Seasons of Agony and Grace

An Archetypal History of New England Puritanism

Rod O’Neal
From Archai Issue 1, 2009

This essay is the first in a three-part series that together present a detailed archetypal history of a single historical movement, the Puritan movement, especially as it developed in New England. Despite the many critical assessments of its influence on American and British culture, Puritanism is arguably one of the more important religious movements to have emerged from the Reformation, profoundly shaping many aspects of modern Western European civilization. Most obviously, Puritanism has deeply affected the religious culture of the entire English-speaking world, its influence felt worldwide today through contemporary Christian fundamentalist and evangelical groups. Puritanism is a taproot of Pentecostalism, one of the largest and most rapidly growing Christian groups today. Beyond the religious sphere, the effect of Puritanism on world culture extends into political, economic, and intellectual spheres worldwide through the impact its many seventeenth-century institutions had on both Britain and the American colonies.

To read the rest of this article please see: “Seasons of Agony and Grace“