Godly Republicanism

Every reader will gain important new knowledge of New England’s religious and political origins from Michael P. Winship’s lively, ambitious, and impressively scholarly book… Winship’s masterful book will surely be read by everyone interested in New England’s or America’s origins. -- John McWilliams * American Historical Review *
Godly Republicanism is a bold, searching, and overdue analysis of the nexus between churchly and political government in puritan thought. With this book, Winship has further secured his reputation as one of this generation’s finest scholars of puritanism. -- Thomas S. Kidd * New England Quarterly *
[A] meticulously researched argument for the distinctly ‘republican’ character of early New England… The book details the significant achievement of the Puritans in establishing a godly political order in the new world, but also the many reversals, ironies, and unexpected twists that attended that achievement. -- Mark Noll * Books & Culture *
A richly suggestive text… [Winship] present[s] a story of the past that gives one to think, particularly in the light of a brilliant last chapter on Algernon Sidney, proto-Enlightenment theorist and godly Calvinist… This is a splendid book, evidence if needed of an historian equally at home on both sides of the Atlantic. -- Paul Seaver * Church History *
Amazingly insightful. -- Rick Kennedy * Fides et Historia *
Winship effectively explores how Puritanism and republicanism interacted in England and New England to form the ‘free state’ of Massachusetts. Long depicted as moderates, the Puritan founders become, in Winship’s capable hands, bold and ambitious reformers… This is a very fine book. -- Gerald F. Moran * Journal of American History *
Wonderful…stunning… A challenging and important book…which offers yet more proof that the most rewarding works are those that require serious, rather than merely superficial, engagement on the part of the reader. -- Jason Peacey * Journal of British Studies *
Chapter by chapter, Winship brings new insights to what we thought were familiar events… He has a sharp scythe and cuts a clear path. -- Christopher Grasso * Journal of Religion *
Offers an engaging, meticulously-researched tale of the religious zealots whose conscientious scruples helped give birth to a new political tradition, and eventually a new nation. -- W. Bradford Littlejohn * Reformation 21 *
[Godly Republicanism] forces everyone who assumes a familiarity with the period to sit up and take notice. -- David D. Hall * Reviews in American History *
A stunningly original piece of scholarship… The new picture of early English and American politico-religious thought it provides is complex, densely argued, and quite persuasive. -- B. R. Burg * Choice *
A stimulating and provocative new analysis of puritan views on godly government of church and state and the significance of these beliefs for English and American history. -- Francis J. Bremer, Millersville University
Equally at home on either side of the Atlantic, this is trans-oceanic history at its best. Winship has produced a novel account of the origins of New England congregationalism. He links the fields of English and American puritan studies with facility and authority and shows the crucial role of separatism in establishing the nature of New England puritanism. He also has important things to say about the politics of radical puritanism in England and the controverted question of English republicanism. This wonderful book will be required reading not merely for students and scholars of colonial America but also for anyone interested in the religious and political history of early modern England. -- Peter Lake, Vanderbilt University
A fresh take on a story that historians of American puritanism thought they knew well. Winship reminds readers of the extraordinary accomplishments of Massachusetts’ founders in fulfilling the anti-hierarchical dreams of the puritan movement, achieving a set of religious and social reforms in America that were ultimately stymied in England. This is an important book, the work of a mature and confident scholar, whose mastery of the source material on puritanism in England and America is unmatched. -- Mark A. Peterson, University of California, Berkeley