Members of the Church of England until the mid-16th century, the Puritans thought the Church had become too political and needed to be 'purified.' While many Puritans believed the Church was capable of reform, a large number decided that separating from the Church was their only remaining course of action. Thus the mass migration of Puritans (known as Pilgrims) to America took place. Although Puritanism died in England around 1689 and in America in 1758, Puritan beliefs, such as self-reliance, frugality, industry, and energy remain standards of the American ideal. The A to Z of Puritans tells the story of Puritanism from its origins until its eventual demise. This is done through a chronology, an introduction, a bibliography, and several hundred cross-referenced dictionary entries on important people, places, and events.

In the view of Hegel and others, pagan art is the art of the beautiful and Christian art is the art of the sublime. Roger Homan provides a comprehensive and informative account of the course of Christian art, encompassing a re-evaluation of conventional aesthetics and its application to religious art. Homan argues that taste and aesthetics are fashioned by morality and belief, and that Christian art must be assessed not in terms of its place in the history of art but of its place in Christian faith. The narrative basis of Christian art is documented but religious art is also explored as the expression of the devout and as an element in the trappings of collective expression and personal quest. Sections in the book explore pilgrimage art, puritan art, the tension of Gothic and Classical, church architecture and the language of worship. Current areas of debate, including the relationship of ethics to the appreciation of art, are also discussed. An extensive range of examples of painting, architecture and decoration, most of which are of European origin, are discussed throughout, with a number of striking illustrations included within the text.

More than an ecclesiastical or political history, this book is a vivid description of the earliest American immigrant experience. It depicts the dramatic tale of the seventeenth-century newcomers to our shores as they were drawn and pushed to make their way in an unsettled and unsettling world.

A comprehensive account of the major theological themes in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century Puritanism of England and New England as seen through the concept "covenant of grace." The covenant of grace, von Rohr argues, enabled Puritanism to affirm both a continuation of Calvinistic predestinationism and an emergent voluntaristic pietism, pastorally both the absolute and conditional promises of God. An extensive array of primary source material is used in substantiating the author's thesis.