In Puritan thinking, the Christian life was a heroic venture, requiring a full quota of energy.

Readers should aspire to what is excellent. They should refuse to read a substitute Bible. They should want a Bible that calls them to their higher selves - or to something higher than their current level of attainment.

When you think about Puritanism, you must begin by getting rid of the slang term 'Puritanism' as applied to Victorian religious hypocrisy. This does not apply to seventeenth-century Puritanism.

For the Puritans, the God-centered life meant making the quest for spiritual and moral holiness the great business of life.

The Bible is obviously a mixed book. Literary and nonliterary (expository, explanatory) writing exist side by side within the covers of this unique book.

The secularization of Western culture was accompanied by the elevation of art to the position of a substitute religion to replace Christianity.

The Puritans removed organs and paintings from churches, but bought them for private use in their homes.