Puritan Political Ideas, 1558-1794

American Heritage Series #33

by Edmund S. Morgan (Editor)

In this unique collection, noted historian Edmund Morgan focuses upon three ideas that lay at the root of Puritan political theory and have had a continuing significance in our history: calling, covenant, and the separate spheres of church and state. The selections show the origin of these ideas in the writings of the early English Puritans before the colonization of America, in seventeenth century New England, and finally in new contexts in the eighteenth century. One may read these documents as primary sources of Puritan thought per se, as sources of American intellectual history, or as sources of a political theory that flowered in the early years of the new constitutional republic. --from the Foreword

Genres: Politics, Philosophy

404 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Edmund Sears Morgan

Reviews

[John Wise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really good content here.

This is an edited series of documents (essays, letters, diaries) revealing how the Puritans applied biblical wisdom to politics.

My favorite text is William Perkins' essay on calling, based on 1 Corinthians 7:20: "Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called."

How does a Christian apply his first calling (being a Christian) to his second calling (as an engineer, doctor, carpenter, cook, janitor, etc.)?