‘Practical Divinity’

Kenneth L. Parker, Eric J. Carlson

'...encourage[s] historians to focus their attention not on sterile academic debates about theology, or the definition of a puritan, but on the parishes of England, where ministers sought to put their theology into practice.' Continuity and Change, Vol. 14, No. 3 '...a highly satisfying work...beautifully produced...it has great value for all who want to trace the way in which the thought of the Reformation was transmitted to the people of the late 16th and early 17th centuries.' The Banner of Truth, No. 440 ’Professors Carlson and Parker have broadened access to a magnificent primary source, employing their editorial sensitivity and their splendid critical acumen to produce a volume that will prove a crucial ingredient in our comprehension of early modern godly spirituality.’ The Seventeenth Century, Vol. XIV, no. 1 ’Parker and Carlson provide a superbly nuanced and subtle reading of Greenham’s writings set within the context of his pastoral concerns...Practical Divinity is a model account.’ Ecclesiastical History 'This superb re-instatement of a long-forgotten Elizabethan pastor is wholly recommended... An excellent resource for all students of Reformed pastoral practice and the human heart under varied spiritual conditions.' Peace and Truth

• Contents: Part One: Greenham’s Life and Legacy: Introduction; A biographical sketch of Greenham’s life; Greenham’s legacy; The Greenham sayings in their literary and historical context; Greenham’s pastoral ministry; The cure of afflicted consciences; The theological foundations of Greenham’s cure of afflicted consciences; Another comment concerning the name ’puritan’; Part Two: The Sayings of Richard Greenham: Ryland’s English Manuscript 524, folios 1-72; Part Three: Selected Texts from Greenham’s Works (1599): Selected texts: an editor’s introduction; ’A Short Forme of Catechising’; ’A large Treatise of the Sabboth’; ’A Treatise of a Contract before Marriage’; ’A profitable treatise containing a direction for the reading and understanding of the holy Scriptures’; ’Of the good education of children’; Appendix 1: Bibliography of the published works of Richard Greenham; Appendix 2: Comparison of ’Grave Counsels’ (1st edn, 1599) and Rylands English Manuscript 524; Select bibliography; Index.