What do you think?
Rate this book
The Price of Redemption: The Spiritual Economy of Puritan New England
Beginning with the first colonists and continuing down to the present, the dominant narrative of New England Puritanism has maintained that piety and prosperity were enemies, that the rise of commerce delivered a mortal blow to the fervor of the founders, and that later generations of Puritans fell away from their religious heritage as they moved out across the New England landscape. This book offers a new alternative to the prevailing narrative, which has been frequently criticized but heretofore never adequately replaced.
The author’s argument follows two main strands. First, he shows that commercial development, rather than being detrimental to religion, was necessary to sustain Puritan religious culture. It was costly to establish and maintain a vital Puritan church, for the needs were many, including educated ministers who commanded substantial salaries; public education so that the laity could be immersed in the Bible and devotional literature (substantial expenses in themselves); the building of meeting houses; and the furnishing of communion tables—all and more were required for the maintenance of Puritan piety.
Second, the author analyzes how the Puritans gradually developed the evangelical impulse to broadcast the seeds of grace as widely as possible. The spread of Puritan churches throughout most of New England was fostered by the steady devotion of material resources to the maintenance of an intense and demanding religion, a devotion made possible by the belief that money sown to the spirit would reap divine rewards.
In 1651, about 20,000 English colonists were settled in some 30 New England towns, each with a newly formed Puritan church. A century later, the population had grown to 350,000, and there were 500 meetinghouses for Puritan churches. This book tells the story of this remarkable century of growth and adaptation through intertwined histories of two Massachusetts churches, one in Boston and one in Westfield, a village on the remote western frontier, from their foundings in the 1660’s to the religious revivals of the 1740’s. In conclusion, the author argues that the Great Awakening was a product of the continuous cultivation of traditional religion, a cultural achievement built on New England’s economic development, rather than an indictment and rejection of its Puritan heritage.
The author’s argument follows two main strands. First, he shows that commercial development, rather than being detrimental to religion, was necessary to sustain Puritan religious culture. It was costly to establish and maintain a vital Puritan church, for the needs were many, including educated ministers who commanded substantial salaries; public education so that the laity could be immersed in the Bible and devotional literature (substantial expenses in themselves); the building of meeting houses; and the furnishing of communion tables—all and more were required for the maintenance of Puritan piety.
Second, the author analyzes how the Puritans gradually developed the evangelical impulse to broadcast the seeds of grace as widely as possible. The spread of Puritan churches throughout most of New England was fostered by the steady devotion of material resources to the maintenance of an intense and demanding religion, a devotion made possible by the belief that money sown to the spirit would reap divine rewards.
In 1651, about 20,000 English colonists were settled in some 30 New England towns, each with a newly formed Puritan church. A century later, the population had grown to 350,000, and there were 500 meetinghouses for Puritan churches. This book tells the story of this remarkable century of growth and adaptation through intertwined histories of two Massachusetts churches, one in Boston and one in Westfield, a village on the remote western frontier, from their foundings in the 1660’s to the religious revivals of the 1740’s. In conclusion, the author argues that the Great Awakening was a product of the continuous cultivation of traditional religion, a cultural achievement built on New England’s economic development, rather than an indictment and rejection of its Puritan heritage.
- GenresHistory
342 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1997
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 4, 2013
In his 1997 work The Price of Redemption Mark Peterson seeks to revise the declension narrative to which histories of colonial New England have been wedded. Peterson points out that many generations of declension oriented historiography have been shaped by three main factors: the introduction of the Half-Way Covenant in 1662, which provided social space within Puritan society for those who had not undergone conversion experiences, personal autobiographies left by early New Englanders which stressed falling off from early religious enthusiasm, and jeremiads against the temptations of the worldly prosperity which the colonists steadily achieved. Peterson’s aim is to redefine success and interrogate the evidence and assumptions that mark out the religious purity and intensity of the first generation as the apex of Puritan society. To Peterson, the success of the Congregational Church as a force both hegemonic and ubiquitous in New England communities in the generations following the Half-Way Covenant is the real achievement. The first generation of Puritans was a hot house of dedication – a church of enthusiastic members who gathered out of a larger society. But following generations had to create a church within society which sponsored enthusiastic devotion rather than assuming it as a pre-requisite, and the Half-Way Covenant was a signal event of that challenge being taken up. Naturally, given the emphasis on the conversion experience, the autobiographies of New Englanders tended to stress the falling away from earlier grace amid worldly struggles. But Peterson points out that it is the shift to an inclusive, evangelizing strategy maintained the Church’s pre-eminence in New England affairs, and this strategy was funded by the profits wrung from worldly struggles. Building new churches, staffing them with well-educated ministers who attended their duties full time and creating, publishing and distributing devotional literature were all expensive. Despite the rhetorical whips of the jeremiads, then, prosperity and piety went together, with the outpouring of religious fervor in the Great Awakening illustrating the expensive priming of New Englanders for devotion rather than how they had fallen away in prior decades.
To prove his thesis, Peterson situates his study on two churches in early Massachusetts – the Third Church, “founded by lay people who wanted to reform the Puritan church in response to new challenges faced by New England’s maturing society ,“ located in prosperous southern Boston and the poorer, rural Westfield church ministered part time by rigidly orthodox Edward Taylor. As Peterson describes it, “[t]hese two churches were not only at opposite ends of Massachusetts settlement, but they also occupied extreme points on the spectrum of wealth and evangelical commitment among the colony’s churches – Boston, rich and outward looking, Westfield, impoverished and turned in upon itself. Most New England churches fell somewhere between these extremes in one way or the other.” While Boston’s Third Church throve and sponsored the creation of new church communities as European settlement covered more of New England, Westfield stagnated, contributing little to the spreading settlements of the region other than the dissatisfied members who left it. The problem with Peterson’s work is that he has created a conceptual framework with two axes (rich/poor; evangelical/orthodox) but explored it in a study that suggests a simple spectrum of rich evangelical and poor orthodox New Englanders. Peterson would no doubt be pleased if future research sought to remedy that oversight, since his overarching goal is to change the main question of New England historians from “how did Puritanism decline?” to “how did it become so successful?”
To prove his thesis, Peterson situates his study on two churches in early Massachusetts – the Third Church, “founded by lay people who wanted to reform the Puritan church in response to new challenges faced by New England’s maturing society ,“ located in prosperous southern Boston and the poorer, rural Westfield church ministered part time by rigidly orthodox Edward Taylor. As Peterson describes it, “[t]hese two churches were not only at opposite ends of Massachusetts settlement, but they also occupied extreme points on the spectrum of wealth and evangelical commitment among the colony’s churches – Boston, rich and outward looking, Westfield, impoverished and turned in upon itself. Most New England churches fell somewhere between these extremes in one way or the other.” While Boston’s Third Church throve and sponsored the creation of new church communities as European settlement covered more of New England, Westfield stagnated, contributing little to the spreading settlements of the region other than the dissatisfied members who left it. The problem with Peterson’s work is that he has created a conceptual framework with two axes (rich/poor; evangelical/orthodox) but explored it in a study that suggests a simple spectrum of rich evangelical and poor orthodox New Englanders. Peterson would no doubt be pleased if future research sought to remedy that oversight, since his overarching goal is to change the main question of New England historians from “how did Puritanism decline?” to “how did it become so successful?”
Displaying 1 of 1 review