God's Caress: The Psychology of Puritan Religious Experience

by Charles Lloyd Cohen

Although scripture demands rebirth for all of God's chosen people, the actual experience of religious conversion is largely determined by the complex interaction between individuals and clergy. This book focuses on the Puritan experience of conversion, which culminated in the celebration of
strength liberated for divine purposes, to examine how ministers elaborated the psychological imperatives of faith and their listeners modified and internalized them. Looking at firsthand accounts of personal conversion as well as at sermons and tracts, Cohen discusses how clergy and laity together
defined the norms of religious experience, how the Bible influenced Puritan self-perception, and how theology molded the behavior of Saints in a covenanted community. Winner of the Allan Nevins Prize of the Society of American Historians, this study advances Max Weber's discussion of the Saint's
psychology of work and illuminated the function of rebirth in Puritan culture as both a religious and a psychological phenomenon.

324 pages, Hardcover

First published April 3, 1986

Reviews

[J]

In Puritan studies, there is a division between those scholars who react in hostility to the psychology of Puritan soteriology, who find the emphasis on preparation for salvation and a rigid ordo salutis 'persecutory', to use the language of the late John Stachniewski, and those who try to read the literature sympathetically, as do Charles Hambrick-Stowe and the author of this work, Charles Cohen. Cohen's book is a treasure trove of references to Puritan treatises on 'the greatest case of conscience', i.e. whether one could have assurance that he or she is one of the elect. Cohen helpfully describes Puritan preaching as a 'communication pattern known as the double-bind. A double-bind message contains two or more levels of contradictory meanings that are not explicitly differentiated in a situation where the receiver cannot ask which reply is appropriate and must somehow respond to both' (62). The great weakness of the book is its lack of differentiation between different positions within the spectrum of Puritan practical divinity. Cohen treats the Puritan divines interchangeably, which is maddening for someone like me attempting to revise a chapter on the adaptations of practical divinity in the later part of the seventeenth century. The final division of the book treats the numerous lay 'conversion narratives' in the colonial churches.

Vide ch. 3, 'the way of salvation, the power of faith'

[Dan Gorman]

Learned, eloquent, and thorough, this book does an exceptional job of detailing Puritan theology and the concept of agape, or love, in Puritanism. The Calvinist Puritans in England and their American cousins loved God as well as feared him. Conversion was paramount in the Puritan culture, as it meant that members of the elect were rising to a state of grace. The conversion process was a communal activity, as ministers exhorted the population, but the actual work of conversion took place in individual minds and in the company of peers.

So why only 3 stars for this book? Well, the prose is eloquent, but the content is dry. Theological exposition is not my typical choice of reading. It's clear, based on Cohen's descriptions of God and the way he blurs the line between explaining theology and professing theology, that the author has a deep religious commitment, but he never specifies his exact religious affiliation. I would have preferred that Cohen explain his religious views in the introduction, so that the reader doesn't have to guess his exact position as the book progresses. But Cohen is working in an older mode of religious history — church history, to be precise. His focus is on Puritanism and the roots of what he calls Anglo-American civilization. He is covering well-trod territory, and his reverential tone for the Lord makes it clear that Cohen genuinely believes that Protestantism is the core of American culture. I don't.

When this book came out, the field of religious studies was creating a more definite demarcation between devotional histories and secular histories. Certainly, many people who are privately religious still write "secular" histories, in the sense that they ask tough questions and don't ignore topics that may challenge religious assumptions. Cohen has done some amazing research here, but I think he comes down more on the devotional and traditional side. His book isn't *bad*, but since I was trained in the secular tradition, I think Cohen doesn't dig enough into the negative aspects of Puritan culture, as opposed to his long discussions of Christian love. If I were a conservative Christian, on the other hand, I might like Cohen's assumption of a Christian audience and support the idea of America as a Protestant nation. So I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder. If you want a recent book that still gives a traditional spin on Puritanism, this is your book. For a more critical on Puritanism, you'll have to go elsewhere.

[Denise Kettering]

This book outlines in a very interesting way the religious experiences of Puritans, providing insight into the ways Puritans saw the world and experienced life. Providing helpful insight into the life of piety, Coohen considers the experience of conversion and how preachers advocated for it and the how common practitioners experienced it. This distinction becomes the organizing principle of the book as the first section covers the role of preacher in proclaiming salvation and characterizing religious experience. Cohen ably recounts some of the underlying covenant theology and then how that theology was used by preachers. The second section deals with the parishioner and how the parishioner experienced faith. One of the interesting elements of his analysis here is the comparison between male and female stories. Finally, there was an application of the conversion experience, which included sanctification. Cohen draws particularly strongly on William Bradford's writings here. Overall, this book provides insight into the Puritan worldview and the way that Puritans viewed religious experience.

[Ronald Wise]

This was a psychological investigation of the ecclesiastic and personal Puritan writings in search of the experience of "regeneration" in the Puritan faith. It described the English history of the sect, and then examined its practical application in the young community of Cambridge, Massachusetts. This was actually a rather interesting book, especially when discussing the paradoxes implicit in their belief system. This one came to my reading list from the bibliography of Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower.

[Kent]

What is great about this book is how it it addresses conventional views of the Puritans, but isn't preoccupied with those views. Instead it advances the more substantial idea that the Puritan conversion was a pivotal experience, reinforcing the person's relationship with God.