Shapers of English Calvinism, 1660-1714: Variety, Persistence, and Transformation

Dewey Wallace tells the story of several prominent English Calvinist actors and thinkers in the first generations after the beginning of the Restoration. He seeks to overturn conventional clich�s about Calvinism: that it was anti-mystical, that it allowed no scope for the ''ancient theology'' that characterized much of Renaissance learning, that its piety was harshly predestinarian, that it was uninterested in natural theology, and that it had been purged from the established church by the end of the seventeenth century. In the midst of conflicts between Church and Dissent and the intellectual challenges of the dawning age of Enlightenment, Calvinist individuals and groups dealt with deism, anti-Trinitarianism, and scoffing atheism--usually understood as godlessness--by choosing different emphases in their defense and promotion of Calvinist piety and theology. Wallace shows that in each case, there was not only persistence in an earlier Calvinist trajectory, but also a transformation of the Calvinist heritage into a new mode of thinking and acting. The different paths taken illustrate the rich variety of English Calvinism in the period. This study presents description and analysis of the mystical Calvinism of Peter Sterry, the hermeticist Calvinism of Theophilus Gale, the evangelical Calvinism of Joseph Alleine and the circle that promoted his legacy, the natural theology of the moderate Calvinist Presbyterians Richard Baxter, William Bates, and John Howe, and the Church of England Calvinism of John Edwards. Shapers of English Calvinism, 1660-1714 illuminates the religious and intellectual history of the era between the Reformation and modernity, offering fascinating insight into the development of Calvinism and also into English Puritanism as it transitioned into Dissent.

About the Author :
Dewey D. Wallace, Jr. grew up in California, earned his Ph.D. at Princeton University, and has taught at George Washington University since 1963. He has published books and articles on British and American religious history, with a particular interest in the English Reformation, Puritanism, and the seventeenth century, including Puritans and Predestinaton: Grace in English Protestant Theology, 1525-1695.

Review :
"In this pathbreaking, important study, Dewey D. Wallace, Jr. tracks the ways in which varieties of English Calvinism creatively adapted to the challenges of a period usually and incorrectly associated simply with Calvinist decline. A must read for anyone interested in the religion of the period."--Michael Winship, Professor of History and E. Merton Coulter Chair, University of Georgia "This is a masterly study by a historian who has thought long and deeply about the history of early modern English theology. Dewey Wallace demonstrates that the death of Calvinism after 1660 has been much exaggerated. He shows how Reformed writers responded to new intellectual challenges by developing different strains of Calvinism, blending it variously with mysticism, 'ancient theology, ' evangelical pietism, natural theology and evidentialism, and Church of England conformism."--John Coffey, Professor of Early Modern History, University of Leicester "Shapers of English Calvinism is a significant addition to scholarship, providing a highly nuanced perspective on a series of significant but often neglected thinkers, and demonstrating the continuing importance of Calvinistic thought to English intellectual culture after the Restoration. Wallace's choice of individual thinkers is judicious and the volume as a whole is characterized by a mastery of the sources and a careful attentionto the changing contexts of English Calvinism."---Richard A. Muller, P. J. Zondervan Professor of Historical Theology, Calvin Theological Seminary "How does one assess change? Wallace has not only provided insights into seventeenth-century English Calvinism but also prompted us to think once more about that question."--Church History "...[I]mpressive scholarship... Wallace couches his conclusions in elegantly crafted prose; given how numerously and variously he directly quotes his sources, this is a noteworthy achievement. Wallace's book both pleases and instructs. I heartily recommend it to historical theologians, intellectual historians, and students of Calvinism." --Anglican and Episcopal History