![]() In thought and outlook they were radically God-centered. All their work displays this unique fusion of gifts and graces. In them mental habits fostered by sober scholarship were linked with a flaming zeal for God and a minute acquaintance with the human heart. Packer once wrote, “the great Puritan pastor-theologians – Owen, Baxter, Goodwin, Howe, Perkins, Sibbes, Brooks, Watson, Gurnall, Flavel, Bunyan, Manton, and others like them – were men of outstanding intellectual power, as well as spiritual insight. Pastors and congregations today truly need the Puritans. But once the foundational research is complete, the Puritans will open up new threads of understanding and application on your text. The Puritans are no substitute for careful exegesis and use of contemporary commentaries. Secondly, an efficient and workable library of the best Puritan literature is a great way to faithfully preach and apply scripture to the hearts of your hearers. The preacher is to “preach the Word” by taking every precaution in the name of accuracy and then exhorting and encouraging by earnest application. This series is based upon two fundamental convictions.įirst, the church today benefits most from leaders and preachers who are burdened to present expositional messages – sermons drawn from principles clearly demonstrated in scripture. You will become more familiar with the names as we continue on. Other names you may not be familiar with include Brooks, Boston, Burgess, Sibbes, Flavel, Reynolds, Ames, Manton, Rutherford, Newton and Clarkson. ![]() My definition includes John Bunyan and John Owen (true Puritans), Jonathan Edwards (post-Puritan), and Charles Spurgeon (who carried the Puritan tradition). The “Puritans” are a group of people I (very) loosely define as faithful Christians of the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as those who carried on the Puritan tradition into the 18th and 19th centuries. Of all the areas of my library, the Puritan section is the most useful. Here begins a several part study on building (and using) a Puritan library of your own. Part 1: The Delights and Pains of Puritan study Part 9: The strategy of building a Puritan library Part 7: Using the Christian Classics Ethereal Library Part 4: Why our effective use of the Puritans begins with our Bibles Part 1: The delights and pains of Puritan study I’ve placed all the posts in one post here so you can scroll down through them OR you can click on the links below and go directly to Tony’s posts (he’s done all the work for you). I hope that you find these posts helpful as you consider the Puritans. In the posts that follow Tony Reinke lays out his experience with the Puritans and captures, for the most part, the same journey I experienced. Since then I’ve given myself to reading numerous Puritans and I can truly say that, in addition to God’s word, these readings have been a definite aid to me. I followed this with “ The Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax” by Richard Sibbes and I was hooked. “ The Advantages of Remaining Sin” was a sweet read and opened my eyes to a style of writing I’d never seen before. I started with an excerpt from John Newton’s letters to a friend. If you feel like you’ve “hit the wall” in your reading and devotion time I would encourage you to try the Puritan genre. These men continue to disciple me as I turn from one to yet another in my reading. I found, after all these years, that reading the Puritans has been a profound blessing both spiritually and personally. You can, however, supplement your diet in such a way as to optimize your growth. God’s word should always be the mainstay of any spiritual diet. Of course, the Bible is always going to win out when considering what reading takes priority. Blogs are great for the commute in to work but they won’t and can’t sustain you. Unfortunately, there for a while I laid down some of the heavier works and turned to blogs. Like many of us I am just not as scholastic as I should or need to be. Over the last few years I’ve gradually focused my reading in such a way as to address specific issues in my spiritual growth and my ministry.
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