William Perkins, Architect of Puritanism

Description

Once a highly influential preacher in the Elizabethan church and the international Reformed world, William Perkins (1558Ð1602) has become a rather surprisingly neglected figure in church history. In this book, Joel Beeke, Sinclair Ferguson, Greg Salazar, Geoff Thomas, and Stephen Yuille seek to recover the importance of Perkins by situating his life, priorities, ministry challenges, and influence within their original seventeenth-century context. They help readers Òpeer behind the veilÓ to see the real Perkins as he contended for the faith and attempted to shepherd GodÕs people in the midst of profound challenges. This volume will be both a reservoir of theological and practical truth and will foster a greater experiential knowledge of and love for the great God whom William Perkins proclaimed and served.ÒThis is an absolutely wonderful volume that merits all the superlatives that we can imagine. In the academy, it is customary to hear colleagues say that they need to be Ôat the top of their gameÕ when speaking at an esteemed scholarly conference. The contributors to this volume were at the top of their game when they spoke at a Perkins conference held at the Round Church in Cambridge, England, where William Perkins ministered at the time of the Reformation. These essays are a treasure trove of information about the life and work of Perkins, and at the same time this monument to scholarship can be read devotionally. I found it to be a page-turner.Ó ÑLeland Ryken, author of Worldly Saints: The Puritans as They Really Were