Customer Reviews

Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were

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I was most pleased to find this book. Though I am a believer in the Puritans being the pinnacle of christianity I knew that they couldn't be perfect. Mr. Ryken has written a most readable and enjoyable history of the Puritans. He does not shy away from clear problems that they had.

What caught my interest most was his demonstration through his scholarship that society under the Puritan "Ideal" had problems, but was infinitely better off than most other areas in western Europe. John Calvin and his followers in Switzerland were clearly extreme in their use of scriptural discipline. The American Puritans were fanatics of control and discipline. The English Puritans were more well rounded in how they were to effect their society.

With all that said, Mr. Ryken has shown that the Puritans were not only good people, but may have been the true moral fiber of their different cultures. There seems to be an underlying truth that where the Puritans had the most influence, the people were the most safe and taken care of by the clergy.

Were there mistakes in the Puritan movement? Yes, and again I say YES. A mistakeless society or movement is the figment of a deranged imagination or science fiction. The Puritans were human. They did wrong. When they were shown the wrong, from a biblical perspective, they repented and made the change.

Modern revisionist historians have made much of the Puritan intolerence's for many things. If these historians would just read Mr. Ryken's book they would see, if they are honest, that the Puritans were very honorable and did stick to what they truly believed to be true.

I liked this book because it made me admire the Puritans afresh. I now believe that when someone insults me by alluding to my "Puritan" ethics that I am being complemented much more than I deserve. I would hope to live up to such a statement.

This book gives the reader an excellent introduction to ideals of the Puritan movement. It is packed full of quotations since the point of the book is to let the Puritans speak for themselves on selected topics.

This book is an introduction to Puritan thought as a whole, so it does not touch on specific situations. It is very broad and deals with both English and American Puritanism. Though this book is excellent, it should be known by all of you potential buyers that it deals with historical Puritan thought and not with the hard history of facts and events.

Another bonus of this book is that it presents the Puritans in clear light. Dr. Ryken celebrates the Puritan culture but at the same time recognizes that they had clear faults. He includes a whole chapter on things we can learn from the negative examples within Puritanism.

Leland Ryken's work, Worldly Saints; The Puritans As They Really Were, was definitely an eye opening experience. It seems that in being Canadian, and less familiar with the Puritans, I have been deceived by many common stereotypes that Ryken addresses in the book. I confess that I've gained as many beliefs about the Puritans from The Simpsons as I've gained from real history (and John Piper; the one pastor I've encountered who says the word "Puritan" in a positive sense). I've often thought of the Puritans as prudish, ornery, stupid old farmers who came to the 13 colonies wanting to escape England for the establishment of their own country where they could make 'fun' illegal. Dispelling many of my myths, Ryken brings out an admirable work of scholarship portraying the Puritans with a balanced and favorable treatment, drawing from a plethora of Puritan writers to establish his case and showing the Puritans as the life loving, God-fearing people that they were.

The book is laid out in quite a straightforward manner, with 12 chapters giving quite a comprehensive overview of Puritanism. Ryken starts with a brief overview of some of the `true' and `false' statements about the Puritans and a quick glance at their historical context. In the next four chapters he analyzes their `home life', tackling their attitudes and beliefs towards work, sex, money and family, with dozens of insightful comments and clarifications on many myths, especially regarding marriage and sex (one of the areas where I admittedly had severely misunderstood the views of the Puritans). The following three chapters deals more with specific `church life', with chapters on preaching, church/worship and their views regarding the Bible. Here Ryken lays out some comments regarding their powerful sermons that drew people from surrounding churches, and their laudable high regard for the scriptures that permeated every facet of their church worship. The next two chapters take a look at the Puritans attitudes and contributions in the fields of education and social action, with some dispelling of the `stupid farmers' myth, and the final two chapters analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the Puritans.

One must admit that Ryken's work is in fact a scholarly work with several strengths and few weaknesses. One of the most notable strengths is his attempt to show, from the Puritans' own hand, the Puritan positions on various theological and social issues. There is no easier way to dispel a myth than to provide proof from the party in question that they neither believed nor practiced anything resembling the accusation at hand.

Another strength of Ryken's work is his obvious effort to give the Puritans a fair hearing for their beliefs, as set against their cultural and socio-economic context. An evidence of an effort to give the Puritans a fair hearing is the many bibliographic resources provided in the book, many of which are at the end of each chapter. Another example of this is the careful explanation of the Puritan views regarding marriage and sex. Unless one would understand how their culture elevated virginity and held marriage in low esteem, one would be tempted to judge the Puritans in the light of 21st century marital and sexual models. Only with observing the Puritans views in their historical and socio-economic context can one see the actual surprising challenges they set against the established norm of their day. In a day where Puritans are caricatured and misunderstood, once one sees the Puritans in their historic context it becomes increasingly clear that an ignorance of the historic context from which they emerged is likely to be the principal contributor to caricatures and misunderstanding.

Though Worldly Saints offers a fair and balanced treatment of the Puritans, there are some weaknesses with the book. Though the book offers a few pages of history, it could be strongly argued that Ryken's work is meant for a person who is already substantially familiar with the Puritans. Ryken delivers quotes with no explanation as to who the referenced person is or why a quotation from them should bear any weight whatsoever. For an uninformed reader, Ryken could very well be quoting obscure and a-typical Puritans that did not represent the mainstream of Puritan thought. The actual text of the book is around 200 pages (minus endnotes, bibliography, index and the many blank pages, and it would have been nice for Ryken to have added 25-50 pages of history so that the less informed reader could pick up the work and have some historic frames of reference regarding people and places. I would have liked to see an initial chapter on the historic roots of Puritanism, specifically (and in light detail) lining out the main people and a timeline of the movement, not just 2 pages. Due to this reason, I simply would not recommend the book to someone as an introduction to Puritanism, though it is definitely a worthy read for a person who has a little more familiarity with the Puritans.

As for the actual contribution of the book to myself, I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed learning what was taught in the chapters on "work", "money" and "education". At my current church there's no shortage of preaching, teaching on the supremacy of scripture and instruction on the God honoring family. I must admit that I find very little teaching on "work", even though it is something that everyone does. It was encouraging to see the Puritan removal of the sacred/secular dichotomy and also the strong emphasis on the purpose of work and money. In the modern materialistic culture of North America, people seem to see the purpose of work as attaining money and the purpose of money as simply being attained for the acquisition of goods. The Puritan challenges to my materialism, as well as my weak Protestant work ethic, are both enlightening and welcome. I also found it interesting how the Puritans started so many schools, showing that they valued both learning and education. One often equates Puritans with the Salem Witch Trials, along with pictures of unwashed lynch mobs and rampant superstition. Ryken helped remind me that this was most certainly not the case, though there always have been ignorant and frightened people all throughout history.

All in all, Worldly Saints was a great book, with plenty of great lessons to learn from the Puritans within its pages. Ryken dispels many of my myths regarding Puritans, writing a work that portrays the Puritans with a balanced and favorable treatment. He eliminates many of the common caricatures from The Simpsons that pervade modern ideas about the Puritans and establishes that the Puritans were life loving, God-fearing people.

The author uses the writings of the Puritan authors to help clear away our misconceptions of the Puritans. This works very well. However, it does very little to put the Puritans in their historical context. The Puritans started Havard and they were big on education. This was very interesting. They had very healthy enthusiasm for sex within marriage. However, Ryken points out in his chapter on the problems within Puritanism, the Puritans were so afraid of sin they were worried about commiting adultery with one's wife. Thus, they created a lot of guilt for sex within marriage. The thought/philosophy/theology of the thinkers of a movement is always far more attractive than the practice in every day life. We should look at the Puritan authors themselves for the ideals of Puritanism. Ryken does that well. It is easy to read and he quotes from a variety of writers.

The problem is that he removes the movement from its historical context. He lauds the Puritans for starting Havard, but what about the witch trials? Another problem is repetition, he quotes so much that sometimes the quotes repeat the very same idea over and over. It makes the reading tedious at times.

On the whole I enjoyed the book and I learned a lot about the Puritans, which is exactly what I wanted from the book.

You will read this book and wish it were required reading for all students in middle or high school. It scours away the cynical slime that has been slung on the Puritan era and gives a clear picture of how they really were. While "Worldly Saints" concedes that some of the stereotypes are true - in the areas of hard work, discipline, and strictness, for example - it goes on to show that they were not heartless, bloodless, sexless, lifeless, nor brainless. They loved life and living, loved thinking, as well as loving God, and worshipping and honoring God all seven days of the week.

Their integrity, work ethic, and commitment to education - that mindset on how life is to be lived - produced the individuals who founded a great nation founded on great principles. That is why this should be read by all students. As Americans, they need to know from whence they have come.

Moral issues are frequently discussed in the media, debating why something matters in a moral, social context in the present day. This book helps bring you back to why principles are important, why morality is important, what was the mindset that dominated our nation's founders.

Expect a continued resurgence in [true] Puritanism based on the facts presented in this book and others like it. The men and women of the Puritan era lived their lives based on rock-solid beliefs and principles - the Solid Rock, if you will - and we would all do well to consider how we could improve ourselves by making those principles and beliefs the bedrock on which we base living our own lives.

I needed some research materials on the early Puritans in America for a book I am writing. A friend recommended this book and I ordered it, thinking "Well, this won't exactly be a page-turner!" How wrong I was! What an excellent, readable, interesting book! I plan to order it for a friend for Christmas, just because the Puritans as described by this author have so much to teach us. Their influence on American life today is still incredibly strong and the author's ability to bring them to life with excerpts from their own writing amazed me. Far from being sour and straightlaced, the Puritan life had both humor and a hopeful outlook. I'm not usually surprised by something I read, especially when, as in this case, I've already done a good bit of research. But this book was a marvelous surprise and I'm delighted to recommend it. Besides its excellent content, the bibliography is crucial to any scholar of the time period. If you need to know something about the Puritans, this book makes an ideal place to start!

This is a master piece!
Beautifully written manifesto of the Puritan philosophy of life.
I wish every Christian would read it.
If the body of Christ in America made this their philosophy of life;
America would never cease to be what it was Providentially created to be.
I also wish every American would read it for historical purposes.
For those who doubt that we are a Christian nation, this proves that we are a Nation Under God.
We are a nation built on biblical principles and biblical ideals lived out by our godly Puritan forefathers!

Ryken's book along with Packer's (A Quest for Godliness) offer great introductions to the Puritans. Ryken has more of a thematic approach while Packer's is more doctrinal.

The book give me a better understanding of the Puritans, the autor use a lot of his writings to convey his best and his worst, since they appear in history in England until they banish in America. The last part give me a great idea of his mistakes so as not to intend to do it the same.

Ryken has managed to write an entertaining and attractive overview of Puritan culture, but he does so at the cost of honesty and balance. This book is a polemic, or an apology, or a "Chicken Soup for the Puritan-Sympathizer's Soul", but it isn't accurate history. For example, in his Puritan myth-busting list, he offers only a tiny number of cherry-picked quotations, rather than a balanced summary of the extensive and very mixed history on these points. He also glosses over the Puritan's own inveterate religious intolerance, stating only that they banished Quakers, when in fact Quakers--men and women--were whipped and imprisoned as well as outlawed from the community for their beliefs. What Ryken calls "insensitivity" would, in many instances, qualify as hate crime today. And although Ryken does a decent job covering the Puritans' outrageous sexism (in which they were far from alone), he doesn't bother to discuss how this cultural psychosis found expression in the witch hangings of the 1690s. Nor does Ryken properly weight one of the Puritan's more questionable tenets: that socioeconomic status was inherently just - that the poor were meant to be poor and the wealthy, wealthy.

Although it's selective and nostalgic, this book may offer charming reading for Christians who hold a nostalgic view of the Puritans. But for readers who really want to understand the Puritans, there are much better histories out there. For one, I'd recommend Richard Archer's Fissures in the Rock: New England in the Seventeenth Century (Revisiting New England). Archer's well-researched history shows that Puritans were not a uniform population, but in fact were deeply divided on many important social and religious issues. It's not chatty, it's not "Chicken Soup-y", but Archer's book is a fascinating history of the aspects of Christian living that most challenged the Puritans. It's not a Puritan basher, but neither does it try to portray them as Saints (something that would make any good Puritan cringe).