The Conventicle: 2006-12-31

Who were the Puritans?

"A loosely organized reform movement originating during the English Reformation of the sixteenth century. The name came from efforts to 'purify' the Church of England by those who felt that the Reformation had not yet been completed. Eventually the Puritans went on to attempt purification of the self and of society as well."

(Mark Noll, "Puritanism", Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 1984)