For the next few posts, I’m going post a paper that I did in college on the the Puritan concept of parenting for a class on Puritanism. The title will simply be the heading of each section in the paper. Below is the introduction that about the uniqueness of the Puritan ideal for the family.

Through the demise of modernism, with its false presuppositions and conclusions, most of the world has lost touch with the richness of the Puritan experience. One aspect of their experience that has been misperceived greatly is their concept of family and parenting. This is even true among evangelicals today. Some stereotypes may be that parents beat their children excessively; or that they demanded perfection from their children; or that they sheltered their children from the world; or that wives were their husbands’ servants; or that they arranged all of their children’s marriages. A closer look at the norms of the movement will show that these stereotypes indeed are false. As a matter of fact, there seems to be no group in Church history since the early Church that emulates biblicity and theological depth in their approach to the family. Amidst the smog-saturated air of contemporary family theory and practice, one can look back and breathe the fresh air of Puritan family theology and practice. Prime examples of this are what they saw as the purpose for the family and its leadership.

The Puritans viewed the family as a small church.[1] It was to be the very backbone of the local church. Its sole purpose was to advance the glory of God by instruction in the Word of God, walking in holiness, and worship.[2] This concept should not be foreign to any evangelical today. However, most evangelicals do not embrace this in their families. This purpose of the family being the glory of God means everything. Leland Ryken notes:

What is important about viewing the purpose of the family as the glory of God? In the long run it determines what goes on in a family. It sets the priorities in a spiritual rather than material direction. It determines what a family does with its time and how it spends its money.[3]

This vision and purpose for the glory of God in the Puritan family lasted because it was branded in the consciences of parents and produced a God-centered direction in everything the family did.

One of the areas in which we go wrong today in the pursuit of a God-glorifying household, and which the Puritans focused on like a laser, was the spiritual leadership of the father in the home. They recognized God’s design; that, like the church, the family consists of fallen people and needs the shepherding of a man of God.[4] As the “governor” of the household, the husband/father/master had the duty of leading the family in worship. Oliver Heywood described it as acting as a priest in the family, a role that consisted of the four duties of the Old Testament priest:[5]

1. To instruct the people in the principles of religion, and their duty to God and each other

2. To manage the holy offerings and sacrifices for atonement (confess the sins of the family)

3. To intercede for the people (to stand between the dead and the living)

4. To bless the people

A man that didn’t lead his household was looked upon by the Puritans as a fool and scoundrel, worthy of all scorn. This outlook on family leadership was so overwhelming that it became principle even to the non-Christians that lived in the Puritan communities.

The ideals for the family mentioned above set the stage for an examination of Puritan parenting and child rearing. Parenting is something that the Puritans took very seriously and practiced with sobriety; and for good reasons. It is evident in a historical inquiry of Puritan parenting and child rearing that the root of their understanding and practice was not theoretical but theological. Theology fed and permeated Puritan parenting.

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[1] “A holy family is place of comfort, a church of God…Oh that God stir up the hearts of people thus to make their families as little churches, that it might not be in the power of rulers or pastors that are bad to extinguish religion, or banish godliness from any land!” (Richard Baxter’s “The Poor Man’s Family Book” in The Practical Works of Richard Baxter, Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 1996, Vol. 4, p.230, 231).

[2] “The household is as it were a little commonwealth by the good government whereof God’s glory may be advanced, the commonwealth…benefited and all that live in that family may receive much comfort and commodity.” (Robert Cleaver, quoted by Daniel Doriani in “The Godly Household in Puritan Theology, 1560-1640”, Ph.D. diss., Westminster Theological Seminary, 1985, p.52).

[3] Leland Ryken,Worldly Saints,(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1990), p. 74.

[4] “It was the husbands responsibility to channel the family into religion; to take them to church on the Lord’s Day, to oversee the sanctifying of the entire day in the home; to catechize the children, and teach them the faith; to examine the whole family after each sermon, to see how much had been retained and understood, and to fill any gaps of understanding that might remain; to lead the family in worship daily, ideally twice a day; and to set an example of sober godliness at all times and in all matters.” (J.I. Packer, The Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life, [Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990], p.270).

[5] The Whole Works of Rev. Oliver Heywood, (Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 1999, published earlier in London: John Vint, 1825), Vol. 4 “The Family Altar”, pgs. 309-311