Preface

My purpose in this book is to try to define the role that the Bible played in the lives of English men and women in the revolutionary seventeenth century in England. The introduction to the Bible published by Thomson in Geneva in 1603, written by T. Greshop, reminds us that the Holy Scriptures deal with the problems of states and governments, good and evil, prosperity and disaster, peace and war, order and disorder. It embraces the ordinary life of all people, rich and poor, industrious and idle. The ideas that divided the country into two camps in the civil war, and the victorious supporters of parliament into conservatives and radicals, were all found in the Bible. But I do not confine myself to considering the religious and political purposes for which the Bible was used; I also consider its impact on the economy, on literature, and on social life in general. I am trying to find out why the Bible eventually lost the central place it occupied in cultural life at the beginning of the century. When I speak of the Bible, I am referring to its text as it was accepted in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Biblical criticism has since raised questions about the authorship of the books in the Bible and about the authenticity of certain passages, including those I quote. But for my purposes, this is irrelevant. Some extreme radicals allowed themselves even more criticism ahead of time; but, as far as we know, their number is statistically insignificant.

In order to write this book, I read a lot, but not very systematically. If I had another fifty years to seriously study sermons, Bible commentaries, and theological tracts, then I could perhaps have worked more thoroughly on the subject. But since I don't have any, I've done the best I could based on years of haphazard reading on and around the topic.

Fortunately, I was a member of the group that was asked to supervise the republication of a number of seventeenth-century pamphlets. We have not progressed very far, but the sermons on the occasion of fasting, delivered before Parliament in the 1640s, were published in 34 volumes by Robin Jeffs in 1970-71. I also read the works of the Puritans and radicals, as well as Anglican commentaries on the literature of the Puritan wing. The more traditional views of Catholics and members of the High Church of England seemed less relevant to my subject.

Since its publication in English translation, the Bible has been to the English Revolution what Jean-Jacques Rousseau was to the French Revolution and Karl Marx was to the Russian Revolution. Many of the biblical quotations seemed to be directly related to the problems facing the English in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries." I will depose, I will depose, I will depose," said the prophet Ezekiel (21.27); and the New Testament encouraged them to think about universal equality.

In the footnotes, I referred to the works that helped me write this book. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the assistance of Simon Adams, Valentine Boss, Norman O. Brown, Nora Carlin, Patricia Crawford, Margot Heinemann, Tim Hitchcock, Gerald McLean, Steve Mason, David Norbrook, Tatiana Pavlova, Ivon Roots, Raphael Samuel, Valery Taylor, Joan Terek and Elizabeth Tuttle. I drew heavily on the work of classics such as Perry Miller, W. C. Jordan, Arnold Williams, and J. S. Smith. H. Williams. As always, when I take up a new topic, I find myself on the heels of the great historian L. B. Wright. Among the English historians whose work I find particularly useful is Bernard Kapp, an author no less versatile than Louis Wright. David Underdown's excellent book, Fire from Heaven: Life in an English Town in the Seventeenth Century, unfortunately, came too late for me to use many of its passages concerning the complex connections between biblical religion and society.

Jo Whitfield was a quick but reliable typist, even when she had to deal with my unreadable characters; It was only thanks to her that I finished the book almost on time. Julia Hoare and the staff at Balliol College were consistently generous in their help, which was not part of their duties. Credit should also be given to the staff of the Bodleian Library for their many services over the years.

Peter Carson of Penguin Books has been a generous supporter. Judith Flanders was an excellent editor—knowledgeable, wise, and patient. I owe her a great deal for her support and tolerance.

But most of all, as always, I am indebted to Bridget, who was also raised in a family where the Bible was read. She constantly gave me wise advice, helped and encouraged me. She read my book at various stages of its evolution, corrected spelling errors, pointed out repetitions, restrained my enthusiasm and verbosity, and assisted in the exhausting work of compiling indexes. She, like many of those whom I have thanked here, is not responsible for what happened; But without it, this work would be much longer and much worse.

I have modernized the spelling and punctuation of the seventeenth century, with the exception of the titles of the books. The place of publication of books, unless otherwise indicated, is London. In quoting from the Bible, I usually used the Geneva edition, which I believe was more widely used among radicals than the Permitted Version. But in a number of undisputed passages there is little difference between the two versions: the permitted version usually used the Geneva Bible, just as the Geneva version followed Tyndell's translation. At first, I tried to give full biblical quotations regarding what seemed to me to be key names and words—Cain and Abel, idols and groves, wilderness and garden, covenant, idolatry, and the Millennium. But that would take up too much space; the interested reader will be able to find them for himself with the help of the Symphony.

K. Kh.

September 6, 1992

List of abbreviations