Papers from Hillsdale College
REL 319 -- Eighteenth Century Theology:
Jonathan Edwards and American Puritanism

Auchincloss, Louis. The Winthrop Covenant. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,1976.

Auchincloss outlines 300 years of Winthrop family history starting with governorship John Winthrop. He demonstrates how the influence of the Winthrop family was significant and enduring.

The book contains letters written by John Winthrop during Pequot War (1637) when he was governor which shed light upon his ideas and govenmental policies .

Dunn traces Winthrop's actions and attitudes during his departure from England and his leadership in America (1630-45). His governmental style and influence in New England policies, ideas, and conflicts are also discussed.

Winthrop's journal explains his leadership and conduct during the early Puritan settlement and has proved to be the most complete record of Puritan history in Massachusetts during this era.

This resource has pictures of original documents and items related to the first Winthrop generations in America (documents of John Winthrop's, etc.).

The reader is a record of primary sources writen by Winthrop: Modell of Christian Charity (1630) and A Speech to the General court (1645).

Hosmer's book is packed full of helpful information. He begins his book with a brief introduction about the life of Winthrop, which I found very interesting. Then he very neatly organizes and lays out the actual John's actual journal in a practical way.

MacPhail presents a detailed, theoretical investigation of Puritan history. It is a specific analysis of Puritan life and thought, though it seems a bit liberally and critically biased.

Mayo's book tells of how the different generations in the Winthrop family have greatly influenced the world around them especially in the United States. He begins the first generation with John Winthrop and continues on through the nine generations following him. I found this book to be the most helpful out of all the ones that I encountered. His data was arranged in a way that was easy to follow and interesting to read. He also included with his hard evidence, helpful explanations and insights.

Morgan provides simple, informative readings of the history and development of the Puritans in America. He is so clear and helpful in laying a basic foundation for understanding this era in terms of its ideals and practices. He makes an unfamiliar world seem more tangible.

Builders of the Bay Colony is about the leaders in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the seventeenth century. I found the part of the book about John Winthrop to be very helpful. Morison is especially skilled in helping the reader to understand the affects Puritanism on Winthrop's life, which is a rather foreign concept to Americans today. I would highly recommend Morison's book.

The Bay Colony is a civil, religious and social history of the Massachusetts Bay colony and its settlements from the landing at Cape Ann in 1624 to the death of Governor Winthrop in 1650. I did not find this book very helpful at all about Winthrop. I found the author's style of writing to be difficult to read as well as obviously biased.

Rutman's book discusses Winthrop's Boston as an example of a Puritan Town - just like the title says. The book is full of very helpful and enlightening information. At times Rutman's views are novel, and I am not sure that I agree with them. Generally the historical aspects of his book seem to be reliable and written well. Rutman writes about the beginnings of the Massachusetts Bay colony with a strong emphasis on explaining and analyze the principles behind the facts.

This collection contains primary resources of Winthrop's own hand describing his spiritual growth and development from youth until he was 49. He addresses his own personal state of sinfulness and describes how God has saved him from it.