Four hundred years ago, a group of men and women who had challenged the religious establishment of early seventeenth-century England and struggled as refugees in the Netherlands risked everything to build a new community in America. The story of those who journeyed across the Atlantic on the Mayflower has been retold many times, but the faith and religious practices of these settlers has frequently been neglected or misunderstood. In One Small Candle, Francis J. Bremer focuses on the role of religion in the settlement of the Plymouth Colony and how those values influenced political, intellectual, and cultural aspects of New England life a hundred and fifty years before the American Revolution. He traces the Puritans' persecution in early seventeenth-century England for challenging the established national church and the difficulties they faced as refugees in the Netherlands in the 1610s. As they planted a colony in America, this group of puritan congregationalists was driven by the belief that ordinary men and women should play the deciding role in governing church affairs. Their commitment to lay empowerment and participatory democracy was reflected in congregational church covenants and inspired the earliest political forms of the region, including the Mayflower Compact and local New England town meetings. Their rejection of individual greed and focus on community, Bremer argues, defined the culture of English colonization in early North America. A timely narrative of the people who founded the Plymouth Colony, One Small Candle casts new light on the role of religion in the shaping of the United States.

Written by a leading expert on the Puritans, this brief, informative volume offers a wealth of background on this key religious movement. This book traces the shaping, triumph, and decline of the Puritan world, while also examining the role of religion in the shaping of American society and the role of the Puritan legacy in American history. Francis J. Bremer discusses the rise of Puritanism in the English Reformation, the struggle of the reformers to purge what they viewed as the corruptions of Roman Catholicism from the Elizabethan church, and the struggle with the Stuart monarchs that led to a brief Puritan triumph under Oliver Cromwell. It also examines the effort of Puritans who left England to establish a godly kingdom in America. Bremer examines puritan theology, views on family and community, their beliefs about the proper relationship between religion and public life, the limits of toleration, the balance between individual rights and one's obligation to others, and the extent to which public character should be shaped by private religious belief.
About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

"J""ohn Winthrop "(1588-1649) was the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and is generally considered the principal architect of early New England society. He led the colonists through the initial struggles to survive in a new world, shaped the political organizations that gave the colonists the right to govern themselves through elected governors and representatives, worked to mediate between those who advanced radical religious and political ideas on the one hand and those who sought a very narrowly defined orthodoxy, and contributed to the development of a system of education which insured the preservation of the founders' heritage.

The details of this brief biography is drawn from the author's larger, prize-winning study, "John Winthrop: America's Forgotten Founding Father "(Oxford University Press, 2003), though modified in minor ways by his ongoing research. To render it more accessible to an undergraduate audience, Bremer avoids in-depth discussion of theology and other specialized topics and focus instead on trying to provide students with an appreciation of how Winthrop's world differed from theirs, but how at the same time he dealt with issues that continue to resonate in our own society. In placing his life in the context of the times, Bremer discusses Winthrop's family life and the challenges of life faced by men, women, and children in the seventeenth century. The key themes that are integrated into the biographical narrative are how Winthrop's religion was shaped by the times and in turn how it influenced his family life and the moral outlook that he brought to his political career; his understanding of society as a community in which individuals had to subordinate their individual goals to the advancement of the common good; and his struggle to define where the line needed to be drawn between new or different ideas that enriched religious and political growth, and those that threatened the stability of a society.

John Winthrop (1588-1649) was the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and is generally considered the principal architect of early New England society. In placing his life in the context of the times, Bremer discusses Winthrop's family life and the challenges of life faced by men, women, and children in the seventeenth century. John Winthrop (1588-1649) was the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and is generally considered the principal architect of early New England society. He led the colonists through the initial struggles to survive in a new world, shaped the political organizations that gave the colonists the right to govern themselves through elected governors and representatives, worked to mediate between those who advanced radical religious and political ideas on the one hand and those who sought a very narrowly defined orthodoxy, and contributed to the development of a system of education which insured the preservation of the founders' heritage. The details of this brief biography is drawn from the author's larger, prize-winning study of "John Winthrop: America's Forgotten Founding Father" (Oxford University Press, 2003), though modified in minor ways by his ongoing research. To render it more accessible to an undergraduate audience, Bremer avoids in-depth discussion of theology and other specialized topics and focus instead on trying to provide students with an appreciation of how Winthrop's world differed from theirs, but how at the same time he dealt with issues that continue to resonate in our own society. In placing his life in the context of the times, Bremer discusses Winthrop's family life and the challenges of life faced by men, women, and children in the seventeenth century. The key themes that are integrated into the biographical narrative are: how Winthrop's religion was shaped by the times and in turn how it influenced his family life and the moral outlook that he brought to his political career; his understanding of society as a community in which individuals had to subordinate their individual goals to the advancement of the common good; and, his struggle to define where the line needed to be drawn between new or different ideas that enriched religious and political growth, and those that threatened the stability of a society.

When John Winthrop, first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, emigrated from Stuart England to America, he and the colonists who accompanied him carried much of their culture with them. Written by leading English and American scholars, the essays in "The World of John Winthrop: England and New England, 1588-1649 "vigorously assert a new unity to the transatlantic and Puritan, Anglo-American sphere, integrating the English and colonial stories from a refreshingly single perspective.

Contributors:
Tom Webster (University of Edinburgh) * Mark A. Peterson (University of Iowa) * David D. Hall (Harvard Divinity School) * Alexandra Walsham (University of Exeter) * Alden Vaughan (Columbia University) * Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University) * Richard J. Ross (University of Illinois) * James S. Hart (University of Oklahoma) * Richard Godbeer (University of Miami) * Mark Valeri (Union Theological Seminary of Virginia) * Lyn Botelho (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) * Francis J. Bremer (Millersville University of Pennsylvania)

John Davenport, who cofounded the colony of New Haven, has been neglected in studies that view early New England primarily from a Massachusetts viewpoint. Francis J. Bremer restores the clergyman to importance by examining Davenport's crucial role as an advocate for religious reform in England and the Netherlands before his emigration, his engagement with an international community of scholars and clergy, and his significant contributions to colonial America. Bremer shows that he was in many ways a remarkably progressive leader for his time, with a strong commitment to education for both women and men, a vibrant interest in new science, and a dedication to upholding democratic principles in churches at a time when many other Puritan clergymen were emphasizing the power of their office above all else. Bremer's enlightening and accessible biography of an important figure in New England history provides a unique perspective on the seventeenth-century transatlantic Puritan movement.

This exhaustive treatment of the Puritan movement covers its doctrines, its people, its effects on politics and culture, and its enduring legacy in modern Britain and America. Puritanism began in the 1530s as a reform movement within the Church of England. It endured into the 18th century. In between, it powerfully influenced the course of political events both in Britain and in the United States. Puritanism shaped the American colonies, particularly New England. It was a key ingredient in literature, from authors as diverse as John Milton and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Although Puritanism as a formal movement has been gone for more than 300 years, its influence continues on the mores and norms of America and Britain. This ambitious work contains nearly 700 entries covering people, events, ideas, and doctrines—the whole of Puritanism. Exhaustive and authoritative, it draws on the work of more than 80 leading scholars in the field. Impeccable scholarship combines with eminent readability to make this a valuable work for all readers and researchers from secondary school up.

The preeminent figure of early New England, John Winthrop was the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. More than anyone else, he shaped the culture of New England and his effort to create a Puritan "City on a Hill" has had a lasting effect on American values. In John Winthrop, Francis J. Bremer draws on over a decade of research in England, Ireland, and the United States to offer a superb biography of Winthrop, one rooted in a detailed understanding of his first forty years in England. Indeed, Bremer provides an extensive, path-breaking treatment of Winthrop's family background, youthful development, and English career. His dissatisfaction with the decline of the "godly kingdom of the Stour Valley" in which he had been raised led him on his errand to rebuild such a society in a New England. In America, Winthrop would use the skills he had developed in England as he struggled with challenges from Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, among others, and defended the colony from English interference. We also see the personal side of Winthrop-the doubts and concerns of the spiritual pilgrim, his everyday labors and pleasures, his feelings for family and friends. And Bremer also sheds much light on important historical moments in England and America, such as the Reformation and the rise of Puritanism, the rise of the middling class, the colonization movement, and colonial relations with Native Americans. Incorporating previously unexplored archival materials from both sides of the Atlantic, here is the definitive portrait of one of the giants of our history.

From William Penn's treaty with the Indians, to the suffering of troops at Valley Forge, the gallantry at Gettysburg, and the early development of the petroleum industry, Pennsylvania has often been at center stage in the evolution of the nation. Yet despite this record, the historical literature on the state is not as well known as that of many other states. This volume will remedy that deficiency by assessing the vast wealth of materials on the political, social, economic, and cultural development of the Keystone State. In a series of historiographical chapters, each devoted to a specific chronological period, the contributors present a thorough and informed analysis of the most important and significant literature, thereby providing a useful companion to printed bibliographies.