John Preston (1587-1628) stands as a key figure in the development of English Reformed orthodoxy in the courts of Elizabeth I and James VI. Often cited as a favorite of the English and American Puritans who came after him, he nevertheless stood as a bridge between the crown and the nonconformists. Jonathan D. Moore retrieves Preston from his traditional place as one of the "Calvinists against Calvin," provides a convincing argument for Preston's unique hypothetical universalism, and calls into question common misperceptions about Reformed theology and Puritanism.
"Historians of Stuart England have only recently come to grasp the centrality of the intricate controversies of Reformed theologians about sin and grace, divine sovereignty and human freedom, for the interaction of religion and society, and even for the alignments of local and national politics. Jonathan Moore's learned, subtle, and incisive exploration of the thought of one of the shapers of Protestant thought in the England of James VI and Charles I brings a new sophistication to the analysis of the place of theology in the intellectual history of early Stuart England. Fascinating in its own right as a study in the varieties of English Calvinism, his study is also an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the theological tensions that provide the context for the English Civil War."
-Eamon Duffy, University of Cambridge
Jonathan D. Moore holds a Ph.D. in historical theology from Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge. This is his first book.
