“Demanding respect is the quickest and most efficient way to lose it. Rendering respect is the biblical way to give, and, in the giving, to receive back what was given in another form” (Beyond Stateliest Marble, p. 112).
The Way It Did
“But history happened the way it did and not some other way. One of the most irritating characteristics of many modern writers is their inability to keep their current ideological crusades out of their reading (and rewriting) of history. We see Attila the Hun sweeping across Europe, and we want his army to contain more …
It Works the Other Direction Too
“She was a woman loved, and therefore lovely, and therefore loving” (Beyond Stateliest Marble, p. 108).
Affliction as the Touchstone of Theology
“‘Calvinism’ is often mocked as an austere faith, fit only for ideologues. But in the instructed heart of Anne Bradstreet, and through her pen, we see the loveliness of her Calvinism, which is just a different way of saying the ‘loveliness of her Christian contentment'” (Beyond Stateliest Marble, p. 97).
First Order Confusion
“Put bluntly, a woman can exercise her gifts fully without seeking to compete with men. The feminist error assumes that women can only lead if they do what men do” (Beyond Stateliest Marble, p. 86).
When Anything Goes on the Other Side of That Wall
“In reality [Roger] Williams was an obnoxious scrapper. He was far more concerned for ‘truth’ at any cost than were his Puritan opponents. In virtually every respect, and at every stage of the controversy, the Puritans were characterized by a biblical charity and Williams was not. But in the eyes of moderns these personal failings …
The Right Kind of Sustainability
“The Puritans recovered the biblical teaching that the marriage bed was to be honored and not just tolerated. They gave themselves to the married state with a strong commitment, and one of their great contributions to our culture was the establishment of the view that romantic and erotic devotion was sustainable within the covenant of …
Scarlet Letters, Inc.
“The question of law is another area where the Puritans are greatly misunderstood. The modern mind has a vision of Massachusetts Bay as haven for wannabe ayatollahs and manufacturers of scarlet letters” (Beyond Stateliest Marble, p. 29).
Like Jesse James Robbing a Train
“And, of course, New England also had her head cases, and some of them made their mark on posterity. One man, a pastor, was called ‘Handkerchief Moody.’ He thought he had sinned greatly and would not appear in public without a handkerchief over his face. He would preach with his his back to the congregation, …
Winsome Puritanism
“Misunderstanding the Puritans is a popular indoor sport for many amateur historians and not a few professionals . . . Anne Bradstreet was a representative figure, but she is frequently presented as a Puritan anomaly. She had such a winsome personality, and, since everyone knows that the Puritans were cranks, she is treated as something …