While I certainly disagree with Hart and Muether’s obvious dislike of Kuyperian Calvinsim (considering myself a thoroughgoing Kuyperian), I can’t help but appreciate the concerns expressed in this chapter.  Here is a great section in which the authors discuss the difference between Sabbath keeping and revivalism.  

God’s intention was to bless his people through the constant and conscientious observation of the day, week after week and year after year.  Believers are sanctified through a lifetime of Sabbath observance.  In other words, the Sabbath is designed to work slowly, quietly, seemingly imperceptively in reorienting believers’ appetites heavenward.  It is not a quick fix, nor is it necessarily a spiritual high.  It is an “outward and ordinary” ordinance (WSC 88), part of the steady and healthy diet of the means of grace. North American Protestants, we have noted, are generally not in sync with this rhythm.  Attracted to the inward and extraordinary, they commonly suffer from spiritual bulimia, binging at big events, then purging, by absenting themselves from God’s prescribed diet.  The problem with the spirituality of  mountaintop experiences is that no one can live on the mountain.  We all have to return to our day jobs.  When people leave the retreat or Bible camp, or even the midweek small group, they discover their life is still the same: jobs are unpleasant, marriages are shaky, sickness and disease afflict.  In contrast, the Sabbath is supposed to be a discipline that provides an oasis in the desert for pilgrims, whose life is marked by suffering.  Unlike the church activities that clutter the rest of the week, the Sabbath is when believers spiritually assemble on Mount Zion to meet with their God, to hear him speak, and to partake spiritually of their Savior’s body and blood.

Darryl Hart and John Muether, With Reverence and Awe,

p. 65-66

The Form and Content of Worship

“We suggest that when churches undergo dramatic changes in what is often called worship style, they may actually be changing their theology as well.  Form and content cannot be separated.  So in congregations where worship has changed, something significant may have happened also to their theology.  Is it possible to preach the whole counsel of God in an up-tempo service?  Can the hard truths of Calvinism be taught in a setting geared toward attracting outsiders?  Can pointing out our sinfulness ever be made appealing?  Churches that depart from older patterns of worship may very well abandon the theological coherence assumed by the Reformed creeds and confessions.  When this coherence is lost, something must replace it.  In our day the solution comes either through evangelistic zeal that makes soul-winning the sole criterion for evaluating the ministry of the church, or through therapeutic forms of positive reinforcement that orient worship more toward self-fulfillment than to self-denial.”

-Darryl Hart and John Muether, With Reverence and Awe