Revolutionary Puritanism in Anglo-American Perspective

This essay is concerned primarily with the civil implications of Puritan ideology. Thus it explores the use made of the Bible by some of those who came to challenge the Crown from the sixteenth century onwards. A major theme is the political interpretation of “Christian liberty” and in particular the radical understanding of Galatians 5:1. Willingness to fight Charles I on such grounds first manifested itself in Massachusetts, followed by Scotland and then England. But, in the event, it was mainly Anglo-American Puritanism that helped to spawn republicanism. Moreover, this way of arguing survived the Stuart restoration in 1660 and continued to inform political thinking until at least the end of the eighteenth century.