Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary?

[MaxPC]

I have never heard of it. Is anyone here familiar with it?
Link

[ohio jones]

Is anyone here familiar with it?

I would hope not.

I'll move this out of Anabaptist Theology and Practice.

[MaxPC]

Is anyone here familiar with it?

I would hope not.

I'll move this out of Anabaptist Theology and Practice.

Care to explain further?

[ohio jones]

"Puritan" and "Reformed" are pretty far removed from Anabaptist theology. I'm not aware anyone here (with 100+ posts anyway) attends a Reformed church or has an affinity for Reformed theology. Other than Valerie, and she keeps saying her church is not Reformed even though we know it is.

[Josh]

Is anyone here familiar with it?

I would hope not.

I'll move this out of Anabaptist Theology and Practice.

Care to explain further?

Puritans, and Reformed people in general, are paedobaptists. (Reformed Baptists would be credobaptists, but are not otherwise remotely anything similar to Anabaptists at all.) Amongst other things, they used to believe in a confessional state; they would not believe in nonresistance in the slightest; they do not believe in separation from the world.

[MaxPC]

I would hope not.

I'll move this out of Anabaptist Theology and Practice.

Care to explain further?

Puritans, and Reformed people in general, are paedobaptists. (Reformed Baptists would be credobaptists, but are not otherwise remotely anything similar to Anabaptists at all.) Amongst other things, they used to believe in a confessional state; they would not believe in nonresistance in the slightest; they do not believe in separation from the world.

At 90 I still learn something new just about every day. Thank you, Josh and OJ.

[PetrChelcicky]

If I look into the internet presentation, this is not much different from tradional movements and concepts like Princeton theology, TULIP or "strictly reformed". The only interesting thing seems to be that they expressively own the name "Puritanism". Why? "Puritanism" is mostly used for the political application of Calvinism. But they have no openly political message (at least not the European branch).

[Praxis+Theodicy]

The only interesting thing seems to be that they expressively own the name "Puritanism". Why? "Puritanism" is mostly used for the political application of Calvinism. But they have no openly political message (at least not the European branch).

Puritanism is pretty hot right now from what I've observed in reformed and reformed-Baptist circles. This is just my personal experience so it could be off base, but a bunch of pastors and nerdy laymen I know in reformed-Baptist churches read and talk about the Puritans a lot. For about 6 months I attended a monthly local pastors' fellowship where everyone except a couple Presbyterians were reformed-baptist. I don't know what the meeting used to entail, but in my time there, each person took the meeting for a given month, and they would give a presentation on a Puritan of their choice, sometimes a specific book or sermon of a Puritan. I don't know why or when they started doing this. All I know is that the Puritans are hot right now.

I can speculate as to the reasons why, but this is speculation.
(1) Puritans are pretty good writers, very prolific, very convicting. They write long-winded on topics, covering all the bases multiple times. They don't pull many punches. I think modern day evangelicals in the pulpit really wish they could be as hard-hitting and "say it like it is" in this manner. Many evangelical churches are so heavy on doctrine and so light on application that truly Biblical pastors are getting frustrated and anxious about the general laxity in Christian living and commitment to actually following Christ. But they feel bad being too specific in their sermons, so they get their kicks reading puritans who spoke very forthrightly about convicting issues.
(2) Although the Puritans were heavy on application and didn't pull punches, they actually did pull one very big punch: they were very light on practical application. Puritan sermons end with application that is typically for "the head and the heart". Missing from this, oftentimes, is "hands". This appeals to evangelicals who think anything that amounts to "obedience" is exactly equal to "legalism". It also appeals to the reformed dogma that "orthodoxy produces orthopraxy"; that is, Christian leaders and preachers need only preach correct truths, and their congregations will then infer correct Christian behavior on their own once they take these truths into their hearts.
(3) Puritans love the Bible, and often miss the forest for the trees. Puritan writers tended to write books hundreds of pages long on one verse from the Bible. Taking one verse by itself, milking it for all its doctrinal assertions and the implications thereof is pretty deeply engrained in evangelical/calvinist circles. Evangelical circles place a lot of emphasis on memorizing a few select Bible verses pulled from context, but don't do enough actual Bible study big-picture. The entire systematic theology of Calvinism is built on taking a few verses out of context, developing a bulwark of doctrines from them, and using that bulwark to understand God and also to discount scriptures that disagree with that systemic theology (such as the sermon on the mount).
(4) Puritans are actually some of the the primary characters in the propaganda of Christian Nationalism. The Puritans are talked about a lot in Patriotic homeschool materials like A Beka. They are portrayed as simple, harmless folk who come to the promised land of America to flee religious oppression and live in peace. They come over and homestead and raise a bunch of Gadsden flags and sing hymns and listen to circuit-riding preachers. I'm not lying when I tell you that it was only a few months ago that I learned that all the colonies except Rhode Island and Pennsylvania adopted the theocratic church model, and many of them were congregationalists (the Puritans' denomination), and that they persecuted Baptists, Catholics, Quakers, etc. In fact, they left Europe and came to America not to practice freedom of religion, but to set up religious states of their own color. But that is NOT how it was taught to me growing up. I think Pastors who grew up exposed to the same sort of Christian/patriotic history curricula that I was are probably in love with the Puritans partly because they represent the kind of "don't tread on me" attitude that these pastors like. It's not accurate history, but it is a story that shaped their values, and they are turning back to those stories to learn how to propagate those values to their flocks. One of the pastors at the fellowship I mentioned above was explicitly libertarian, he mentioned it whenever he could, he wore a hat declaring it.
(5) The Puritans met in secret meetings in the woods or their homes. This is also true of the early anabaptists, and I think it's something that touches the heart of many Christians. We know about the days of the early church, and how the church thrives under persecution. We hear these stories of convicted men standing up to the powers that be and preaching the "true faith" despite the consequences. There are actually a lot of similarities between the anabaptists and Puritans, and many of those same similarities are super appealing. The difference is that these reformed-baptist churches in America trace their lineage through the Puritans to the reformers, not the the anabaptist line. They see the anabaptists as dangerous, anti-biblical cultists who would have destroyed the church if Luther and Zwingli hadn't done everything they could to keep them in check. The Puritans did essentially everything the Anabaptists did, and got into all the same trouble/persecution, but the only difference is that Puritans are their ancestry and Anabaptists are not. So in this case, it's just a "my team" thing.

[Josh]

The Reformed people have been busy converting Baptists churches into Reformed Baptist (and then being quite covert about it, claiming to be “non denominational” or “we just follow the Bible”).

My local celebrity megachurch preacher Alistair Begg is a notorious example of this.

Reformed Baptists are some of the most confused people I’ve ever met: you have no choice whether you get born again or not but are predestined to do or not do so. … but you need to perform a believer’s baptism?

[ohio jones]

I don't know why or when they started doing this. All I know is that the Puritans are hot right now.

Good analysis. Puritans have become the heroes of the Neocalvinist (Young/Restless/Reformed) movement. "Jonathan Edwards is my homeboy" merch was pretty popular for a while, and is still available in a few dark corners of the web.



I should do one that says "Pilgram Marpeck is my homeboy."