Blown by the Spirit: Puritanism and the Emergence of an Antinomian Underground in Pre-Civil-War England (review)

David R. Como has produced an important contribution to the field of scholarship on seventeenth-century English Puritanism. Consisting of a prologue, eleven chapters, and five appendices, this comprehensive study of "England's antinomian controversy" is prodigiously researched, insightfully and persuasively argued, eloquently written, and demanding of its readers. Como displays very fine investigative skills for the "marrow" of this study is his construction or reconstruction of an "antinomian underground" within the mainstream Puritan community that needs must rely on many "hostile witnesses" (7). Como's position is that heretofore a "gaping historiographical void" has existed in Puritan scholarship, and this book's purpose is to shed light on the "complex and obscure process" by which the Puritan community fractured and "striking forms of social and religious radicalism" emerged from its pre-civil war "bosom" (13).

Como paints a vivid picture of mainstream Puritanism, or the "godly community," on the less-than-benign larger Protestant landscape of early Stuart England. Protestantism was not a monolithic entity, and, as this study most ably reveals, neither was Puritanism. Rather, according to Como, the heterogeneous puritan community was rife with internal debates and disputes. The antinomian controversy emerged from this mix and, although not initially perceived as dangerous, it escalated into the community's most serious conflict. However, the "Laudian" program of uniformity and conformity, already hostile to Puritanism, exacerbated the godly community's need to distancing itself from antinomianism.

Como identifies seven particular "tendencies" or characteristics associated with antinomianism that set it apart from mainstream Puritanism. The most important of these were the belief that Christians were not bound or subject to the Mosaic Law (Decalogue included), for which their opponents tagged them "antinomians," and the condemnation of the "works-righteousness" or "practical divinity" extolled by the godly community (34). Until Como's work, antinomianism, the "single most important ideological progenitor of later forms of sectarian religion" that emerged from within the Puritan community of the early seventeenth century, had not received close study (24). This has now been rectified.

Como argues that antinomianism was not only a subculture of the broader godly community, but also an "underground within an underground" (30). Like a carefully and deftly crafted collage, Como meticulously layers his evidence to support his argument that the field of study of Puritanism in early Stuart England is not complete without a thorough exploration of the origins of its radical offspring, their complicated relationship, and their "sometimes acrimonious conversation" (31). He is refreshingly candid about difficulties with source material. Internecine squabbling between antinomians and the godly community were for many years kept fairly well contained until the 1631 publication of two books refuting antinomianism. Consequently, sermons aside, Como found manyPuritan/antinomian sources skimpy, vague, based on hearsay, or written years after the fact. Since many of the sources he used in this work, such as the important testimony of Giles Creech, were from "hostile witnesses" with suspect motives and questionable reliability, Como takes pains to establish their dependability by approaching the same subject or topic from several different angles.

In Como's excellent survey of Puritan historiography, he acknowledges and deftly critiques the important contributions of Nicholas Tyacke, Christopher Hill, and Patrick Collinson, among others. He outlines the origins of the antinomian "movement," its development, the means by which it spread, and reveals the underground's networks or "webs of associations" that transcended geographical boundaries and connected antinomian leaders and communities. As Como's study unfolds, he painstakingly forges these links with chapters that scrutinize the movement's leaders such as John Traske, Returne Hebdon, John Eaton, John Everarde, Roger Brearley, and "the Grindletonians" of northern England.

Como's insightful analysis demonstrates that the antinomian "movement" was itself a heterogeneous one made up of several strands. He explains the "imputative" position of Eaton and the "Eatonists" and John...