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.
Frank Bremer, pictured with his Beagles Peanut and Gussie, was born and raised in New York City, where he attended Xavier High School, Fordham College (BA), and Columbia University (MA, PhD). His interest in history was fed by summer vacations in New England and he became interested in religious ideas in a Fordham theology class -- the combination, a fascination with puritans and puritanism that has not flagged in forty years. His particular interest is in placing the study of New England puritanism in a broader Atlantic context.
It was while at Fordham that he met and wed (1968) his wife Barbara. The couple have three daughters (Heather, Kristin, and Megan) and eight grandchildren. His oldest grandson, Keegan Bremer, took the jacket photo for John Winthrop: America's Forgotten Founding Father, and both Keegan and Taylor Christo provided useful suggestions to the manuscript for John Winthrop: Biography as History.
Frank's first full-time teaching position was at Thomas More College, in Northern Kentucky. He has been a member of the History Department at Millersville University of Pennsylvania since 1977. He has also taught as a visiting scholar at New York University, Oxford University, and Cambridge University.
An avid Boston Red Sox fan, Frank has been involved for much of his life coaching youth sports, particularly softball and baseball. He and Barbara, who teaches Health Psychology at Penn State University's Harrisburg campus, enjoy travel and the theatre.
