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Biblical anthropology and puritan religious experience

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Notes

  1. John R. Knott, Jr.,The Sword of the Spirit: Puritan Responses to the Bible (Chicago, 1980), 1–41.

  2. Henning Graf Reventlow,The Authority of the Bible and the Rise of the Modern World, trans. John Bowden (Philadelphia, 1985), 114–18; Erwin R. Gane, ‘The Exegetical Methods of Some Sixteenth-Century Puritan Preachers: Hooper, Cartwright, and Perkins’,Andrews University Seminary Studies 19 (1981), pt. I, 22–23, 29, pt. II, 112–13.

  3. Klaas Runia, ‘The Hermeneutics of the Reformers’,Calvin Theological Journal 19 (1984), 121–52; Knott,Sword of the Spirit, 17–19, 33–38; Edward H. Davidson, ‘John Cotton's Biblical Exegesis: Method and Purpose’,Early American Literature 17 (1982), 119–21; John Coolidge,The Pauline Renaissance in England (Oxford, 1970), 1–12, 20–22.

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  4. Perry Miller,The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century (New York, 1939), 111–235; John Morgan,Godly Learning: Puritan Attitudes towards Reason, Learning and Education, 1560–1640 (New York, 1986).

  5. Reventlow,Authority of the Bible, 94–99; Margo Todd,Christian Humanism and the Puritan Social Order (Cambridge, Eng., 1987); Samuel Eliot Morison,The Intellectual Life of Colonial New England, 3d ed. (New York, 1965), 16–17; Charles E. Hambrick-Stowe,The Practice of Piety: Puritan Devotional Disciplines in Seventeenth-Century New England, passim, esp. 25–39, 184–85.

  6. Hans W. Frei,The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative: A Study in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Hermeneutics (New Haven, 1974), 1, 19, 25; Knott,Sword of the Spirit, 36–37; Runia, ‘Hermeneutics of the Reformers’, 122, 135–36, 143; Theresa Toulouse,The Art of Prophesying: New England Sermons and the Shaping of Belief (Athens, Ga., 1987), 16–18; Robert A. Coughenour, ‘The Shape and Vehicle of Puritan Hermeneutics’,Reformed Review 30 (1976), 30.

  7. Barbara Kiefer Lewalski,Protestant Poetics and the Seventeenth-Century Religious Lyric (Princeton, 1979), 111–40; Frei,Eclipse, 2, 19–20, 27–31, 33–34; Sacvan Bercovitch (ed.),Typology and Early American Literature ([Amherst, Mass.], 1972); Emory Elliott, ‘From Father to Son: The Evolution of Typology in Puritan New England’, in Early Miner (ed.),Literary Uses of Typology From the Late Middle Ages to the Present (Princeton, 1977), 204–27.

  8. Gane repeatedly (‘Exegetical Methods’, I, 23, 29, 36; II, 109, 111, 112, 114) calls Puritans “ultra-literalists,” “in the sense that they were not satisfied to give Bible passages their obvious meanings in context, but, to a greater degree than did the Anglicans, sought to see their own era, as well as their own biases, as the subjects of the scriptural messages” (109). “Presentist” fits better than “ultra-literalist,” for what Gane describes is not Puritans interpreting passages absolutely in accordance with the text's literal meaning but rather the habit of intruding one's own immediate concerns into the words of Scripture.

  9. Frei,Eclipse, 2–3, 24, 28, 34, 36.

  10. Much of the following analysis derives from my work inGod's Caress: The Psychology of Puritan Religious Experience (New York, 1986), esp. chap. 1.

  11. Aubrey R. Johnson,The Vitality of the Individual in the Thought of Ancient Israel, 2nd ed. (Cardiff, 1964); John Chamberlayne,Man in Society: The Old Testament Doctrine (London, 1966), 19–37; Glenn E. Whitlock, ‘The Structure of Personality in Hebrew Psychology’,Interpretation 14 (1960), 3–13; H. Wheeler Robinson, ‘Hebrew Psychology’, inThe People and the Book, ed. Arthur Samuel Peake (Oxford, 1925), 353–82; Robert H. Gundry,Sōma in Biblical Theology: With an Emphasis on Pauline Anthropology, 117–34; Robert G. Bratcher, ‘Biblical Words Describing Man: Breath, Life, Spirit’,Practical Papers for the Biblical Translator 34 (1983), 201–9.

  12. Walter David Stacey,The Pauline View of Man (London, 1956); Rudolph Bultmann,Theology of the New Testament, trans. Kendrick Grobel, 2 vols. (New York, 1951–55), I, 190–352; Bo Reicke, ‘Body and Soul in the New Testament’,Studia Theologica 19 (1965), 200–12; Werner Georg Kümmel,Man in the New Testament, trans. John J. Vincent, rev. and enlg. (London, 1963); E. Sadiq, ‘Man's Nature and Destiny — The New Testament View’,Religion and Society 20 (1973), 54–63; Charles Ryder Smith,The Bible Doctrine of Man (London, 1949), 133–249; Ernest De Witt Burton,Spirit, Soul, and Flesh (Chicago, 1918), 178–207; Robert Jewett,Paul's Anthropological Terms: A Study of Their Use in Conflict Settings (Leiden, 1971).

  13. John A. T. Robinson,The Body: A Study in Pauline Theology (Chicago, 1952), 17–26.

  14. Harry S. Benjamin, ‘Pneuma in John and Paul’,Biblical Theology Bulletin 6 (1976), 27–48; Paul Younger, ‘A New Start Towards a Doctrine of the Spirit’,Canadian Journal of Theology 13 (1967), 123–33.

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  15. T. Francis Glasson, ‘“Visions of Thy Head” (Daniel 2.28): The Heart and the Head in Bible Psychology’,Expository Times 81 (1970), 247–48; Stacey,Pauline View, 194.

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  16. Gundry,Sōma, 135–37; Herman Ridderbos,Paul: An Outline of His Theology, trans. John Richard De Witt (Grand Rapids, 1975), 507; Jewett,Paul's Anthropological Terms, chaps. VI, VIII, X, XI,passim, esp. 312–13, 447–48 (kardia); 367, 327, 450 (nous); 419–21, 436–39, 458–60 (suneidēsis).

  17. Stacey,Pauline View, 122–25, but see Jewett,Paul's Anthropological Terms, 334–57.

  18. Robinson,Body, 26–33; Gundry,Sōma, passim, esp. 30, n. 1; Jewett,Paul's Anthropological Terms, 279–87; William Nelson, ‘Pauline Anthropology. Its Relation to Christ and the Church’,Interpretation 14 (1960), 22–25; J. A. Ziesler, ‘ΣΩMA in the Septuagint’,Novum Testamentum 25 (1983), 133–45.

  19. I. Cohen, ‘The Heart in Biblical Psychology’, inEssays Presented to Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie, eds. H. J. Zimmels, J. Rabinowitz, and I. Finestein (London, 1967), 41–57, esp. 46–47.

  20. Leading modern studies of the faculty-humor psychology include Ruth Leila Anderson,Elizabethan Psychology and Shakespeare's Plays, University of Iowa Humanistic Studies, 3 (Iowa City, 1927); Lily B. Campbell,Shakespeare's Tragic Heroes (London, 1930; repr. New York, 1968), 47–106; E. M. W. Tillyard,The Elizabethan World Picture (London, 1958), 60–73; Herschel Baker,The Dignity of Man (Cambridge, Mass., 1947), 275–92. Treatises on the psychology include Sir Thomas Elyot,The Castell of Helth, corr. and aug. (London, 1572); Thomas Walkington,The Optick Glasse of Hvmors (London, 1607); Pierre de La Primaudaye,The Second Part of the French Academy (London, 1594); [Robert Burton],The Anatomy of Melancholy, 6th ed., corr. and aug. (London, 1652; repr. Philadelphia, 1847); Timothy Bright,A Treatise of Melancholie (London, 1586); Philippe de Mornay,The True Knowledge of a Mans Owne selfe (London, 1602).

  21. John Downame,The Christian Warfare, 4th ed. (London, 1634), 1019; William Perkins,The Whole Works, 3 vols. (London, 1626–31), I, 470.

  22. Hans Walter Wolff,Anthropology of the Old Testament, trans. Margaret Kohl (Philadelphia, 1974), 65–66; cf. Levinus Lemnius,The Touchstone of Complexions, trans. Thomas Newton (London, 1581), 141vo.

  23. La Primaudaye,Second Part, 218.

  24. Richard Sibbes,The Complete Works, ed. Alexander B. Grosart, 7 vols. (Edinburgh, 1862–64), VI, 31; II, 46.

  25. John Cotton,Gods Mercie Mixed with His Justice (London, 1641; facsimile repr., Gainesville, 1958), 3.

  26. John Cotton,The Covenant of Gods free Grace (London, 1645), 20.

  27. Richard Mather,A Farewel Exhortation ... (Cambridge, Mass., 1657), 20; Lewalski,Protestant Poetics, 101–3. For a different perspective on Puritans misappropriating proof texts in the service of their own hermeneutic, see Gane, ‘Exegetical Methods’, II, 109–10, 112.

  28. Sibbes,Works, II, 218.

  29. John Cotton,The way of Life (London, 1641), 127.

  30. Thomas Wilson,A Christian Dictionary, 2d ed., aug. (London, 1616), s.v. ‘Heart’, def. 2; Thomas Hooker,The Application of Redemption, books IX–X, (London, 1657.), 686.

  31. Thomas Cartwright,A Treatise of the Christian Religion, 2d ed. (London, 1616), 163.

  32. Thomas Shepard,The Works, ed. John Adams Albro, 3 vols. (Boston, 1853; facsimile repr., Hildesheim, 1971), I, 18–19; Thomas Hooker,The Paterne of Perfection (London, 1640), 9.

  33. Perkins,Works, I, 20; John Preston,The Saints Qvalification, 2d ed., corr. (London, 1634), 42.

  34. Sibbes,Works, I, 174; Richard Rogers,Seven Treatises (London, 1603), 88.

  35. La Primaudaye,Second Part, 598–99; E. Ruth Harvey,The Inward Wits: Psychological Theory in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (London, 1975), 3, 7–8, 13, 29–30, 31.

  36. Paul Kocher,Science and Religion in Elizabethan England (San Marino, Cal., 1953), 275–92, 284–305; Lemnius,Touchstone, 141vo.

  37. John Juan Huarte,Examen de Ingenios. The Examination of mens Wits, trans. R. C. [Richard Carew?] (London, 1594), 148–49; George Mora, ‘Review ofThe Examination of Men's Wits, (1575) by John Huarte’,Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 13 (1977), 67–78.

  38. John Norton,The Orthodox Evangelist (London, 1654), 70.

  39. Walkington,Optick Glasse, 57ro; Lemnius,Touchstone, 87vo.

  40. Arthur Hildersam,CVIII Lectures Upon the Fovrth of Iohn, 2d ed. (London, 1632), 435.

  41. Edward Reynolds,A Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soule of Man (London, 1640); facsimile repr., Gainesville, Fla., 1971),passim, quotation on 530;idem, Three Treatises ..., 2d ed., rev. and corr. (London, 1632), 249.

  42. Shepard,Works, II, 385; William Ames, ‘Conscience with the Power and Cases Thereof’, Lxv.2, 6, 8, inidem, The Workes (London, 1643).

  43. Hildersam,CVIII Lectures, 28; John Cotton,A Treatise: 1. Of Faith ... (Boston, 1713), 6.

  44. Shepard,Works, I, 240.

  45. [Richard Mather],An Apologie of the chvrches in New-England for Chvrch-Covenant (London, 1643), 26; John Preston,The New Covenant, 8th ed. (London, 1634), 343.

  46. Peter Bulkeley,The Gospel-Covenant, 2d ed., enlg. and corr. (London, 1651), 353.

  47. Shepard,Works, II, 58; Thomas Hooker,The Sovles Vocation or Effectval Calling to Christ (London, 1638), 335.

  48. Rogers,Seven Treatises, 93; John Preston,Remaines of ... John Preston (London, 1634), 143.

  49. John Preston,The Breast-Plate of Faith and Love, 2d ed., corr. (London, 1630), pt. III, ‘Of Love’, 204.

  50. Thomas Hooker,The Sovles Hvmiliation (London, 1637), 14, 29, 81–82.

  51. John Rogers,The Doctrine of Faith, 3d ed., corr. and enlg. (London, 1629), 126.

  52. Perkins,Works, I, 79–80; Bulkeley,Gospel-Covenant, 337–44; Downame,Christian Warfare, 1097.

  53. Bulkeley,Gospel-Covenant, 286.

  54. Miller,New England Mind, 280–84; Cohen,God's Caress, 96–97.

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  1. Dept. of History, University of Wisconsin, 53706, Madison, WI, USA

    Charles L. Cohen

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Cohen, C.L. Biblical anthropology and puritan religious experience. Topoi 7, 191–200 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02028419

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