This is a much more thorough study of Congregational culture and doctrine than that of Perry Miller. Miller's work relied entirely on published weekday sermons. Stout mined the unpublished sermon notes of hundreds of New England preachers to find a balance that Miller missed. Stout convincingly shows that the ministers' commitment to the salvation of their listeners was always paramount, and finds a consistency in their messages that link the ministers of the 1630's with those of the 1770's. Stout finds few doctrinal differences between Old Lights such as John Cotton and New Lights such as Jonathan Edwards. It's a tough read (being intellectual history), but it's well worth the effort if you wish to get inside the Puritan mind.

Harry S. Stout (Ph.D., Kent State University) is currently a professor of American religious history at Yale University. Building on the groundbreaking work of Perry Miller, Stout published The New England Soul in 1986. The study is more extensive than its paperback size might suggest. The main body of the work covers nearly 150,000 words and is supplemented by 68 pages of extensive end notes. The work has become a standard text for college and graduate courses in colonial American history.

Stout's work centers on the content, role, and power of the sermon in Puritan (later New England) America from the first landings to the beginning of the American revolution. His thesis, which is strongly supported through the work, is that the sermon was the central agent in creating a cohesive culture that evolves toward eventual self-identity and independence. Drawing extensively on primary sources, Stout brings to the contemporary reader the piety and passions of the people whose culture forms the soil for the American nation.

Stout follows the sermon through five generations of New England preachers. These generations are marked by gradual but significant changes in the style and, to some degree, content of the sermon. These five generations he labels invention (1620-1665), arrangement (1666-1700), style (1701-1730), delivery (1731-1763), and memory (1764-1776).

These five stages are, he admits, not dramatic shifts as much as a continual evolution. Through these stages Stout demonstrates changes in style (from plain to "Anglican") and, to some degree, in content. He asserts, however, that the essential core elements of the sermon remain consistent, and that the changes reflect the sermon's adjustment to a changing environment. In this assertion Stout challenges to common suggestion that Puritan preaching displaced its original mission and passion over time.

The themes of personal piety and liberty, Stout demonstrates, are constant from the early sermons of John Cotton to sermons like that of Samuel West celebrating the liberation of Boston by George Washington in 1776. These themes are linked by a shared sense of cultural and religious destiny, the "city set on a hill" mission, in which American New England would fulfill the goal of Calvin's Geneva to create the perfect society in which the Kingdom of God might be fully realized on earth.

The New England preacher, more so than the statesman or soldier, was the preeminent power and power-broker in the Colonial period. The sermon was both soteriological and political, reflecting a conceptual marriage of church and state difficult for the contemporary reader to fully grasp.

One great value of Stout's work is, following in the steps of Perry Miller, he brings to the reader the words of voices long forgotten. While John Cotton, Cotton Mather, Jonathan Edwards, and a handful of other divines have remained well known figures, at least to students of early American history, Stout brings to life the words of dozens of other preachers whose works and words are now preserved only in small numbers of rare books and pamphlets.

Stout effectively demonstrates how the sermons, especially of the eighteenth century, laid the foundation for the revolution and the birth of the American nation. The "messianic mission" of the early Puritans was malleable enough to be transfigured into the great battle, against the Beast of the British monarchy, to establish the independence of the colonies. Any student of American or religious history would be well served by including Stout's work in their must-read list. Any teacher of early American history should seriously consider adding this to any list of recommended texts. The contemporary student will be surprised at the multiple connections between religious and political thinking in early American life, as well as the pivotal role the sermon plays in the development of that life.

For all of us who know a little about American Christianity, pretend to know a lot, but wish to know much more, this book is a wise addition to any personal library and an invaluable resource in general. The articles are rich and informative, the cross-references helpful (and addicting!), and the topics comprehensive. As was once said, we are not a people without a history, nor should we become so. Historical books such as this ensure that our history as American Christians will not be forgotton, for although America was created for the purpose of liberty (including religion), I am afraid we have forgotten God in the process of growing up--to our shame. I recommend this book to Christians everywhere, from laypersons to scholars--all will find it useful.

This was an interesting, good book. It's a little boring in the beginning, between pgs 1-10, but you get hooked after that. It's about mainly Margaret Volpert, and another main character is Private Christian Molitor, a Hessian. Margaret's family has a son, later 2, in the American army though they are German. When Margaret meets Christian, she sees how both sides' boys are the same, neither are evil. They're just fighting for their country, doing what they're told, what they believe in. But Christian has a secret that could turn Margaret against him...

Im 14 I admit it. But I gotta say I loved this book and im sure you would to. It is full of adventue and romance.

I personally loved this book.I read it at 12 and definitly consider it one of my favorite books. not only does it have a lot to offer historically wise, but it also has a ton of drama and interesting parts to it. it has a bit of romance in the middle , but only a bit. When margrets brother goes to war she's worried. Then she visits a small temperary hospital and sees all the suffering and convinces her dad to bring a soldier to help her father and her. Little does she know that this certain soldier is from the other side of the war and is the same soldier who shot her beloved brother. overcome by emotions he cant handle the young soldier runs away. i wont tell you any more because it would ruin the ending , but take my word it is a great book. Too bad they didn't write a sequel to it.

This book contains excellent choices from the writings of Jonathan Edwards, the first great philosopher in the American colonies, including some of his earliest writings, mostly just philosophical or biological musings. It reflects some interesting developments in the maturation of his thinking. It also has letters to friends, colleagues, and family members. Some of his most well-known sermons are alongside some representative samples of his sermons. Unfortunately, there is room for only excerpts from his longer works, such as The Religious Affections, but that can't be helped in an affordable popular anthology. If you want all of his works, but the complete works from the same publisher. If you just want a representative sample of some of the best works of this great theologian and philosopher, get this.

Adding to the previous negative reviews, how can one take seriously a book which, on page 2, cannot even get the location of Whitefield's birth correct? Stout makes him a son of Bristol instead of a son of Gloucester (35 miles to the north). If he makes such a mistake this early what confidence can one have in the rest of the book?

Harry Stout does a marvelous job with the difficult task of assessing George Whitefield's career with respect to his skills as a dramatist and promoter. Before reading this book I was very skeptical of the often undue emphasis historians in recent years have attempted to place on style rather than content to revivalists' preaching. But I found Stout's arguement to be very convincing. This is a very helpful volume for anyone interested in George Whitefield, the Great Awakening, or American religion.

What a great book! Stout is a wonderful historian and it shows

If the reviews tell a negative view of the publication in question, then why aren't the corresponding resources for searching the facts presented within the context of the review itself! Let other readers know what sources were used in the effort to discount a works accuracy, so that further research efforts may be undertaken also. Don't let the facts lay in tne shadows for everyone to second guess around, because your review constructs a fantom conclusion or reality! Stick to presenting an accurate conclusion, by dislosing some facts!

Certainly a useful project that promised to deliver a concise overview of Christianity in America. It is clear and concise indeed, but fails in its informative purpose on the side of accuracy. The entries are outdated and inaccurate, as I have had the opportunity to verify personally (i.e. at my own expenses). So, the information you glean from it, although concise and easily found, will not be sufficiently reliable to be be used with confidence. It is, in other words, a tool that promises to save you work in your research, but misleads you, creating double work for you instead: you still need to do your own research, but in addition you will also have to go back and correct yourself in what you stated on the basis of its entries. I would rather avoid it completely. A book of this nature is bound to be consulted not so much for the major trends in Christianity, but primarily for the lesser known branches of American Christianity... yet that's exactly where the dictionary is most lacking in accuracy.