Meet the Puritans: A Guide to Their Lives and Books

Whether you're meeting them for the first time or returning with questions, this is the indispensable guide to the lives and works of the Puritans.

If your impression of the Puritans comes from grim portraits, high collars, and joyless sermons, Meet the Puritans will surprise you in the best way. Behind those caricatures lies a warm, Christ-centered spiritual tradition shaped by people who loved Scripture, treasured grace, and sought to glorify God in every part of life.

The Puritans took life seriously--because they took God seriously. Grace and guilt, love and sacrifice, heaven and hell weren't abstractions to them; they were urgent realities. Today, when conviction of sin is dismissed as gloom, when earnest faith is pitied, and when diligent obedience is labeled as legalism, we desperately need their witness.

If you hunger for depth, for holiness, for real communion with God, open these pages. Let these lives challenge you and these writings nourish you. Take the time to meet the Puritans--you'll find in them deep truths, godly examples, and an exalted Christ.

This New Edition Includes:

45 New Biographies for a total of 190 English and American Puritans, seventeenth-century Scottish Presbyterians, and Dutch Further Reformation divines.
278 New Summaries of Puritan works, with annotated bibliographies of modern reprints.
Comprehensive Revision of the entire previous edition.
200 New Titles Added to the select bibliography of secondary sources.
New, Expanded Glossary plus an updated, expanded list of Puritan publishers.

The definitive reference for engaging the Puritan tradition--praised by pastors, scholars, and serious readers alike.

Substantial enough for study, accessible enough for devotional use, Meet the Puritans is that rare kind of reference book that invites you to actually read it.

If you're serious about reading the Puritans--or simply looking for a clear starting point--this is the place to begin.

Joel R. Beeke (PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary) served as president of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary from 1995 to 2023 and now serves as its chancellor and professor of homiletics and systematic theology. He is a minister of the Heritage Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Fraser E. Jones (MA, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary) is a research assistant to Joel Beeke at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. Originally from British Columbia, he lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is a member of Grace Immanuel Reformed Baptist Church.

Randall J. Pederson (PhD, Leiden University) serves as managing editor of the Westminster Theological Journal and is a historian of the English Reformation, with an interest in the history, science, and theology of early modern Europe more broadly.