Jacob Aitken’s Reviews > Politics, Religion and the British Revolutions: The Mind of Samuel Rutherford > Status Update

Coffey does an excellent job in describing the ecclesiastical storms brewing from 1560-1640. The previous chapter on resistance, while he did a good job explaining Rutherford, inserted too much of his Jeffersonian Baptist worldview into it.

I wondered when Coffey, a Baptist, would finally appeal to a moral degenerate like Roger Williams to critique Rutherford. It happened.

Does a good job debunking the Religious Right's use of Rutherford. Still, Coffey is a Baptist and his baptist presuppositions are evident (as he admits). The first chapter dealt with biography and Coffey paints a rather harsh picture of Rutherford, as would be expceted from a non-sympathizer. Still, it is good scholarship overall.

Already Coffey dispels a few myths about "Rutherford and Religious Freedom." I am going to make a prediction on this book: I think I will agree with Coffey's thesis, though I will take it in a radically different way.