Francis J Bremer

Biographic Data

ID977635
NAMEFrancis J Bremer
GIVEN NAMESFrancis J
FAMILY NAMEBremer
SIGNATUREBREMER F J
AFFILIATIONSMillersville University
VERIFIEDNo
TOTAL WORKS43
TOTAL CITATIONS4
AUTHOR COUNT42
EDITOR COUNT1
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1977
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2025
H-INDEX1

  • The Oxford Handbook of Puritanism

    Francis J Bremer, Ann Hughes et al.BOOKThe Oxford Handbook of Puritanism2025

    This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note that the online publication date for this handbook is the date that the first article in the title w…

  • Godly Violence in the Puritan Atlantic World, 1636–1676: A Study of Military Providentialism . By Matthew Rowley

    Francis J BremerARTICLEThe New England Quarterly2025

    This is a fascinating exploration of how puritans understood the role of God in war, focusing on events in both New England (the 1637 Mystic massacre and the 1675 Great Swamp Fight) and the British isles (Naseby, Drogheda, and Dunbar) during the seventeenth century. It rests firmly on the argument of John Morrill and others that the English Civil Wars of the 1640s were wars of religion. Focusing to a large extent on the bellicose streak in purita…

  • Leiden and the Pilgrim Way

    Francis J BremerARTICLEJournal of Early American History2024

    The years that the Pilgrim congregation spent in Leiden were a formative time that is often passed over in accounts of the founding of Plymouth. This essay will focus on how the congregation ended up in Leiden, the consequences of that decision, and their experiences as refugees. Attention will be paid to the ways in which Dutch legal and cultural practices influenced the way in which the Pilgrims would govern themselves in New England. But even …

  • Giles Firmin and the Transatlantic Puritan Tradition: Polity, Piety, and Polemic

    Open AccessFrancis J BremerARTICLERenaissance Quarterly2022

    Giles Firmin and the Transatlantic Puritan Tradition: Polity, Piety, and Polemic. Jonathan Warren Pagán. Studies in the History of Christian Traditions 193. Leiden: Brill, 2020. viii + 318 pp. $138. - Volume 75 Issue 4

  • “After Mr. Robinson's pattern”: Plymouth and the shaping of the New England Way

    Francis J BremerARTICLEThe New England Quarterly2020

    When Boston entered its pandemic lockdown in early March, it forced the cancellation of the Congregational Library's symposium “1620: New Perspectives on the Pilgrim Legacy.” With the cooperation of the director of the library, the Rev. Stephen Butler Murray, the four presenters—Carla Gardina Pestana, David Silverman, John G. Turner, and Francis Bremer—agreed to have the QUARTERLY publish revised versions of their talks with Kenneth P. Minkema as…

  • Building a New Jerusalem

    Francis J BremerBOOKBuilding a New Jerusalem2017

    The life of John Davenport, who co-founded the colony of New Haven, has long been overshadowed by his reputation as the most draconian of all Puritan leaders in New England—a reputation he earned due to his opposition to many of the changes that were transforming New England in the post-Restoration era. In this first biography of Davenport, Francis J. Bremer shows that he was in many ways actually a remarkably progressive leader for his time, wit…

  • To Tell What God Hath Done for Thy Soul”: Puritan Spiritual Testimonies as Admission Tests and Means of Edification

    Francis J BremerARTICLEThe New England Quarterly2014

    This essay revisits the importance of “conversion narratives” in New England puritanism, arguing that they were not widely used for admission to membership; instead, their primary function was to enable lay men and women to share their religious experiences to help others to salvation and cement the bonds of church fellowship

  • Building a New Jerusalem: John Davenport, a Puritan in Three Worlds

    Francis J BremerBOOKBuilding a New Jerusalem2012

  • Errands into the Metropolis: New England Dissidents in Revolutionary London (review)

    Francis J BremerARTICLEJournal of Colonialism and…2011

    Reviewed by: Errands into the Metropolis: New England Dissidents in Revolutionary London Francis J. Bremer Errands into the Metropolis: New England Dissidents in Revolutionary London By Jonathan Beecher Field. Hanover: Dartmouth College Press, 2009. One of the important developments in the study of Early America in recent decades has been the effort to place the story of England’s colonies in a broader Atlantic perspective. Jonathan Field Beecher…

  • Puritanism: A Very Short Introduction

    Francis J BremerBOOKPuritanism2009

  • Living the puritan life

    Francis J BremerCHAPTERPuritanism2009

    ‘Living the puritan life’ asks: What did it mean for a puritan to live a godly life? How was sinfulness defined? Did puritanism make individuals joyless and repressed as the popular stereotype portrays them? Puritans viewed drunkenness as a sin, although drinking was acceptable. While procreation was still seen as an important function of marriage, greater emphasis was placed on the importance of the union in providing companionship and support. …

  • The puritan and his God

    Francis J BremerCHAPTERPuritanism2009

    ‘The puritan and his God’ explores the nature of puritan belief, which was rooted in the Protestant understanding of the broad Christian tradition. It examines how puritans understood God and the nature of man's relationship with God. Man was created as a moral agent with free will. Men and women were born with their understanding corrupted by original sin, which was embedded in their nature. It was characteristic of puritans to subject themselve…

  • The puritan legacy

    Francis J BremerCHAPTERPuritanism2009

    ‘The puritan legacy’ examines the influence of the puritan movement in England and America. The most significant contributions to the puritan legacy in the decades after the Restoration are found in literature. Most Revolutionary era evocations of the founders of New England emphasized the puritans' resistance to English oppression rather than their specific religious beliefs. In the early decades of the twentieth century, puritanism became firml…

  • The puritan and his neighbors

    Francis J BremerCHAPTERPuritanism2009

    ‘The puritan and his neighbours’ explains that while the family was quite literally the home for puritan religious observance and the church was the centre for formal worship, believers also derived support from social communion with fellow saints, coming together in formally organized covenanted groups that would meet regularly and aid their members in sustaining their faith. In the aftermath of the Restoration, most puritan clergy found it impo…

  • The Puritan experiment in New England, 1630-1660

    Open AccessFrancis J BremerCHAPTERThe Cambridge Companion to…2008

    In March of 1630, John Winthrop preached a lay sermon to the men, women and children who were gathered in Southampton to accompany him on a voyage to America, an errand into the wilderness where they planned to erect a new England. These emigrants were Puritans, departing England because of their belief that the assault on godliness being mounted by the king's bishops would only increase in vehemence. They had decided to uproot themselves and the…

  • Puritan Family Life: The Diary of Samuel Sewall

    Francis J Bremer, Judith S Graham et al.ARTICLEThe William and Mary Quarterly2001

  • Tenacious of Their Liberty: The Congregationalists in Colonial Massachusetts

    Francis J Bremer, James Fenimore CooperARTICLEThe New England Quarterly2000

  • The Price of Redemption: The Spiritual Economy of Puritan New England

    Francis J Bremer, Mark A PetersonARTICLEThe New England Quarterly1999

  • The Heritage of John Winthrop: Religion along the Stour Valley, 1548-1630

    Francis J BremerARTICLEThe New England Quarterly1997

    N the spring of 1630, John Winthrop of Groton, Suffolk, delivered a lay sermon to those who had joined him in leaving their English homes to migrate to the Massachusetts Bay Colony; that speech is generally referred to as A Model of Christian Charity. They had, Winthrop told his fellow emigrants, entered into a covenant with God. They would be as a city on a hill, and the eyes of all people, especially Englishmen, would be upon them. By their cre…

  • Puritans at Play: Leisure and Recreation in Colonial New England

    Francis J Bremer, Bruce C DanielsARTICLEThe New England Quarterly1996

    Introduction: Puritanism, Play, and American Culture - DID PURITANS LIKE FUN? - Sober Mirth and Pleasant Poisons: Historians, Puritan Ambivalence, and the Concept of Pleasure in Early New England - INTELLECTUAL AND CULTURAL ENTERTAINMENT - Quiet Times: Reading for Pleasure and Profit - Music and Theater Struggle for Legitimacy - GATHERING TOGETHER - Congregational Socializing: Gathering Together at the Meetinghouse - Civic Socializing: Parties fo…

  • Congregational Communion: Clerical Friendship in the Anglo-American Puritan Community, 1610-1692

    Roger Thompson, Francis J BremerARTICLEThe New England Quarterly1995

  • Authorizing the Past: The Rhetoric of History in Seventeenth-Century New England

    Francis J Bremer, Stephen Carl ArchARTICLEThe New England Quarterly1995

  • A Guide to the History of Pennsylvania

    Ari Hoogenboom, Dennis B Downey et al.ARTICLEJournal of American History1995

    Journal Article A Guide to the History of Pennsylvania. Ed. by Dennis B. Downey and Francis J. Bremer. (Westport: Greenwood, 1993. xii, 486 pp. $95.00, ISBN 0-313-25085-5.) Get access Ari Hoogenboom Ari Hoogenboom Brooklyn College, City University of New York, New York, New York Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 81, Issue 4, March 1995, Pages 1891–1893, https://doi.org/10.…

  • Congregational Communion: Clerical Friendship in the Anglo-American Puritan Community, 1610-1692

    Paul R Lucas, Francis J BremerARTICLEJournal of American History1995Cited by: 1

  • Congregational Communion: Clerical Friendship in the Anglo-American Puritan Community, 1610-1692

    J W T Youngs, Francis J BremerARTICLEThe William and Mary Quarterly1995