The Culture of English Puritanism is a major contribution to the debate on the nature and extent of early modern Puritanism. In their introduction the editors provide an up-to-date survey of the long-standing debate on Puritanism, before proceeding to outline their own definition of the movement. They argue that Puritanism should be defined as a unique and vibrant religious culture, which was grounded in a distinctive psychological outlook and which manifested itself in a set of highly characteristic religious practices. In the subsequent essays, a distinguished group of contributors consider in detail some of the most important aspects of this culture, in particular sermon-gadding, collective fasting, strict observance of Sunday, iconoclasm, and puritan attempts to reform alternative popular culture of their ungodly neighbours. Other contributions chart the channels through which puritan culture was sustained in the 80-year period proceding the English Civil War, the failure of attempts by the puritan government of Interregnum England to impose this puritan culture on the English people, the subsequent emergence of Dissent after 1600.

Mark Goldie's authoritative and highly readable introduction to the political and religious landscape of Britain during the turbulent era of later Stuart rule.

Covering the story of preaching from the Protestant Reformation to the end of the 17th century, the latest volume in this series covers not only what the Reformers preached but also the reform of preaching itself.

Over 200 international scholars from a variety of demoninations have contributed to this outstanding, one-volume, comprehensive, reference book. Stressing the importance of events, persons, and theological concepts that have been significant to the Reformed tradition, these articles provide authoritative summaries and stimulating discussion.

Penny Pritchard is a Senior Lecturer in Eighteenth-Century Literature, and has taught at the University of Hertfordshire since completing her PhD in 2006. Both her doctoral thesis (entitled ‘Defoe, Rhetoric, and Nonconformity’) and MA in Eighteenth-Century Studies were undertaken at the University of East Anglia. Her first book (The Long Eighteenth-Century: Literature from 1660 to 1790) was published by York Press in 2010, and she has written extensively on Defoe and early modern religious writing in academic journals and chapter collections.

This fascinating work is the first overview of its subject to be published in over half a century. The issues it deals with are key to early modern political, religious and cultural history. The seventeenth century is traditionally regarded as a period of expanding and extended liberalism, when superstition and received truth were overthrown. The book questions how far England moved towards becoming a liberal society at that time and whether or not the end of the century crowned a period of progress, or if one set of intolerant orthodoxies had simply been replaced by another. The book examines what toleration means now and meant then, explaining why some early modern thinkers supported persecution and how a growing number came to advocate toleration. Introduced with a survey of concepts and theory, the book then studies the practice of toleration at the time of Elizabeth I and the Stuarts, the Puritan Revolution and the Restoration. The seventeenth century emerges as a turning point after which, for the first time, a good Christian society also had to be a tolerant one. Persecution and Toleration is a critical addition to the study of early modern Britain and to religious and political history.

This study centres around three leading military statesmen who served under Oliver Comwell but were also his kin and shared the experiences of the civil wars, John Disbrowe (1608–80), Henry Ireton (1611–51), and Charles Fleetwood (1618–92). It seeks to develop our picture of their positions from the context of their kin link to Cromwell and how their private worlds shaped their public roles, how kinship was part of the functioning of the Cromwellian state, how they were seen and presented, and how this impacted on their own lives, and their kin, before and after the Restoration. Cromwell's career can be explored further by considering figures in his kinship network to show how the public and private overlapped and influenced each other through their interaction before and after 1660. This study aims to consider the trajectory of elements of Cromwell's network and how its functioning and the interaction of its constituent parts over time shaped the politics of the years 1643 to 1660 but also how the survival of some networks after 1660 were continuing communities of those willing to own their memories of the civil wars, regicide, and Cromwell. A study of aspects of Cromwell's kin also provides examples of the continuities between those who resisted the Stuarts in the 1640s and 1650s and did so again in the 1680s. Suitable for specialists in the area and students taking courses on early modern British, European and American history as well as those with a more general interest in the period.

The 17th century was a dynamic period characterized by huge political and social changes, including the Civil War, the execution of Charles I, the Commonwealth and the Restoration. The Britain of 1714 was recognizably more modern than it was in 1603. At the heart of these changes was religion and the search for an acceptable religious settlement, which stimulated the Pilgrim Fathers to leave to settle America, the Popish plot and the Glorious Revolution in which James II was kicked off the throne. This book looks at both the private aspects of human beliefs and practices and also institutional religion, investigating the growing competition between rival versions of Christianity and the growing expectation that individuals should be allowed to worship as they saw fit.