Table of Contents

Introduction 1. The Uses of Literacy 2. A World of Wonders 3. The Meetinghouse 4. The Uses of Ritual 5. The Mental World of Samuel Afterword A Note on Book Ownership in Seventeenth-Century New England Acknowledgments Notes Index

Promotional Information

David Hall has written a work of deep learning and great subtlety. In discussing seventeenth-century New England culture, it provides a new way of looking at religious belief Hall demonstrates that old ways simply will not do, and he redefines the character of religion and culture in New England. He has written a brilliant book, one that will stimulate its readers for many years. -- Robert Middlekauff, University of California, Berkeley In this remarkable book David Hall has carried the study of early New England to new levels of understanding...He shows us, as never before, how the sophisticated doctrines of the Puritan clergy meshed, clashed, and merged with the inherited attitudes and assumptions of ordinary people in their day-to-day grappling with the mysteries of their world. This is a model of historical analysis, not merely for what it tells us about early New England, but also for its brilliant insights into the way religion can operate in society. -- Edmund S. Morgan, Yale University David Hall's highly innovative new work...provides close reading, profound insights, and trans-Atlantic comparisons that make this a book of very broad significance and interest. -- Michael Kamnien, Cornell University

About the Author

David D. Hall is John A. Bartlett Professor of New England Church History at Harvard Divinity School.

Reviews

Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment is an extraordinarily rich evocation of the popular culture of seventeenth-century New England… A short review can only hint at the methodological brilliance and the interpretive richness of this relatively brief book. Hall succeeds not only in sketching out a new agenda for study of the New England mind but strikes out skillfully on the task of integrating the beliefs of the colonies with their everyday lives.
*Journal of American History*

A remarkable work of cultural history… The mentality described will seem alien yet fascinating to most modern readers, but the hardy souls here depicted are people of rare courage and character. Hall deserves high praise for reopening an intellectual pathway to their world.
*Booklist*

David Hall has written a work of deep learning and great subtlety. In discussing seventeenth-century New England culture, it provides a new way of looking at religious belief… Hall demonstrates that old ways simply will not do, and he redefines the character of religion and culture in New England. He has written a brilliant book, one that will stimulate its readers for many years.
*Robert Middlekauff, University of California, Berkeley*

David Hall’s highly innovative new work…provides close reading, profound insights, and trans-Atlantic comparisons that make this a book of very broad significance and interest.
*Michael Kammen, Cornell University*

In this remarkable book David Hall has carried the study of early New England to new levels of understanding… He shows us, as never before, how the sophisticated doctrines of the Puritan clergy meshed, clashed, and merged with the inherited attitudes and assumptions of ordinary people in their day-to-day grappling with the mysteries of their world. This is a model of historical analysis, not merely for what it tells us about early New England, but also for its brilliant insights into the way religion can operate in society.
*Edmund S. Morgan, Yale University*

Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment is an extraordinarily rich evocation of the popular culture of seventeenth-century New England... A short review can only hint at the methodological brilliance and the interpretive richness of this relatively brief book. Hall succeeds not only in sketching out a new agenda for study of the New England mind but strikes out skillfully on the task of integrating the beliefs of the colonies with their everyday lives. -- Francis J. Bremer * Journal of American History *
A remarkable work of cultural history... The mentality described will seem alien yet fascinating to most modern readers, but the hardy souls here depicted are people of rare courage and character. Hall deserves high praise for reopening an intellectual pathway to their world. * Booklist *
David Hall has written a work of deep learning and great subtlety. In discussing seventeenth-century New England culture, it provides a new way of looking at religious belief... Hall demonstrates that old ways simply will not do, and he redefines the character of religion and culture in New England. He has written a brilliant book, one that will stimulate its readers for many years. -- Robert Middlekauff, University of California, Berkeley
David Hall's highly innovative new work...provides close reading, profound insights, and trans-Atlantic comparisons that make this a book of very broad significance and interest. -- Michael Kammen, Cornell University
In this remarkable book David Hall has carried the study of early New England to new levels of understanding... He shows us, as never before, how the sophisticated doctrines of the Puritan clergy meshed, clashed, and merged with the inherited attitudes and assumptions of ordinary people in their day-to-day grappling with the mysteries of their world. This is a model of historical analysis, not merely for what it tells us about early New England, but also for its brilliant insights into the way religion can operate in society. -- Edmund S. Morgan, Yale University

Noted colonial historian Hall has written an excellent treatment of 17th-century New England religion as it was practiced by the vast majority of the population, not by the clergy. Accepting the current view that the laity absorbed much clerical teaching while adding elements of popular culture to religious practice, he stresses the literacy of ordinary New Englanders and the importance of printers as agents of cultural transmission. An essential purchase for academic libraries, this work offers great insight into Puritan rituals, attitudes toward the natural word, and the creative tension between Puritan laity and clergy.-- Susan A. Stussy, St. Norbert Coll., De Pere, Wis.