Women, Prophecy, and Authority in Early Stuart Puritanism

Bibliographic Data

ID23198224
AuthorsDavid R Como (corresponding author)
Year1998
Volume61
Issue2
Pages203-222
Publication date1998-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuntington Library Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-7895 • E-ISSN: 1544-399X
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/3817798
OpenAlexW2312445161
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited8

Hx .I istorians of early modern England have begun to explore the important role of women in the story of Puritanism. As Patrick Collinson and Thomas Freeman have noted, godly women were at the epicenter of the Puritan movement from its earliest stages-not mere bystanders, but in fact close confidants and financial backers of well-known Marian and Elizabethan Protestants.' That this tradition of avid female participation persisted into the seventeenth century is beyond doubt. More contestable is the question of the nature and consequences of such participation. Despite recent advances, we remain in many ways ignorant of the precise manner in which women fit into the community of the godly. How did Puritan women interact with their male Puritan counterparts? How, in turn, did godliness, in both its personal and social aspects, affect the capacity of women to make their way in the deeply patriarchal social world of early modern England? Important studies by Diane Willen and Peter Lake have suggested that although Puritan divines habitually urged female submission and subordination, the daily consequences of Puritan pastoral divinity-intense experiences of divine love or union, reciprocal and almost egalitarian lay-clerical relationships, a sense of spiritual or moral authority, and an almost inevitable civic awareness and

Early Modern Women Writers · History · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment

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