Worldly Saints: The Puritans as They Really Were

by Leland Ryken

Book Overview

"Ryken's Worldly Saints offers a fine introduction to seventeenth-century Puritanism in its English and American contexts. The work is rich in quotations from Puritan worthies and is ideally suited to general readers who have not delved widely into Puritan literature. It will also be a source of information and inspiration to those who seek a clearer understanding of the Puritan roots of American Christianity." -Harry Stout, Yale University "...the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0310325013
• ISBN13: 9780310325017
• Release Date: October 1990
• Publisher: Zondervan Publishing Company
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Worldly Saints - A Clear Picture of the Puritans

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.

Great book for people who are already familiar with the Puritans...

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

Interesting approach

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.

A Good Introduction to the Puritans

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.

Honest and Forthright History

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.