Thomas Hooker, the Puritans, and their “Terrifying” God

Apparently, the preparation for and the beginning of a new semester has reduced my blogging to ZERO.

With the beginning of the new semester, I’m again walking through American history. Early on in the semester, we try to come to terms with the Puritans. In fact, I have John Winthrop’s famous sermon, “A Modell of Christian Charity” ready to go for tomorrow.

On the topic of the Puritans, over the week-end I published a post about a new book by Baird Tipson, Hartford Puritanism: Thomas Hooker, Samuel Stone, and Their Terrifying God.

Hooker was the Puritan minister who migrated to New England in the 1630s and founded Hartford as a new Puritan settlement. Stone was his assistant and a systematic teacher. Together, they aimed for an extremely rigorous Puritanism that included an expectation of the New Birth, coupled with a society dedicated to helping all its members on the way to holiness.

I reviewed the book at the Religion in American History blog. Enjoy!

Pre-Thanksgiving Links

It’s been a month since I did a links post? This might explain why my browser has gotten unwieldy. Let me serve up a Thanksgiving Feast of links for us.

Margaret Abruzzo claimed she was going to send link-bait my direction, but this is a pretty good illustration from the Temperance movement.

What’s learning all about? Christopher Nelson of St. John’s College reflects. John Fea concurs in questioning modern assessment. Nelson’s essay is well worth considering and deserves some more comment.

Elizabeth Hallowell offers some good ideas for organizing academic materials.

Miles Mullin checks in from the Evangelical Theological Society.

NYT Columnist Ross Douthat and Jesuit James Martin engage in respectful dialogue about the state of the American Catholic Church.

The Routledge Sourcebook of Religion and the American Civil War. Here’s another book to add to my stack of things to look at.

Elesha Coffman interviews Thomas Kidd on George Whitefield. John Turner reviews Kidd’s Whitefield biography.

Speaking of Thomas Kidd, he also wrote about “Ben Franklin’s Calvinist Sister.

Jill Lepore jumps from 18th Century America to Wonder Woman.

The Economist notices the rise of Christianity in China.

Anglican and Oriental Orthodox theologians agree on how to understand Christ’s incarnation…but nothing has been resolved officially, yet.

There’s no balcony in Romeo and Juliet?!?

A biography of historian David Bebbington? I’ve been assured this is one to purchase. I wonder if it comes in a quadrilateral format.

Some appreciation for Walter Miller’s A Canticle for Liebowitz–It’s been called one of the 5 greatest works of Christian fiction in the 20th century.

After all of those, it’s probably time for a nap and then some pumpkin pie!