Worldly Saints

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Genre: Protestantism and Protestant Churches; Christianity - History - General; Protestantism; Religion - Church History; Religion; Christianity - History - Protestant; Christianity - Presbyterian; Christian Interest; Religion / Christian Education; Christianity - Presbyterianism; Christian Ministry - General;

Average Review: 4 stars

Review: Interesting approach : The author uses the writings of the Puritan authors to help clear away our misconceptions of the Puritans. This works very well. However, it does very little to put the Puritans in their historical context. The Puritans started Havard and they were big on education. This was very interesting. They had very healthy enthusiasm for sex within marriage. However, Ryken points out in his chapter on the problems within Puritanism, the Puritans were so afraid of sin they were worried about commiting adultery with one's wife. Thus, they created a lot of guilt for sex within marriage. The thought/philosophy/theology of the thinkers of a movement is always far more attractive than the practice in every day life. We should look at the Puritan authors themselves for the ideals of Puritanism. Ryken does that well. It is easy to read and he quotes from a variety of writers. The problem is that he removes the movement from its historical context. He lauds the Puritans for starting Havard, but what about the witch trials? Another problem is repetition, he quotes so much that sometimes the quotes repeat the very same idea over and over. It makes the reading tedious at times. On the whole I enjoyed the book and I learned a lot about the Puritans, which is exactly what I wanted from the book.