Puritan Studies In The Twenty-First Century: Preambles And Projections -- By: Randall J. Pederson
Journal: Puritan Reformed Journal
Volume: PRJ 02:2 (Jul 2010)
Article: Puritan Studies In The Twenty-First Century: Preambles And Projections
Author: Randall J. Pederson
PRJ 2:2 (July 2010) p. 106
Puritan Studies In The Twenty-First Century: Preambles And Projections
The twentieth century witnessed a great boon in the study of Puritanism. In fact, the academic enterprise of studying Puritanism dates to the early to mid-twentieth century and a handful of modern scholars, most famous of which was Perry Miller at Harvard University. Miller introduced to the modern mind the profit of studying Puritanism as an academic discipline and re-introduced Jonathan Edwards as a worthy subject for contemplation. He started the project in 1953 that came to be known as the Yale Series of The Works of Jonathan Edwards. Its successful aim was to produce a modern critical edition of Edwards’s published and unpublished works issued in book form (prior to this, the majority of Edwards’s work was still in manuscripts). This admirable project has produced twenty-six volumes and two compilations, A Jonathan Edwards Reader (1995) and The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: A Reader (1999), both of which are highly recommended.1
While Puritan studies in the twentieth century encompass more than Jonathan Edwards, Edwards is useful in that he exemplifies two poles within modern studies of Puritanism. First, as just mentioned, is the more academic or intellectual venture that seeks to illumine our understanding of Puritan culture and thought. The second is the more practical or pedagogical project, in which the Puritans are raised
PRJ 2:2 (July 2010) p. 107
to public awareness as models for piety and imitation. Publishing on Jonathan Edwards incorporates both. One need only to compare one of the critical readers above with John Piper and Justin Taylor’s A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards (Crossway, 2004) to see what I mean.2 Both approaches have their place and as Christians who are also historians, we can appreciate the rich and vibrant piety of the Puritans. Personally, I owe a great debt to J. I. Packer’s A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Crossway, 1994) for introducing the benefit of reading the Puritans. My own and Joel Beeke’s Meet the Puritans: A Guide to Modern Reprints (RHB, 2006) is an attempt to incorporate both elements; whether we have succeeded or not is for others to decide.3 So while there are two valid approaches to the subject of Puritanism, in this particular article I will mostly be concerned with the academic or intellectual ventures in contemporary scholarship. That said, I want to delve into one of the major issues in discussing Pur...
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