イングランド国教会の改革の中で起こったピューリタニズム。その出現にはじまり、市民戦争後のさまざまな統治形態に翻弄された時期や、オリヴァー・クロムウェルの統治下でどのように生き延びたのかなど、興隆と没落をたどったピューリタン（清教徒）の足跡を振り返ります。また、自分たちの神聖な王国を築こうとアメリカに渡った清教徒たちの遺産が、アメリカ史にどのような影響を与えたかにも注目します。
   

• This introduction provides an insight to the religious and political world of Puritans in England and America.
• Looks at the rise of Puritanism during the English Reformation, how they fared during various regimes, particularly after the Civil War and during the rule of puritan Oliver Cromwell.
• This book traces the shaping, triumph, and decline of the Puritan world, while also examining the role of religion in the shaping of American society and the role of the Puritan legacy in American history.

  
Written by a leading expert on the Puritans, this brief, informative volume offers a wealth of background on this key religious movement. This book traces the shaping, triumph, and decline of the Puritan world, while also examining the role of religion in the shaping of American society and the role of the Puritan legacy in American history. Francis J. Bremer discusses the rise of Puritanism in the English Reformation, the struggle of the reformers to purge what they viewed as the corruptions of Roman Catholicism from the Elizabethan church, and the struggle with the Stuart monarchs that led to a brief Puritan triumph under Oliver Cromwell. It also examines the effort of Puritans who left England to establish a godly kingdom in America. Bremer examines puritan theology, views on family and community, their beliefs about the proper relationship between religion and public life, the limits of toleration, the balance between individual rights and one's obligation to others, and the extent to which public character should be shaped by private religious belief.