Exile and Kingdom History and Apocalypse in the Puritan Migration to America [Paperback]

This book explores the ideological origins of the Puritan migration to and experience in America.By tracing the ideological origins of the Puritan migration within the context of the English apocalyptic tradition, Dr Zakai shows how Puritans transformed the premises of that tradition by rejecting the notion of England as God's elect nation and by conferring that title upon the American wilderness.By tracing the ideological origins of the Puritan migration within the context of the English apocalyptic tradition, Dr Zakai shows how Puritans transformed the premises of that tradition by rejecting the notion of England as God's elect nation and by conferring that title upon the American wilderness.By analyzing the ideological origins of the Puritan migration to America, the author shows how Puritans believed that their removal to New England fulfilled prophetic apocalyptic and eschatological visions. Based on a close reading of Puritan texts, the book explains how Puritans interpreted their migration as a prophetic revelatory event in the context of a sacred, ecclesiastical history, and why they considered it as the climax of the history of salvation and redemption.Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. The creation of sacred time; 2. The creation of sacred space I; 3. The creation of sacred space II; 4. The creation of sacred space III; 5. The creation of sacred errand; 6. The creation of a sacred Christian society; 7. The creation of a holy Christian commonwealth; Index. These chapters are the most sustained examination yet written of the Puritan concept of history as an apocalyptic event occurring outside of chronological time. Historical Journal of Massachusetts This is an exceedingly scholarly work which attempts to explain the religious or ideological origins of the Puritan migraton to America during the early seventeenth century....this work is a significant study in the history of ideas....One of the chief merits of Dr. Zakai's book is its treatment of the Puritanl`