Who are the modern Puritans?

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JM

Puritan Board Doctor
Are there any modern Puritans in todays world or are we restricted to using the term "Puritan" to a period of time frozen in history?

:candle:
 
I actually use the terms Puritan and Covenanter to describe myself. You say "Presbyterian" and most ppl immediately think of the liberal end of PCUSA (in my experience...I know this isn't all). If someone can relate to one of those two groups then they understand when I say I'm a modern puritan/covenanter.
 
Dr. Beeke was the first to come to my mind as well. Many may disagree, but John Piper ranks up there as well.

peace,

jm
 
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The PB may not like me calling myself Reformed but even us Reformed Baptists can be known as descendants of the Puritans. Just look at Bunyan. :book2:
 
I think that the term "Puritan" is tied historically to a particular era (mid-1500's to early 1700's) and place (England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland and America) and that, generally speaking, Jonathan Edwards is considered the "last Puritan."
 
The Valley of Vision is said to contain Puritan prayers, yet, it's also said it contains a prayer from CH Spurgeon...
 
Valley of Vision - Description: A selection of prayers and meditations in the Puritan tradition...

Many have followed in the footsteps of the Puritans and do so even today. But the term itself has a historical connection to a period in time that ended about 200 years ago.
 
I think that the term "Puritan" is tied historically to a particular era (mid-1500's to early 1700's) and place (England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland and America) and that, generally speaking, Jonathan Edwards is considered the "last Puritan."

*scoff* Word Pharisee. The spirit of the term counts most, not the letter. ;) Joel Beeke gets my vote, too.
 
*scoff* Word Pharisee. The spirit of the term counts most, not the letter. ;) Joel Beeke gets my vote, too.

:lol: I've been called worse -- Puritannical, for instance! :pilgrim:

I'm blessed to sit under Puritan preaching every Lord's Day, and I'm a big fan of Joel Beeke. As an (amateur) historian, however, I reiterate that the Puritan Age is over. :judge: As one who believes in Puritan postmillennialism, I am convinced their spirit will live on and, by God's grace, prosper. There have been different names throughout history for Biblical Christians, usually pejorative. Who knows what faithful Christians will be called in the 21st and 22nd centuries? As someone once said (not a Puritan), "The principle for which we contend is bound to reassert itself, though it may be at another time and in another form." :pray2: :sing:
 
As far as being the closest theological descendants of Puritanism (i.e. Savoy Declaration Congregationalism), The Conservative Congregational Christian Conference is the closest.
 
Valley of Vision - Description: A selection of prayers and meditations in the Puritan tradition...

Many have followed in the footsteps of the Puritans and do so even today. But the term itself has a historical connection to a period in time that ended about 200 years ago.

If a prayer is in the Puritan tradition, isn't it a Puritan prayer? Kind of like, "I'm a Christiani in the Baptist tradition so I'm a Baptist [reforming]."
 
If a prayer is in the Puritan tradition, isn't it a Puritan prayer? Kind of like, "I'm a Christiani in the Baptist tradition so I'm a Baptist [reforming]."

A Puritan prayer is a Biblical prayer. If one collected a book of early church father prayers and included Thomas Aquinas, it wouldn't make Aquinas an early church father, though he might be following in their tradition, because that is a descriptive term that has an historical association to a particular era in time. Likewise, Spurgeon, who was Puritan-minded, was not part of the Puritan era, although John Bunyan, for instance, was.
 
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Would you consider a person to be a modern day puritan who, being calvinistic, and a meticulous student of the puritans both historically and experimentally (very much like Beeke), is a non-reformed believer, a Baptist, even a fundamentalist :think:.
 
I think that the term "Puritan" is tied historically to a particular era (mid-1500's to early 1700's) and place (England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland and America) and that, generally speaking, Jonathan Edwards is considered the "last Puritan."

That is why I said descendants of.:pilgrim:
 
I think that the term "Puritan" is tied historically to a particular era (mid-1500's to early 1700's) and place (England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland and America) and that, generally speaking, Jonathan Edwards is considered the "last Puritan."

Andrew is correct. It is even more narrowly defined by some historians (Fischer,et.al.) as English spec. East Anglia and the new world immigrants from that region.

I think both (historical) usages are appropriate depending on context; Those who hold to "Puritain" ideas and those who are "Puritains".
 
Are there any modern Puritans in todays world or are we restricted to using the term "Puritan" to a period of time frozen in history?

:candle:

Who's the guy with the forked beard? I don't recognize him.
I'll probably feel like a dummy when you tell me.
 
:lol: I've been called worse -- Puritannical, for instance! :pilgrim:

I'm blessed to sit under Puritan preaching every Lord's Day, and I'm a big fan of Joel Beeke. As an (amateur) historian, however, I reiterate that the Puritan Age is over. :judge: As one who believes in Puritan postmillennialism, I am convinced their spirit will live on and, by God's grace, prosper. There have been different names throughout history for Biblical Christians, usually pejorative. Who knows what faithful Christians will be called in the 21st and 22nd centuries? As someone once said (not a Puritan), "The principle for which we contend is bound to reassert itself, though it may be at another time and in another form." :pray2: :sing:

I'm glad you're not amil, but you have not yet come all the way home, my son. Come back to the light of day, my son. Come all the way back...to the historic premil position, the only position the Scriptures teach (heh, heh).

Follow the light, follow the light...:D
 
The PB may not like me calling myself Reformed but even us Reformed Baptists can be known as descendants of the Puritans. Just look at Bunyan. :book2:

The finest preacher I've ever heard (S. Hartland) is Reformed Baptist, and I think he's very much a Puritan in both theology and style. His sermons last about 1 hour, but you wouldn't know it because the time seems to fly by.
 
I like to think of myself as a Puritan in that I am inside the Church of England trying to reform it to the word of God...just like Thomas Cartwright:

This raises a question that, for me, is quite timely and significant. (Chances are those who know Puritanism much better than I have known the answer for quite a while, but I'm still learning.)

Is it possible to be liturgical and still be a Puritan? I understand that many of the Puritans were indeed of the Church of England and used the BCP.

Or would you say that one must one hold to the regulative principle to qualify as a Puritan?

The reason I ask is that a number of us will be leaving our present denomination to form another church. Though we're not quite sure what it will be, many are asking that we remain liturgical. Though I lean towards the regulative principle I'm not loathe to use, say, the 1928 BCP.

What say y'all?
 
Kevin,

Naturally, it depends on what we mean by "liturgical" - after all, in the strict sense, every worship service has a liturgy. Even so, I know it typically conveys a more "high church" order of worship in people's minds, which I would say is certainly not contrary to the Regulative Principle or Puritan worship, given that the elements themselves remain the same.

Though I have not yet read it myself, Darryl Hart's book Recovering Mother Kirk: The Case for Liturgy in the Reformed Tradition has been highly commended by many. You might want to check it out.
 
Not sure but I would say John Piper as well. Also not to sound ignorant (I've only been Reformed about 2 1/2 yrs) but who is Joel Beeke? Any books from him?
 
Not sure but I would say John Piper as well. Also not to sound ignorant (I've only been Reformed about 2 1/2 yrs) but who is Joel Beeke? Any books from him?

Beeke has authored or edited about 40 books, I think. He is a Dutch Reformed pastor, scholar, and author. He is president and professor of systematic theology and homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is also pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation in that same city. His latest book (with Randall J. Pederson) is Meet the Puritans: With a Guide to Modern Reprints.

His website: www.heritagebooks.org. He's one of the good ones!
 
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