Journal: Puritan Reformed Journal
Volume: PRJ 01:2 (Jul 2009)
Article: Omnipotent Sweetness? Puritanism Versus Socinianism
Author: Joel M. Heflin

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PRJ 1:2 (July 2009) p. 64

Omnipotent Sweetness? Puritanism Versus Socinianism1

Joel M. Heflin

One of the fiercest theological rivalries in seventeenth-century England was between the Puritans and the Socinians.2 The Socinians were immediately received as heretics and in most cases their books were destroyed almost as fast as they could be printed. Socinianism would eventually birth Unitarianism and contribute significantly to religious freedom (latitudinarianism) in England. E.M. Wilbur’s fine treatment on the history of Unitarianism laments the quality of research done on Socinianism due largely to the scarcity of primary source materials available to researchers, many of which lay inaccessible in Eastern European special collections or were destroyed in the World Wars. Even in the seventeenth century, students were forbidden to possess Socinian works if they could be found; only a few titles were cataloged in private libraries in the 1630s — and, if available, they were very expensive.

Time has been more generous to Puritan studies, although it has suffered its own caricatures. Recently, Puritan writings have enjoyed a wider circulation than ever before; seven hundred of their books have been reprinted in the last fifty years.3 The Puritans inherited

PRJ 1:2 (July 2009) p. 65

the reputation of being staunch predestinarians, espousing a form of Calvinism that has been criticized as fatalism or “God’s lottery.” The Socinians themselves believed that predestination was a terrible mistake and contrary to the universal spirit of the Bible. The Puritans, however, did not sit on their hands waiting for salvation, but labored tirelessly in the press and the pulpit to expound the message of the gospel. The Puritan movement was pastoral, leaving behind a massive body of literature, primarily sermons and expositions of Scripture.

The Puritan and Socinian debate presided largely over the biblical views of God’s attribute of foreknowledge and election. The Socinians held that God did not have foreknowledge of all future contingencies, especially human free will; otherwise, there would be no need for prayer, repentance, and piety. This implies that God’s decree of salvation is an a posteriori plan to grant eternal life to those who repent in Christ’s name, not knowing who will be saved until the final judgment. The Puritans believed that God elected a certain number of humanity to eternal life prior to creation out of sheer love and grace. The basis for this claim is God’s perfection in knowledge, justice, and mercy; if God is not all-knowing or all-powerful, He is unabl...

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