In Pursuit of Purity, Unity, and Liberty: Richard Baxter's Puritan Ecclesiology in Its Seventeenth-Century ContextRichard Baxter s ecclesiology is the focus of this study. Arguably one of the best-known Puritans of the seventeenth century, Baxter (1615-1691) lived through the British Civil Wars, the Regicide, the Interregnum, the restoration of monarchy and episcopacy in 1660, subsequent ejection of numerous Puritan pastors, and the Glorious Revolution of 1689. His ecclesiology was formed within these multifarious contexts. Among others, three significant facets of purity, unity, and liberty are examined in detail. The book re-examines the central role of catechizing and congregational discipline in Baxter s understanding of the true church, his insistence that the purity and unity of the church are to be pursued concurrently, the self-perceived identity of English Puritans, and the question of the true church in the latter-half of the seventeenth century. |
Contents
Baptism and Confirmation | 53 |
Conclusion | 82 |
The Pursuit of Purity in Unity | 117 |
Occasional Communion and the Limits | 144 |
SOLA SCRIPTURA | 156 |
73 | 176 |
Common Puritan | 182 |
In Pursuit of Liberty THE GROTIAN | 191 |
Bibliography | 231 |
| 255 | |
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In Pursuit of Purity, Unity, and Liberty: Richard Baxter's Puritan ... Paul Chang-Ha Lim Limited preview - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
Anglican anticlericalism Antinomianism argued Arminianism asserted Bagshaw baptismal thought Bishop Bradshaw Bucer Calvin Calvinist Cambridge University Press catechizing Catholic century Christ Church of England Collinson commitment Communion of Saints Confession confirmation Congregational context controversy conversion conversionistic covenant of grace Davenant discipline Dissenters divines doctrinal Early Modern ecclesiastical ecclesiological ecumenical Elizabethan emphasis English Puritanism episcopacy episcopal evangelical Firmin Geoffrey F godly unity Grotius hath Hildersham Holy Ibid idem infant baptism Interregnum invisible church John Keeble Kidderminster Laudian Letters London Lord’s Lord's Supper Lords Martin Bucer ministers ministry Moderate Puritans Nonconformity Nuttall ordination orthodoxy Osland Owen Oxford University Press paedobaptism parish polemical preaching Presbyterians profession Protestant Puritan Quakers radical Reformed Pastor religious Reliquiae Restoration Church Richard Baxter sacramental saving faith Scripture separatism separatists sermons seventeenth-century Socinians sola scriptura spiritual Synod of Dort theology Thomas Treatise Ussher visible church vols Westminster William William Perkins Worcestershire Worcestershire Association