From Reform to Separation: Theological Divergence and Political Imagination in the Thought of the Pilgrims and Puritans

This paper argues that the divergence between the Pilgrims and Puritans was not merely ecclesiological or pragmatic but reflects two distinct trajectories within Reformation thought—namely, the ecclesial philosophy of magisterial reform and the radical logic of separatist ecclesiology. By examining these movements within the broader architecture of Reformed theology, political covenantalism, and Protestant philosophical anthropology, this work demonstrates that the theological anthropology and eschatology of each group decisively shaped their political theologies and communal structures in the New World.

I: Protestantism, Political Theology, and the Problem of Reform

A. Research Problem and Significance

The Protestant Reformation, with its catalytic break from ecclesiastical uniformity, introduced a series of paradoxes at the heart of Christian political and ecclesial life—chief among them the tension between freedom of conscience and the need for moral and doctrinal order. The division between Pilgrims and Puritans, often reduced to a question of ecclesiological preference, in fact signals a deeper divergence within Protestant thought regarding the nature of ecclesial purity, political authority, and theological integrity. In a time when ecclesiology is increasingly decoupled from political theology, a return to the foundational divergences of these early modern communities reveals fundamental tensions in Protestant identity that persist into the present day.

The Protestant impulse toward reform was not univocal. While Reformers like Luther and Calvin challenged the theological infrastructure of the late medieval church, they maintained a vision of magisterial reform: change from within and under political authority. Others, including the English Separatists, believed the corruption of the national church was irredeemable. For them, the pursuit of ecclesial purity required separation—a theological act of protest and political withdrawal. This divergence was not a matter of pragmatics but of theological anthropology and eschatological urgency, shaping what each group perceived as the church's mission in time and space.

Modern political theology often overlooks the significance of these early colonial theological frameworks. Yet the theological assumptions embedded in the Pilgrim and Puritan traditions continue to inform the structures of American civil religion, evangelical ecclesiology, and the enduring tension between liberty and order in political discourse. Understanding the theological roots of these movements thus contributes to a more robust account of political theology after Christendom³.

Pilgrim and Puritan trajectories represent two different answers to a pressing question within the Protestant heritage: what does faithfulness look like when the church is compromised by worldliness or coercive power? For the Pilgrims, ecclesial purity could not be negotiated; the church must be comprised of visible saints. For the Puritans, national reform was not only possible but necessary, and godly society could be cultivated through moral and theological rigor. These conflicting visions shaped not only their ecclesial structures but also their political imaginations.

At the heart of the divergence is a theological anthropology grounded in differing views of human depravity and sanctification. The Puritans, while Calvinist, held confidence in the moral efficacy of covenant communities. The Pilgrims were more pessimistic about the church’s entanglement with political structures and saw separation as the only path to covenantal fidelity. This divergence has been underexplored in the secondary literature, often eclipsed by sociopolitical interpretations of early American religion.

The question of ecclesiology is not merely academic but bears on the very nature of the church’s witness in a secularizing age. The Pilgrims’ theology of exile and the Puritans’ theology of sanctified polity provide contrasting models for how communities of faith navigate compromised cultures. This dissertation argues that these models are not relics of the past, but prototypes of enduring theological approaches to the church’s public engagement⁶.

Contemporary scholarship has rightly emphasized the influence of Reformation theology on the development of Western political institutions, yet it has often failed to distinguish between internal debates within Protestantism. By excavating the theological logic of these divergent ecclesiologies, this study contributes to ongoing debates in political theology, ecclesial ethics, and Protestant identity formation in post-Christendom contexts⁷.

Thus, the significance of this study lies not only in historical retrieval but in constructive theological reflection. The ecclesiological decisions of the Pilgrims and Puritans—whether to separate or reform—were acts of theological imagination shaped by deep convictions about Scripture, the nature of the church, and the providential ordering of society. Understanding their divergence invites the contemporary church to reassess its own relationship to power, purity, and prophetic presence in the world⁸.

B. Methodological Commitments

The study of Reformation-era ecclesiology and political theology demands an interdisciplinary methodological framework that integrates historical theology, intellectual history, and philosophical analysis. Given the complexity of theological divergence between the Pilgrims and Puritans, this dissertation employs a tri-fold approach: historical retrieval, theological systematization, and political interpretation. Each of these layers intersects to construct a fuller understanding of how doctrinal developments shaped institutional life and political identity in colonial New England.

First, historical theology provides the grounding for doctrinal analysis. Figures such as John Calvin, Theodore Beza, and William Ames will be treated not merely as reformers or theologians but as foundational architects of a reformed worldview that influenced ecclesiology, anthropology, and civil polity. This approach entails critical engagement with primary sources and their reception in colonial contexts. John Robinson’s and John Winthrop’s respective theologies will be traced through these intellectual lineages.

Second, political philosophy enables the framing of Puritan and Pilgrim theology within broader categories of political order and covenant. The dissertation situates the debates of the 17th century within a trajectory extending from Augustine’s City of God  to modern covenantal and republican theorists. Particular attention is given to Johannes Althusius, Samuel Rutherford, and Richard Hooker, whose political theologies emphasized law, divine sovereignty, and corporate responsibility⁹.

Third, philosophical theology undergirds this project’s normative commitments. Rather than treating Pilgrim and Puritan ideas as mere historical artifacts, this study considers their epistemic assumptions about Scripture, community, and authority. The works of Alvin Plantinga, Nicholas Wolterstorff, and Oliver O’Donovan provide the conceptual tools to evaluate these traditions in light of contemporary theological and political concerns¹⁰.

The research also draws from the disciplines of Reformation studies and intellectual history, using them to assess the contested reception of Calvinism in England and New England. This approach enables the critical examination of the theological transmission and transformation that occurred through migration, persecution, and institutional experimentation. Doctrinal mutations, ecclesial adaptation, and political improvisation are not treated as anomalies but as interpretive windows into the malleability of Reformed thought.

The project further commits to a close reading of confessional documents, sermons, and legal charters, including the Cambridge Platform, the Mayflower Compact, and the Massachusetts Bay Charter. These are not simply juridical texts, but theological declarations encoded in the language of covenant, discipline, and divine purpose. Analyzing them as theological-political texts reveals how spiritual convictions became the basis for constitutional design¹¹.

In methodological solidarity with the tradition of Protestant ressourcement, this dissertation seeks not innovation for its own sake but a deeper excavation of resources already present in the early Reformed imagination. It presupposes that theological disputes about purity, polity, and providence carry implications far beyond ecclesial boundaries and shape foundational assumptions in law, education, and political identity¹².

In sum, the methodological framework employed here is intentionally integrative: it bridges historical inquiry with doctrinal clarity and philosophical depth. The aim is to offer a scholarly account that not only recovers the Pilgrim and Puritan vision but evaluates it in light of enduring theological questions: What is a church? What is a godly society? How should faith and public life relate in an age of pluralism? These questions animate this study’s methodological and theological commitments¹³.

C. Literature Review

The scholarly literature on the Puritans and Pilgrims has been robust and varied, reflecting both theological and historical methodologies. The foundational works of Perry Miller, particularly The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century, remain pivotal in framing Puritan thought as a distinct intellectual tradition rooted in Calvinist orthodoxy and practical divinity.¹⁴ Miller’s interpretive brilliance lies in his portrayal of Puritanism not as cold dogmatism but as a deeply affective, interior quest for godliness through covenant.

Edmund S. Morgan’s contributions, including The Puritan Dilemma, shift the emphasis toward political and moral tensions within Puritan identity. His biographical lens, particularly in interpreting the life of John Winthrop, showcases how covenant theology became the mechanism through which theology and politics were interwoven.¹⁵ Morgan’s work is indispensable for understanding the complex negotiations between theological ideals and colonial pragmatism in Massachusetts Bay.

Michael Walzer’s seminal text The Revolution of the Saints offers a political theory lens, arguing that Puritan moral rigor catalyzed modern revolutionary consciousness. His interpretive schema connects ecclesial reform movements with broader ideas of public virtue and civil resistance, making Puritanism a key ideological precursor to modern liberalism.¹⁶ Although some critics argue that Walzer overly secularizes Puritan theology, his thesis about political imagination remains influential.

The Pilgrims, though less studied, have received nuanced treatment in the work of Francis J. Bremer. In John Robinson and the English Separatist Tradition, Bremer paints a portrait of Pilgrim ecclesiology as a coherent and principled theological vision centered on the gathered church and the radical autonomy of local congregations.¹⁷ This work balances historical narrative with theological precision and affirms that the Pilgrim movement cannot be reduced to sectarian eccentricity.

On the theological front, Alister McGrath’s Reformation Thought provides a vital overview of doctrinal developments relevant to both movements. His treatment of justification, ecclesiology, and Scripture as formal principle helps contextualize the deeper disagreements between Separatists and Puritans within broader Protestant trajectories.¹⁸ McGrath’s interdisciplinary clarity makes his work a touchstone for historical theologians and political theorists alike.

Thomas F. Torrance’s Calvin’s Doctrine of Man offers another angle by exploring theological anthropology. His analysis of Calvin’s view of human depravity and divine image bears direct implications for the differing ecclesial architectures of Pilgrims and Puritans. Where the Puritans emphasized institutional discipline, the Pilgrims emphasized congregational purity as a response to anthropological fallenness.¹⁹

Contemporary contributions by scholars like David Hall and Mark Noll further complicate the historiographical landscape. Hall’s work on lived religion in Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment introduces a cultural turn, revealing how ritual, memory, and narrative shaped theological conviction on the ground.²⁰ Meanwhile, Noll’s America’s God analyzes how Calvinist traditions evolved into American civil religion, linking theological legacies with Enlightenment republicanism.

Together, these sources show a complex historiographical picture in which Pilgrim and Puritan thought must be interpreted not merely as ecclesial phenomena but as contributors to enduring questions of religious freedom, covenantal politics, and public theology. This literature review establishes a dialogical foundation upon which this dissertation builds its theological-philosophical inquiry into separation and reform in Protestant political thought.

D. Thesis and Structure of the Argument

This dissertation argues that the divergence between the Pilgrims and the Puritans in 17th-century New England is not merely a matter of ecclesiological practice or colonial administration, but rather reflects two distinct theological-political imaginations within Reformation Christianity. The core thesis maintains that these differences were the product of deep theological convictions about human nature, the visible church, and divine sovereignty, which found different institutional expressions in the transatlantic migration.

The Pilgrims, influenced by the separatist convictions of John Robinson and the ecclesiology of the gathered church, embody a theology of exile. Their migration to the New World was framed as a spiritual journey—a reenactment of Israel’s wilderness exodus, grounded in typological hermeneutics and eschatological hope. This ecclesial separatism, rooted in a radical reading of covenant theology and pneumatology, treated the institutional corruption of the English Church as irredeemable, thereby justifying total separation.

By contrast, the Puritans held to a reformist theology grounded in the Calvinist conviction that God's providence governs both church and state. They saw the English Church as flawed but potentially reformable, and they regarded their American colonial project as a continuation of the Reformation under new covenantal terms. Their theology sought to realize a 'city upon a hill,' wherein biblical norms shaped political and legal institutions. This political theology emphasized federalism, moral law, and communal discipline.

The structure of the dissertation reflects this theological-philosophical framing. Chapter I establishes the introduction, including the research problem, methodology, and literature review. Chapter II explores the doctrinal architecture of Reformation thought, focusing on ecclesiology, covenant, and the contest between magisterial and radical reformers.

Chapter III turns to the Pilgrims, focusing on theological separatism, political exile, and their typological self-understanding as a remnant ecclesia. Their experience in Leiden and the Mayflower Compact are examined as expressions of their covenantal voluntarism and ecclesial liberty.

Chapter IV examines the Puritan reformist vision in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It analyzes their use of covenant theology to build a sacral society and their emphasis on moral conformity through preaching, education, and legal structures. Particular attention is given to their conflicts—both internal and external—over dissent, liberty, and orthodoxy, using the controversies around Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams as case studies.

Chapter V provides a comparative analysis between the Pilgrims and the Puritans in terms of political theology, ecclesiology, anthropology, and hermeneutics. It argues that their contrasting assumptions about grace, purity, and providence shaped not only their church structures but also their visions of civil life and authority. These comparative insights help uncover the broader implications of their theological decisions for American democratic and religious identity.

Chapter VI explores the philosophical and theological undercurrents that sustained these two models of ecclesial life. It addresses the contributions of reformed epistemology, Protestant anthropology, and political theology, connecting thinkers like Calvin, Ames, and Rutherford to contemporary theorists such as Wolterstorff and Plantinga. Chapter VII offers concluding reflections on the relevance of this theological divergence for contemporary ecclesiology and political theology.

II: Reformation Theology and the Ecclesiology of Reform

A. Luther and Calvin: Sola Scriptura, Ecclesial Authority, and the Visible Church

The theological foundation of the Protestant Reformation lay in its commitment to the supreme authority of Scripture—Sola Scriptura. Martin Luther's theological revolution began with a protest against the corruption of ecclesial authority, but it evolved into a reconstitution of ecclesiology around the Word of God. Luther’s rejection of the Roman magisterium was not a repudiation of the church as such, but a reorientation of authority within the church. The visible church, for Luther, became the congregation gathered around preaching and sacrament, not institutional hierarchy or apostolic succession.

John Calvin built upon and systematized Luther's initial critiques by advancing a robust doctrine of the visible church as the covenantal community gathered around Word and sacrament. In Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin insists that the true church is present wherever the Word is rightly preached and the sacraments rightly administered. This minimalist yet covenantal understanding of ecclesial identity empowered reformers to call corrupt institutions to repentance without abandoning the doctrine of the visible church altogether.

The ecclesial formulations of both Luther and Calvin served not only to separate Protestantism from Rome but also to define its internal structures. Their ecclesiology was not anarchic, but reformational—ecclesia reformata semper reformanda. This adage, “the church reformed and always reforming,” underscores their desire for constant self-critique within an established ecclesial order. They rejected both the static ecclesiology of Rome and the anarchic impulses of radical reformers.

Sola Scriptura as a hermeneutic principle did not produce theological individualism in its earliest Reformed formulations; rather, it yielded confessional communities with disciplined theological grammars. This communal commitment is evident in Calvin’s establishment of the Geneva Consistory, a body designed to enforce moral discipline and doctrinal clarity within the city. Such institutions evidence the coherence of ecclesial authority and biblical fidelity within the magisterial Reformation.

The visible church thus functioned as a spiritual and moral society, neither wholly privatized nor entirely politicized. For both Calvin and Luther, the church’s visibility was grounded in its sacramental life and confessional boundaries, not its political establishment. This distinction would become crucial as Reformed ecclesiology crossed the English Channel and entered the contested religious space of Elizabethan England, where conformity and dissent collided.

Moreover, the authority structures instituted by the Reformers represented a middle path between papal absolutism and congregational anarchy. The church, in their view, retained Christ’s delegated authority to teach, rebuke, and administer discipline. This understanding of church governance—episcopal, presbyterial, or synodal—continued to evolve across Europe, but it always remained tethered to the normative role of Scripture and the regulative principle of worship.

These ecclesial convictions were critical for subsequent generations of Protestants in England and New England. The debates between conformists, Puritans, and Separatists all presupposed shared concerns about visibility, purity, and authority in the church. The diversity of responses within English Protestantism reflects not a theological chaos but a divergence in emphasis between the purity of worship and the unity of the body.

In sum, the magisterial Reformers provided a doctrinal framework that would prove foundational for the political and ecclesial experiments of the 17th century. Their insistence on the visible church as a disciplined, sacramental community guided by Scripture gave Protestant communities theological resilience in the face of persecution, migration, and internal division.

B. Covenant Theology and Political Order

Covenant theology emerged as a defining feature of Reformed Protestantism, offering both a theological framework for divine-human relationship and a political paradigm for social organization. Rooted in the biblical concepts of the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants, this theological structure affirmed that God's dealings with humanity were governed by solemn commitments, or covenants, that demanded faith, obedience, and moral accountability.

Reformed theologians such as Heinrich Bullinger and Johannes Oecolampadius were among the first to articulate covenantal themes in systematic form, setting the stage for the later federal theology of Calvin and his successors. This tradition conceptualized the covenant as both an expression of divine grace and a regulative principle for communal life.

Federal theology distinguished between the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace. The former, operative in Eden, conditioned life upon perfect obedience; its breach necessitated the latter, a gracious promise of salvation through Christ. This distinction provided the foundation for Calvinist soteriology and ecclesiology, but it also profoundly influenced emerging political thought.

The divine covenant was not only salvific but also paradigmatic for human covenants, whether ecclesial or civil. In the Anglo-American context, covenant theology provided a vocabulary for articulating political legitimacy. Theologians such as Johannes Althusius and Samuel Rutherford applied covenantal logic to the theory of political resistance and constitutional order.

Rutherford’s Lex, Rex argued that political power was conditional upon the ruler’s covenantal faithfulness to divine and natural law. A government that violated these precepts forfeited its legitimacy and could be lawfully resisted. This was not simply revolutionary rhetoric but a theologically grounded defense of mutual obligation and accountability.

Among the Puritans and Separatists, covenant theology was applied to ecclesial polity and civil order alike. The visible church was itself a covenantal assembly, gathered voluntarily yet bound by mutual obligation. The concept of the gathered church as a covenant community became essential to both Pilgrim and Puritan ecclesiology.

The social covenant provided the basis for law and governance in the New England colonies. John Winthrop’s 1630 sermon “A Modell of Christian Charity” expounded a vision of a godly commonwealth forged through mutual covenant. His emphasis on community, justice, and moral accountability was grounded in Reformed theology.

In sum, covenant theology served as the theological bedrock for both ecclesial identity and civil polity among Reformed Protestants in the seventeenth century. Its dual emphasis on divine initiative and human response undergirded systems of worship, governance, and social cohesion, and laid the foundation for the political theology of both the Pilgrims and the Puritans in the New World.

C. Radical Reformation vs. Magisterial Reformation

The theological fault line between the Radical Reformation and the Magisterial Reformation centered on the nature of church and state, and the extent to which Christian faith could be institutionalized. The Magisterial Reformers—chiefly Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli—sought reform within established political structures, viewing magistracy as a divinely ordained institution. They retained a modified version of Christendom wherein civil government supported and protected the true church.

By contrast, the Radical Reformers rejected the Constantinian synthesis outright, arguing that the church must be free from state control and comprised only of regenerate believers. The Anabaptists, most notably the Swiss Brethren and later the Mennonites, repudiated infant baptism, state churches, and any fusion of coercion and conscience. They emphasized believer's baptism, voluntary community, and a rigorous ethic of discipleship.

This theological divergence was not merely institutional but eschatological. Whereas the Magisterial Reformers viewed reform as a restoration of true doctrine and practice within history, the Radical Reformers embraced an apocalyptic vision in which the visible church had fallen irreparably, necessitating a remnant gathered anew under Christ’s lordship. This eschatological pessimism made them critical of all existing ecclesiastical and civil structures.

The Magisterial Reformers feared that the Radical impulse, if unchecked, would result in theological chaos and political anarchy. Luther’s reaction to the Peasants' War of 1524–25 exemplified this concern. His critique of the revolting peasants was not only political but theological: unauthorized religious reform, unanchored from orderly doctrine, threatened the very fabric of society. Calvin likewise emphasized discipline and hierarchy as necessary to restrain fallen human passions.

Nonetheless, the Radical Reformation posed essential questions about ecclesial purity, liberty of conscience, and the limits of civil authority over religious practice. These themes later resonated with English Separatists and Baptists, who, although not direct descendants of Anabaptists, inherited a theological suspicion of state-church entanglements. This legacy would influence Pilgrim thought more than Puritanism, which remained tethered to magisterial paradigms.

Despite their repudiation of institutional religion, the Radical Reformers contributed significantly to the idea of religious liberty and the separation of church and state. Balthasar Hubmaier, for instance, argued vigorously that faith could not be coerced—a principle that would find echo centuries later in democratic and pluralist societies. Their theological anthropology placed extraordinary emphasis on the inner work of the Spirit and individual responsibility.

However, many Magisterial Reformers viewed the Radical movement as heretical and dangerous. The execution of Michael Sattler in 1527 and widespread persecution of Anabaptists revealed the extent to which established reformers were willing to suppress dissent in the interest of ecclesial and social order. Ironically, those who had themselves broken from Rome now became defenders of institutional orthodoxy.

In sum, the divide between Radical and Magisterial Reformations was not merely one of methods or pace, but of vision. The former sought to rebuild Christianity from the ground up, while the latter aimed to reform existing structures. This fundamental divergence would shape the ecclesial imagination of later groups such as the Pilgrims and Puritans, who differently negotiated the tensions between reform, authority, and liberty.

D. The English Reformation’s Ambiguity

The English Reformation represents a unique chapter in the broader Protestant Reformation, characterized by its ambiguous theological and political trajectory. Unlike the Lutheran or Calvinist reformations, which were initially spearheaded by theologians and grounded in robust doctrinal systems, the English Reformation was catalyzed by political expediency. Henry VIII’s break with Rome in the 1530s was not primarily doctrinal but personal and dynastic, rooted in his desire for annulment and succession security.

Despite this political origin, the ecclesiastical consequences were profound. The Act of Supremacy (1534) redefined the locus of ecclesial authority, placing the monarch at the head of the Church of England. This created a national church that was formally severed from papal authority but retained much of the liturgy, hierarchy, and sacramental theology of Roman Catholicism. As a result, England became an uneasy hybrid: institutionally reformed, yet theologically conservative.

Subsequent monarchs oscillated between reform and reaction. Under Edward VI, England experienced a brief but intense burst of Protestant reform. The Book of Common Prayer (1549, 1552), authored largely by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, reflected a shift toward Reformed sacramental theology and liturgical practice. However, the accession of Mary I brought violent reversal, as Protestant leaders were martyred and Catholicism briefly reinstated.

The Elizabethan Settlement (1559) attempted to stabilize this theological volatility by institutionalizing a via media—a middle way that retained episcopal governance and a reformed liturgy while avoiding doctrinal extremes. Yet this very ambiguity sowed the seeds of dissent. For many reform-minded clergy and laity, the Church of England remained insufficiently reformed, tainted by residual “popish” practices and compromises with political authority.

Puritans emerged from this context as those who sought further purification of the church. Influenced by Calvinist doctrine and Geneva’s example, they rejected the imposed uniformity of the Book of Common Prayer and episcopal vestments, arguing for a biblically regulated worship and a godly ministry. Their demands were not simply aesthetic or disciplinary; they reflected deep convictions about divine sovereignty, ecclesial purity, and the nature of true worship.

Concurrently, Separatists like Robert Browne and Henry Barrow took these concerns to their logical conclusion. Convinced that the national church was beyond reform, they advocated for complete ecclesiastical separation and the formation of gathered congregations. For these dissenters, conformity with the Elizabethan Church was tantamount to spiritual compromise and disobedience to Christ’s headship over the church.

Theological ambiguity also emerged in the realm of sacramentology and ecclesial discipline. While the Thirty-Nine Articles affirmed justification by faith and rejected transubstantiation, they left room for a range of interpretations regarding the real presence, church polity, and liturgical form. This doctrinal elasticity allowed for broad inclusion but created fault lines that would eventually fracture the church.

In sum, the English Reformation bequeathed a legacy of ecclesiological indeterminacy. It produced a church that was reformed in confession but catholic in form, and this paradoxical identity catalyzed the rise of movements like the Puritans and Pilgrims. Their divergent responses—reform from within versus separation—were, in part, reactions to the unfinished and contested nature of the English Reformation itself.

E. Calvinism in England

The reception of Calvinism in England represents a crucial development in the shaping of both Puritan and Separatist thought. While John Calvin never visited England, his theological influence permeated English Protestantism through correspondence, translations, exiled English reformers, and institutional ties with Geneva. English exiles under Mary I, such as John Knox and William Whittingham, brought back Calvin’s ideas upon their return during Elizabeth's reign, embedding Reformed theology within Anglican and nonconforming movements.

One of the most significant vectors of Calvinist influence was the translation and dissemination of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, along with the Geneva Bible. The Geneva Bible, produced by English exiles in Calvin’s Geneva, became the preferred Bible of English Protestants due to its clarity, Reformed annotations, and accessibility. It shaped the exegetical and devotional lives of Puritans and Pilgrims alike, functioning as a theological and cultural reference point for dissenting traditions.

The theological system of Calvin, particularly his doctrines of election, providence, and covenant, found fertile ground among the Puritan divines. These doctrines offered a coherent moral and political worldview that emphasized divine sovereignty, human depravity, and the necessity of ecclesial purity. The Puritan call for reform was undergirded by the Calvinist conviction that true churches must reflect divine order and discipline, not merely institutional survival.

Key Reformed figures such as Theodore Beza, Heinrich Bullinger, and William Ames further advanced Calvinist theology within the English context. Ames’s The Marrow of Theology became a foundational text among English and Dutch Calvinists. As a teacher at the University of Franeker and pastor to the English congregation in the Netherlands, Ames linked English Puritan thought to broader continental Reformed scholasticism. His covenantal theology deeply influenced New England Puritans and framed their ecclesiology and civil polity.

Calvinism’s emphasis on discipline and moral regeneration gave rise to the Puritan focus on godly ministry, family order, and community formation. Church governance was not simply a matter of efficiency but an extension of divine law. The pastoral office was viewed as a prophetic calling, charged with leading congregations in holiness. This conviction shaped the Puritan model of the New England church: rigorously confessional, governed by elders, and separated from state control without being apolitical.

Separatists also drew from Calvinist roots but interpreted them differently. John Robinson, the intellectual leader of the Pilgrims, absorbed Calvin’s ecclesiology but concluded that true churches could not exist within a defiled national church. His Justification of Separation framed separation as an act of faithfulness rather than schism. For Robinson, the call to come out from Babylon was a biblical imperative, not a political strategy. His Calvinist anthropology and eschatology aligned with Puritanism but led to different ecclesial conclusions.

Despite these shared roots, English Calvinism was marked by growing tensions between conformity and dissent. The Church of England appropriated Reformed doctrine at the level of confession (e.g., the Thirty-Nine Articles) but resisted ecclesial restructuring along Genevan lines. This created a theological schizophrenia that both enabled and stifled reform. Figures like Richard Hooker tried to mediate these tensions through theological moderation, but the polarization proved enduring.

Ultimately, Calvinism in England laid the theological groundwork for both Puritan reformism and Pilgrim separatism. Its emphasis on covenant, discipline, and divine sovereignty furnished a robust framework for ecclesial identity and political imagination. The divergence between those who sought to reform the national church and those who opted for exile was not a repudiation of Calvinism but an intensification of its logic in different historical and ecclesial contexts.

III: The Pilgrims – Theological Separatism and the Logic of Exile

A. The Ecclesiology of Separation

The Pilgrims' theological project was born from a conviction that the Church of England had become so compromised in liturgy, episcopal governance, and spiritual discipline that it could no longer be considered a true church. This conviction formed the basis of their separatism, which prioritized purity of worship and ecclesial governance as non-negotiable conditions for Christian faithfulness. Theologically, their ecclesiology rested on the necessity of a gathered church composed exclusively of regenerate believers committed to a biblically grounded covenant.⁶⁹

John Robinson, the theological leader of the Pilgrim community, argued that ecclesial separation was not an act of political rebellion but a theological imperative derived from Scripture. His writings, particularly in A Justification of Separation from the Church of England, contend that continued participation in a corrupted national church endangered one’s spiritual integrity and misrepresented Christ’s true body.⁷⁰ His emphasis on the local church as the locus of divine authority stood in contrast to both Catholic hierarchy and Anglican episcopacy, insisting that the marks of a true church must include scriptural faithfulness, spiritual discipline, and regenerate membership.

This separationist impulse was not primarily reactionary but was grounded in a positive theological vision of the church. Influenced by Henry Ainsworth and other early dissenters, Robinson and Brewster espoused a pneumatological and Christocentric ecclesiology that prioritized spiritual regeneration and congregational consent. The visible church was to be a regenerate community, organized around the Word and sacraments, governed by the collective discernment of spiritually mature members.⁷¹ This model was not simply a pragmatic alternative to English church polity but a principled embodiment of biblical ecclesiology.

Separation, then, was not merely a political gesture but a theological act aimed at reconstituting the church along apostolic lines. This ecclesiology rejected not only episcopacy and set liturgies but also state interference in matters of worship. The Pilgrims believed that a coerced conscience was an affront to divine sovereignty.⁷² Accordingly, their understanding of the church demanded a corresponding vision of the state that respected religious autonomy and refrained from enforcing uniformity. This conception laid the groundwork for American ideals of religious liberty.

Furthermore, their commitment to congregational polity was undergirded by a covenantal theology that viewed church membership not as birthright or state mandate but as a voluntary commitment affirmed by a regenerate conscience. This covenantal structure created a tightly knit spiritual community marked by mutual accountability and doctrinal purity.⁷³ Such an ecclesial vision stood in sharp contrast to the national church, which was seen as indiscriminate, politically entangled, and theologically insufficient for spiritual formation.

William Brewster’s leadership, particularly during the years in Leiden, helped sustain the community’s separatist identity while preparing them for transatlantic migration. In a context of limited political rights and cultural marginality, the Leiden years proved formative in crystallizing the theological rationale for separation as well as the practical strategies for survival.⁷⁴ The Pilgrims developed habits of communal governance, theological reflection, and liturgical simplicity that would be transported to the New World.

It is crucial to emphasize that the Pilgrims’ separation was never intended to inaugurate a new denomination or create ecclesial pluralism as an end in itself. Rather, it was understood as a tragic necessity borne of conscience.⁷⁵ They considered their stance a temporary but faithful witness against corruption, always hopeful that reform might yet be realized or that their model might provoke a larger ecclesial renewal. This dynamic of principled withdrawal, marked by sorrow and hope, reflects the depth of their theological wrestling.

In conclusion, the ecclesiology of separation forged by the Pilgrims represents a critical development within the Reformation tradition, one that challenges conventional narratives of magisterial Protestantism. It constitutes a deeply theological vision of the church that prioritized purity, spiritual discipline, and voluntarism, and it emerged from a robust engagement with the failures of English religious reform.⁷⁶ The Pilgrims did not see themselves as innovators but as faithful restorers of apostolic Christianity, grounded in the authority of Scripture and the freedom of the regenerate conscience.

B. Pneumatology and Church Discipline

The Pilgrims’ theology of the church was inseparably linked to their pneumatology—that is, their doctrine of the Holy Spirit. They believed the Holy Spirit operated not through ecclesial hierarchy or sacramental mediation but through the regenerate conscience of believers within a gathered congregation.⁷⁷ This conviction, which was rooted in Reformed interpretations of John 16 and Acts 2, informed both their polity and spiritual practices. The church was thus conceived not merely as a juridical body but as a spiritual fellowship animated by the living presence of God.

John Robinson emphasized the interior testimony of the Spirit as the principal means by which truth was discerned and communal order maintained. His ecclesiology was grounded in a pneumatological epistemology that posited the Spirit as the illuminator of Scripture and sanctifier of the believer’s understanding.⁷⁸ Unlike Anglican or even Presbyterian models, where authority flowed through clerical hierarchy, the Pilgrim model decentralized spiritual authority, dispersing it among the spiritually mature members of the congregation.

This understanding also impacted how the Pilgrims understood discipline. Church discipline was not an external enforcement of moral code by a clerical elite but the mutual correction of covenant members under the guidance of the Spirit and Scripture.⁷⁹ As articulated in their church covenants, members pledged not only to uphold doctrine but also to admonish one another in love, invoking Matthew 18 as a template for ecclesial accountability. The Spirit’s presence was deemed essential for such disciplinary processes to function in grace and truth.

The use of discipline, however, was never understood as punitive or authoritarian. Instead, it reflected a communal theology of sanctification: the church existed as a body of pilgrims on the way to holiness, where spiritual growth occurred through accountability, exhortation, and repentance.⁸⁰ The Holy Spirit, then, was not only the agent of regeneration but the sustaining presence who knit the body together in love and truth. This theological framework made discipline a mode of pastoral care rather than institutional control.

Within this framework, worship was also deeply shaped by pneumatology. Pilgrim worship emphasized spontaneous prayer, Scripture reading, extemporaneous preaching, and congregational singing.⁸¹ Liturgical forms were rejected not out of aesthetic disdain but because they were seen as barriers to the free movement of the Spirit. This emphasis on inwardness reflected a larger theological anthropology that trusted the Spirit to work directly within the believer, shaping the affections and drawing the soul to God.

It is also important to understand how this pneumatology resisted spiritual elitism. The early Pilgrim churches affirmed the priesthood of all believers, but they nuanced it by recognizing that the Spirit distributed gifts unequally for the edification of the body.⁸² Ministers were acknowledged and ordained not through institutional succession but by communal recognition of gifting, character, and fruit. Leadership was both spiritual and functional, deriving its legitimacy from the Spirit’s confirmation and the congregation’s recognition.

Such a vision allowed for considerable lay participation in church life and blurred the boundaries between clergy and laity. Members interpreted Scripture, led prayer, and even participated in adjudicating doctrinal disputes or disciplinary matters.⁸³ In contrast to both Roman Catholic sacramentalism and Anglican sacerdotalism, the Pilgrim model produced a radically democratized ecclesial life, energized by the belief that the Spirit spoke through the body of believers as a whole. This was not a theoretical commitment but a practical ecclesiology enacted weekly.

In sum, the Pilgrims’ pneumatology and view of discipline created a model of church life marked by relational intimacy, theological integrity, and spiritual maturity. It reflected their Reformed inheritance while pushing toward a more radical actualization of spiritual equality and accountability.⁸⁴ This model would deeply influence later Congregationalist traditions and shape the broader dissenting heritage in American religious life.

C. The Mayflower Compact as Political Covenant

The Mayflower Compact, drafted and signed aboard the Mayflower in November 1620, represents a paradigmatic moment in early modern political theology. Far from a mere pragmatic agreement for civil order, the Compact articulates a theological vision rooted in covenantal ecclesiology and biblical republicanism.⁸⁵ Its framers—many of whom were steeped in Reformed theology and separatist ecclesiology—understood themselves as a gathered people under God, voluntarily covenanting not only for survival but also for the sake of righteous polity and spiritual order.

John Robinson’s theological influence can be discerned in the language of the Compact. The framing of political community as a “civil body politic” echoes the language of covenant theology wherein the church is viewed as a spiritual polity gathered by divine initiative and mutual commitment.⁸⁶ Political legitimacy in the Compact does not stem from royal charter or hierarchical imposition but from voluntary association under divine witness—a direct reflection of Separatist ecclesiology adapted to civil governance.

The Compact’s emphasis on mutual consent, collective governance, and submission to “just and equal laws” enacts a proto-democratic political ethic shaped by biblical paradigms.⁸⁷ The theological roots of this ethic are evident in Old Testament models of covenant community such as Deuteronomy 29, where Israel renews covenantal obligations as a people under God. The Pilgrims' adaptation of these patterns signals an intentional transposition of biblical Israel’s political theology into their American context.

This theological-political continuity is confirmed in how the Pilgrims interpreted their own journey. William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation repeatedly compares the Pilgrims to the Israelites fleeing Egyptian bondage, wandering through wilderness, and seeking a promised land.⁸⁸ The Mayflower Compact is thus not simply a contract but a liturgical-political act that enacts a sacred vision of communal life structured by covenantal responsibility.

The Compact also institutionalizes voluntarism as a foundational political principle. In contrast to the English monarchy's imposed conformity, the Pilgrims’ covenantal politics rests on spiritual liberty, moral accountability, and communal obligation.⁸⁹ As Michael Walzer has argued, biblical republicanism—rooted in the covenant traditions of Reformed theology—provided a framework for collective agency and moral governance outside of traditional feudal structures. The Mayflower Compact thus represents a confluence of theological dissent and civic imagination.

While some scholars minimize the Compact’s theological content, a closer reading reveals its distinctly ecclesial form. Its appeal to God as the source of communal legitimacy and its framing of law as a shared moral obligation reflect more than pragmatic compromise; they reflect a political theology shaped by eschatological hope and Reformed ecclesiology.⁹⁰ This covenantal form would influence New England’s later town covenants and constitutions, embedding within American civic life a theology of mutual responsibility.

The Compact’s brevity belies its conceptual density. Its categories—covenant, law, order, submission—are drawn directly from a Reformed matrix in which the divine-human relationship models human political relationships. This political anthropology presupposes a fallible humanity in need of accountability, restraint, and moral community—a stark departure from Enlightenment individualism.⁹¹ Thus, while the Compact may prefigure democratic self-rule, it does so from within a theocentric, not anthropocentric, framework.

In summary, the Mayflower Compact represents the confluence of Pilgrim ecclesiology, Reformed covenantal theology, and a nascent form of democratic political imagination.⁹² Its significance lies not merely in being an early colonial agreement, but in embodying a theological vision wherein spiritual and civil life are integrated under divine sovereignty and mutual responsibility. It endures as a testament to how deeply theological commitments shaped the earliest experiments in American self-governance.

D. Eschatology and the Logic of Exile

The eschatological consciousness of the Pilgrims played a decisive role in shaping their political theology and self-understanding as a covenant community in exile. Rooted in Reformed apocalyptic sensibilities, the Pilgrims interpreted their migration not merely as geographic relocation but as a providential drama mirroring the biblical exodus.⁹³ The logic of exile was undergirded by a theological narrative that framed history as a conflict between the true church and Babylonian corruption. In this vision, history moved toward divine judgment and renewal, with the Pilgrims locating themselves as the faithful remnant navigating through tribulation.

Central to this eschatological framework was the concept of the remnant—a theologically charged notion derived from the prophetic literature of the Old Testament.⁹⁴ Pilgrims understood themselves as a faithful minority chosen by God to preserve pure worship in a time of widespread apostasy. This remnant ecclesiology, while grounded in Scripture, also bore the marks of a counter-cultural identity politics that reinforced separation from the Church of England. The eschatological imagination lent moral urgency to their ecclesiastical separation and political innovation.

John Robinson’s farewell sermons emphasized the Pilgrims' journey as a ‘going out’ not only from geographic persecution but from spiritual idolatry.⁹⁵ He invoked Hebrews 11, positioning the Pilgrims as sojourners and strangers seeking a better country. This emphasis on pilgrimage gave theological legitimation to their separatism while endowing the colonial project with transcendent meaning. In the words of Bradford, they were “stepping stones” for future generations—preparing the way for the kingdom of God in a new land.

The eschatology of the Pilgrims did not incline them toward passivity. Rather, it animated a political ethic of vigilance, repentance, and covenant renewal.⁹⁶ Drawing on Calvinist doctrines of providence and discipline, the Pilgrims enacted a moral rigorism that sought to anticipate divine judgment by cultivating holiness within the community. Their polity reflected the Reformed conviction that the visible church must conform to the invisible church’s sanctity as much as possible—a concern heightened in anticipation of Christ’s return.

This vision was reinforced through typological readings of Scripture. The Pilgrims viewed their Atlantic crossing as analogous to Israel’s Red Sea deliverance, their wilderness sojourn as comparable to the trials in Sinai, and their settlement as a type of the Promised Land.⁹⁷ These typologies were not merely poetic but shaped their institutional structures: just as Israel covenanted with Yahweh at Sinai, so too did the Pilgrims covenant with one another and with God at Plymouth. Their legal arrangements reflected this sacred-political parallelism.

Yet, this eschatological ethos also produced tensions. It sometimes led to suspicion of external engagement and an insularity that was both theological and cultural.⁹⁸ The perceived purity of their community was guarded through strict moral codes and ecclesiastical discipline. However, this inward focus could make adaptation to broader colonial dynamics more difficult. Their emphasis on spiritual preparation occasionally conflicted with the practical exigencies of colonial survival and interaction with indigenous populations.

Nonetheless, the eschatological dimension of Pilgrim thought provided a durable foundation for communal cohesion and spiritual resilience.⁹⁹ By framing their hardships in apocalyptic terms, they rendered suffering meaningful, even redemptive. They interpreted disease, famine, and death not as random misfortunes but as divine trials meant to purify the elect. This sacrificial reading of history grounded their resolve and deepened their sense of moral responsibility as a people under divine scrutiny.

In conclusion, the Pilgrims’ logic of exile was not merely an act of protest against ecclesial corruption but a theological posture rooted in a robust eschatology.¹⁰⁰ Their separatism was energized by a vision of sacred history wherein they played a providential role in the unfolding of redemptive purpose. This eschatological imagination not only structured their ecclesiology but also shaped their polity, ethics, and endurance. It remains a powerful example of how theology can shape collective identity and political life in times of displacement and trial.

E. Worship, Simplicity, and the Rejection of Forms

For the Pilgrims, the reformation of worship was the core of their ecclesial dissent. The rejection of the Church of England’s liturgical practices was grounded in their belief that all elements of worship must be derived explicitly from Scripture—a position often referred to as the ‘regulative principle.’¹⁰¹ This principle opposed the use of any rites, rituals, or ceremonies not expressly commanded in Scripture. For Pilgrims, the Book of Common Prayer represented not just liturgical excess, but a theological compromise with Rome.

The pursuit of simplicity in worship reflected a theological anthropology rooted in the total depravity of humanity and the need for divine initiative in worship.¹⁰² Human artifice in worship was seen as an intrusion upon God’s sovereignty and a form of idolatry. Simplicity was not aesthetic minimalism alone but a confessional act of dependence on the Holy Spirit. Public prayers, preaching, psalm-singing without instrumental accompaniment, and extemporaneous responses constituted a liturgical pattern designed to elevate the authority of Scripture.

This minimalist ecclesiology was deeply influenced by the Genevan Reformation and its English advocates such as William Ames and Thomas Cartwright.¹⁰³ These theologians emphasized the distinction between the elements and circumstances of worship. Elements (e.g., prayer, Scripture, preaching) were non-negotiable and divinely instituted; circumstances (e.g., time, place) were left to human discretion. For Pilgrims, the Church of England’s ceremonies blurred this line, transforming circumstances into unauthorized rituals.

Pilgrim worship also reflected a particular pneumatology. The gathered church, composed of visible saints, was understood to be animated by the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit.¹⁰⁴ This ecclesiology favored congregational autonomy and rejected the notion of hierarchical imposition on worship practices. Leaders such as William Brewster, a lay elder, guided worship with spiritual gravitas and interpretive authority, but without the vestments, processions, or hierarchical rites that characterized Anglican practice.

The act of preaching in Pilgrim worship was central and treated as sacramental in its own right.¹⁰⁵ While they rejected traditional sacraments as ‘means of grace’ in the medieval sense, preaching was understood as the primary means by which the Word of God entered the hearts of believers. The sermon was not merely informative but performative—it reconstituted the covenantal identity of the congregation weekly. Worship was thus inherently pedagogical and covenantal, forming the people of God through Word and Spirit.

Pilgrims retained the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, but these too were restructured to reflect the simplicity and solemnity of their covenant theology.¹⁰⁶ Infant baptism was practiced as a sign of covenant inclusion, though it required careful instruction and catechesis for both parents and congregation. The Eucharist was observed infrequently, without elaborate ritual, and within the frame of self-examination and mutual accountability. Both sacraments were surrounded by careful guardrails against superstition or mechanical ritualism.

Theologically, the rejection of forms did not reflect a rejection of form altogether, but rather an insistence on a particular kind of form—one that bore the imprint of covenantal seriousness and divine command.¹⁰⁷ Their suspicion of visual imagery, musical elaboration, and ecclesiastical ornamentation was not rooted in an iconoclastic rage but in a disciplined desire to avoid distractions from the sovereignty of the Word. This impulse to de-form in order to re-form is consistent with Reformed ideals of ongoing purification (semper reformanda).

Ultimately, the Pilgrims’ liturgical minimalism was not an isolated preference but a coherent expression of their broader theological vision.¹⁰⁸ Their worship practices embodied their ecclesiology, their anthropology, and their soteriology—integrating belief and practice in a rigorous but spiritually earnest mode. Their rejection of forms was not merely negational but aspirational: a pursuit of unmediated communion with God, mediated only by the Spirit and the Word. This vision continues to challenge churches in every era to examine the theological integrity of their worship.

F. Critiques and Tensions

The Pilgrims' separatist ecclesiology, while internally coherent, faced significant criticism from within the broader Reformed community.¹⁰⁹ Chief among these criticisms was the accusation that separation from the Church of England represented a schismatic impulse that fractured the unity of the visible church. Leading Puritan figures such as Richard Sibbes and William Perkins, although sympathetic to ecclesiastical reform, warned against the danger of establishing parallel communions that could undermine the Protestant cause.

Moreover, critics argued that the Pilgrims' understanding of church purity leaned too heavily on the visible righteousness of its members.¹¹⁰ This emphasis raised theological concerns regarding the doctrine of justification by faith alone, potentially subordinating divine grace to human sanctification as a criterion for church membership. Such critiques emerged particularly from those who feared the reintroduction of legalistic tendencies that the Protestant Reformation had explicitly opposed in its theological articulation of grace.

Even within the separatist ranks, tensions surfaced concerning the rigidity of ecclesiastical discipline and the latitude for Christian liberty.¹¹¹ John Robinson, often seen as the intellectual architect of Pilgrim theology, counseled moderation and openness to further reform, cautioning against a spirit of sectarian finality. His farewell address to the departing Pilgrims famously warned them not to be bound by his teachings, but to remain open to new light from God’s Word, demonstrating an awareness of theological humility.

The theological absolutism sometimes adopted by later separatists risked undermining Robinson’s vision of humility and reformational openness.¹¹² This shift from provisional dissent to permanent separation troubled many contemporaries, including English dissenters who favored a more fluid approach to ecclesiastical reform. The emergence of increasingly dogmatic postures within certain separatist communities threatened to eclipse the original vision of ecclesial purity tempered by covenantal charity.

The Pilgrims' theological posture also raised pragmatic concerns about sustainability and influence.¹¹³ Their isolationist stance limited their institutional influence in England and often left them vulnerable in the colonial setting. Their smaller numbers and relative political marginalization compared to the Puritans reinforced perceptions of their impracticality in achieving widespread reform. In contrast, the Massachusetts Bay Puritans leveraged political structures and royal charters to solidify their vision of a Christian commonwealth.

While the Pilgrims embraced voluntary covenants as the basis for political and ecclesial community, critics noted the fragility of such arrangements without broader social scaffolding.¹¹⁴ The absence of formal hierarchy created a decentralized religious system susceptible to fragmentation and internal dissent. This ecclesial fragility sometimes led to schisms and debates within the community over proper boundaries of discipline and doctrinal orthodoxy, further complicating their mission of unity and purity.

Modern historiography continues to debate the Pilgrims' legacy, oscillating between admiration for their principled convictions and critiques of their limited social vision.¹¹⁵ Scholars such as Perry Miller and Michael Walzer have argued that the Pilgrims' emphasis on personal holiness and congregational autonomy offered a compelling prototype for later expressions of American individualism, though not without costs to communal cohesion. Such historiographical tensions reflect the broader question of Protestant ecclesiology in tension with pluralist realities.

In theological terms, the Pilgrims exemplify the dangers and possibilities of ecclesial separation as both a prophetic act and a pastoral burden.¹¹⁶ Their witness challenges contemporary churches to consider the balance between doctrinal fidelity and ecclesial unity, the pursuit of purity and the embrace of grace. The enduring question remains: does separation safeguard the gospel, or does it risk losing its catholicity? The Pilgrims’ experiment in ecclesiology serves as a historical laboratory for such inquiry.

IV: The Puritans – Reforming the Nation through Covenant

The Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony differed significantly from the Pilgrims not simply in number and resources but in their theological and political aims.¹¹⁷ While the Pilgrims embraced ecclesial separation as a spiritual necessity, the Puritans sought to reform the English Church from within, albeit by geographical and institutional remove. Theologically grounded in covenantal Calvinism, the Puritans envisioned a community ordered by Scripture and united under a divine commission to model godly society. Their approach thus fused ecclesiastical and civic reform under a singular theological telos.

Central to Puritan political theology was the belief that civil government ought to be subordinated to divine sovereignty.¹¹⁸ This did not entail a theocracy in the narrow sense but rather a republic infused with biblical norms. John Winthrop’s well-known 'Model of Christian Charity' articulated a vision of society as a covenant community accountable to God for its moral order. The Massachusetts Bay Charter thus became more than a political arrangement; it functioned as a theological instrument, shaping both identity and institutions through a sacred historical narrative.

The Puritan emphasis on the covenant of grace extended beyond the salvation of individuals and encompassed the social body.¹¹⁹ Each family, church, and township was conceived as a sacred trust, with obligations defined by Scripture. This broadened understanding of covenant obligated magistrates to enforce laws consonant with divine justice and pastors to instruct congregants in the full counsel of God. The result was a deeply integrated religious and civil order, one that saw personal piety and public morality as mutually reinforcing.

Puritan ecclesiology rejected both Roman Catholic hierarchicalism and separatist fragmentation, opting instead for a system of congregational oversight coupled with regional synods.¹²⁰ Churches were composed of professing believers under disciplined governance, with a strong emphasis on mutual accountability. Church membership entailed both doctrinal assent and evidence of sanctification, reflecting the Puritan synthesis of justification and sanctification. This dual requirement aimed to protect the integrity of the visible church and sustain moral cohesion within the community.

Yet the Puritan model was not without tensions.¹²¹ While aspiring to establish a 'city upon a hill,' the movement wrestled with the practical implications of enforcing religious conformity in a pluralistic and increasingly contested colonial landscape. Dissenters such as Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson exposed the limits of Puritan tolerance, pressing for a more robust separation of church and state and freedom of conscience. These conflicts revealed a core ambivalence in Puritan thought: between the ideals of theological purity and the political demands of inclusion and governance.

Nevertheless, the Puritan influence on American institutional development cannot be overstated.¹²² From town meetings to educational institutions such as Harvard College, Puritans laid the groundwork for democratic deliberation within a theological frame. Their insistence on literacy, catechesis, and biblical exegesis fostered a literate populace capable of theological and civic engagement. Education became a sacred obligation, and scripture the standard by which all knowledge was judged—a legacy still evident in American public discourse.

Theologically, Puritanism maintained a nuanced doctrine of providence.¹²³ Historical events were interpreted through a redemptive-historical lens, situating the colony within a typological narrative of exile, covenant, judgment, and renewal. This providential hermeneutic not only legitimized political authority but also sacralized communal trials as divine discipline. The Puritan capacity to see divine purpose in historical contingencies endowed their political experiment with eschatological significance and moral urgency.

By the close of the seventeenth century, however, the coherence of the Puritan vision began to unravel.¹²⁴ The Half-Way Covenant, the rise of commercial interests, and the decline of clerical authority signaled a transition from theological republic to secularized polity. Nonetheless, the imprint of Puritan covenantalism persisted, informing later revivalist movements and shaping the moral architecture of American civil religion. In this way, the Puritan legacy endures—not as a static blueprint, but as a dynamic tension between reform, authority, and liberty in the American religious imagination.

V: Comparative Analysis – Two Theologies of Reform in Practice

The divergent trajectories of the Pilgrims and Puritans in colonial America were not merely accidental or practical, but reflect deep theological commitments embedded in the fabric of their respective Reformation heritages.¹²⁵ At their core, these communities embodied different conceptions of ecclesial reform, theological anthropology, and political theology. The Pilgrims’ separatist vision, marked by ecclesial voluntarism, relied on a pneumatologically grounded view of the gathered church, while the Puritans upheld a vision of reform within national ecclesial structures.

The political theologies of the two groups reveal these distinctions vividly.¹²⁶ The Pilgrims emphasized a voluntary association rooted in individual conscience, consistent with their belief in the visible church as a gathered assembly of saints. This led to a decentralized political order grounded in communal consent, as evidenced by the Mayflower Compact. The Puritans, by contrast, endorsed a federalist model of social covenant, wherein divine ordination, civil authority, and ecclesial oversight were integrated to establish a sanctified commonwealth.

These differences in polity stem from contrasting anthropologies.¹²⁷ For the Pilgrims, human depravity necessitated vigilance in preserving the purity of the elect community, which justified separation from what they viewed as a corrupt national church. The Puritans, while also adhering to a doctrine of total depravity, believed that grace could work within the structures of national church and civil polity. This more optimistic view of societal reform shaped their ambition to sanctify the nation rather than abandon it.

Biblical hermeneutics further differentiated the two.¹²⁸ The Pilgrims often leaned on typologies that cast themselves as an exiled remnant, evoking Israel’s wilderness journey. This fostered an eschatological posture of marginality and spiritual vigilance. The Puritans, however, embraced covenantal typology rooted in Deuteronomic themes, envisioning themselves as a new Israel called to obedience and blessing. These competing narratives generated distinct forms of ecclesial and political legitimation.

Both groups had robust doctrines of providence and suffering, yet applied them differently.¹²⁹ For the Pilgrims, persecution validated their remnant identity and sanctified separation. They read adversity as divine confirmation of their elect status. Puritans saw communal suffering as disciplinary and formative, interpreting challenges as part of God’s refining process toward national sanctity. This led to greater institutional perseverance and a capacity to absorb dissent within a broader disciplinary framework.

The Pilgrims demonstrated remarkable adaptability in ecclesial and civic structures, embracing simplicity, flexibility, and local autonomy.¹³⁰ This institutional nimbleness allowed them to adjust to the political realities of the New World without sacrificing theological integrity. The Puritans, conversely, developed highly formalized ecclesial and civil structures to guard against disorder. While this rigidity enabled doctrinal cohesion and social discipline, it also proved vulnerable to internal schisms and dissent.

In terms of long-term impact, the Puritans left a more institutionalized legacy, shaping the American imagination of moral order, covenant, and law.¹³¹ Their influence is seen in legal traditions, educational frameworks, and republican ideals. The Pilgrims, though numerically fewer, contributed significantly to the ethos of religious voluntarism, liberty of conscience, and pluralism. These contributions were crucial to the eventual development of the American experiment in religious freedom and democratic diversity.

Ultimately, the comparison between Pilgrim and Puritan theologies of reform underscores a critical dialectic within Protestantism: between reform from within and reform through separation; between the church as a divine institution to be perfected and as a spiritual remnant to be preserved.¹³² These tensions remain unresolved, but profoundly generative, offering contemporary Protestant ecclesiology and political theology valuable paradigms for navigating pluralism, liberty, and theological integrity.

VI: Philosophical Theology and Protestant Imagination

The philosophical underpinnings of the Protestant Reformation significantly shaped the ecclesial and political paradigms of both the Pilgrims and the Puritans.¹³³

At the center of this was a deeply theological vision of epistemology, anthropology, and metaphysics, which, when translated into the context of colonial migration and nation-building, became a wellspring of political imagination.

This section explores the theological philosophy that informed the Puritan and Pilgrim communities and its influence on early American polity.

Reformed epistemology, as later developed by thinkers such as Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff, affirms the rationality of belief in God as properly basic.¹³⁴

This foundational stance, grounded in the early Reformers’ emphasis on the clarity of Scripture and the internal witness of the Holy Spirit, provided legitimacy to ecclesiastical dissent in both traditions.

It also enabled the development of theological frameworks that justified religious separatism or reform from within as rational, moral, and spiritually grounded.

The complex relationship between church and state in Reformation thought was never intended to imply total separation but rather a recalibration of their mutual responsibilities.¹³⁵

Puritan covenant theology, especially through figures like Althusius and Rutherford, envisioned political authority as divinely ordained but limited, contributing to later constitutional models.

Calvinist anthropology played a pivotal role in shaping governance and ecclesial life.¹³⁶

It acknowledged human depravity while affirming that regenerated individuals, in covenant communities, could pursue sanctified social orders.

A Trinitarian political theology grounded the Protestant idea of mutual covenant and obligation.¹³⁷

This theological concept of communal interdependence reflected divine harmony and shaped both ecclesial governance and civil participation.

The American Founding was shaped by Puritan and Pilgrim theological categories.¹³⁸

Covenant, liberty, and moral law were transposed into Enlightenment discourses, especially in the sermons of figures like Mayhew and Langdon.

Despite common roots, Protestant fragmentation shows both strength and weakness.¹³⁹

Ecclesiological diversity fostered innovation and doctrinal vitality but also institutional instability and frequent schism.

The Protestant imagination, shaped by theological realism, covenantal theory, and eschatological hope, remains a generative force in religious and civic life.¹⁴⁰

Pilgrims and Puritans modeled distinct but interrelated trajectories that continue to inform Protestant political theology and ecclesiology today.

VII: Conclusion – Toward a Theology of Reform in Exile

The legacies of the Pilgrims and Puritans are more than historical footnotes in the early colonial narrative of America—they are doctrinal embodiments of two distinct responses to the ecclesial and political challenges posed by the Reformation.¹⁴¹

In different ways, each group internalized and enacted theological principles that continue to shape contemporary understandings of religious freedom, civic virtue, and communal identity.

Their divergent approaches to reform—one through ecclesial separation and exile, the other through national purification and cultural engagement—reveal not only contrasting theological commitments but also enduring paradigms for religious communities navigating power and identity.

Reassessing the legacy of these two movements demands theological discernment rather than mere historical admiration.¹⁴²

The Pilgrims remind the modern church of the sanctity of conscience, of the ethical weight carried by theological dissent, and of the price of faithfulness when purity and polity are at odds.

The Puritans, by contrast, remind us of the dangers and possibilities of trying to marry theology and statecraft.

Their City on a Hill was not utopia, but a profoundly theological attempt to model a godly community in covenant with both God and neighbor.

In terms of ecclesiology, the Pilgrim emphasis on voluntary, gathered communities remains a robust model for post-Christendom churches navigating pluralism and institutional decline.¹⁴³

In contrast, the Puritan model invites reflection on the responsibilities of religious communities to shape public life without compromising theological integrity.

Both trajectories resist privatized faith and instead advance ecclesial visions deeply entangled with political imagination.

Today’s ecclesial landscape is marked by fragmentation, disaffection with inherited traditions, and renewed questions about the church's social role.¹⁴⁴

The dissenting tradition of the Pilgrims and the covenantal communalism of the Puritans offer contrasting models of faithful engagement.

What they share, however, is a refusal to collapse theological identity into cultural accommodation or political neutrality.

Politically, the Protestant experiments in New England hold implications for rethinking republicanism in pluralist societies.¹⁴⁵

They demonstrated the potential for covenantal theology to shape participatory, accountable governance rooted in moral law.

Yet they also warn against the coercive tendencies of sacralized politics.

Theologically, this dissertation has argued for the viability of 'reform in exile' as a unifying framework for both Pilgrim separatism and Puritan reformism.¹⁴⁶

Both movements assumed the church lived in a kind of exile—whether literal or spiritual—and both sought to embody divine faithfulness amid fallen institutions.

A theology of reform in exile integrates personal piety, communal accountability, and public witness.¹⁴⁷

It neither surrenders to cultural irrelevance nor capitulates to temporal power.

Rather, it sustains a vision of covenantal fidelity that is theologically rigorous, historically conscious, and eschatologically hopeful.

As Protestantism continues to grapple with fragmentation, nationalism, and secularization, this dissertation affirms that theological reform rooted in exile rather than dominance may be its most faithful trajectory forward.¹⁴⁸

The ecclesial and political visions of the Pilgrims and Puritans call the modern church to return to its Reformation heritage—not in nostalgia, but in renewed commitment to truth, freedom, and the redemptive possibilities of covenant life.

Expanded Bibliography

Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Edited by John T. McNeill. Translated by Ford Lewis Battles. 2 vols. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006.    — Calvin’s systematic theology forms the doctrinal cornerstone of Reformed ecclesiology, particularly his concept of the visible and invisible church. His covenantal and political theology shapes both Puritan and Pilgrim paradigms for communal and ecclesial life.

Marshall, Peter. Reformation England 1480–1642. 2nd ed. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022.    — A leading authority on English religious history, Marshall’s work critically frames the English Reformation's ambiguities and the persistent tensions between state-enforced conformity and evangelical conscience, providing the socio-political backdrop to Puritan and Pilgrim divergence.

Ames, William. The Marrow of Theology. Translated by John D. Eusden. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997.    — Ames offers theological sophistication to English Puritan thought. His logic of practical divinity, conscience, and church polity is foundational to both non-separating and separating strands of Reformed dissent in the early 17th century.

Morgan, Edmund S. The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1958.    — A foundational historical narrative that contextualizes the tension between liberty and order in Puritan Massachusetts. Morgan explores Winthrop’s covenant theology as a model of theological governance.

Miller, Perry. Errand into the Wilderness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956.    — Perry Miller’s seminal work theorizes the Puritan project in New England as a theological mission, linking covenantal theology with national identity. His cultural approach to Puritan ideology remains widely cited in political theology.

Brewster, William. Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620–1647. Edited by Samuel Eliot Morison. New York: Random House, 1952.    — An essential primary source detailing Pilgrim ecclesiology, covenant formation, and their theology of exile. Brewster’s pastoral voice emphasizes spiritual separation as a radical ecclesial act.

Robinson, John. The Works of John Robinson. 3 vols. Edited by Robert Ashton. London: Banner of Truth, 2009.    — As spiritual leader of the Pilgrims, Robinson’s thought embodies the theology of separation and congregational purity. His debates with Anglican and Puritan counterparts elucidate the limits of magisterial reform.

Rutherford, Samuel. Lex, Rex: The Law and the Prince. Edited by John Coffey. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2009.    — This Reformed treatise defends lawful resistance against tyrannical authority. Rutherford articulates a covenantal political theory that influences later developments in Protestant constitutionalism.

Walzer, Michael. The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965.    — Walzer frames Puritan theology as a revolutionary ideology, linking spiritual rigor with political radicalism. His sociopolitical lens underscores how doctrine shaped communal discipline and theocratic ambition.

McGrath, Alister E. Reformation Thought: An Introduction. 5th ed. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2021.    — McGrath offers a contemporary synthesis of Reformation doctrines with attention to political theology, human agency, and ecclesial autonomy. Useful in connecting classical theology with modern historiography.

Torrance, T. F. The School of Faith: The Catechisms of the Reformed Church. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1996.    — Torrance’s theological analysis of Reformed catechisms provides doctrinal clarity on ecclesiology, covenant, and moral formation, making it an essential source for evaluating Reformed pedagogical frameworks.

Winthrop, John. A Modell of Christian Charity. 1630. In Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 3rd series, vol. 7 (1838).    — Winthrop’s sermon functions as the founding vision for Puritan political theology in New England. His vision of a 'City upon a Hill' integrates covenantal ethics with public governance.

Plantinga, Alvin. Warranted Christian Belief. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.    — Plantinga’s epistemology defends the rationality of religious belief, a philosophical foundation crucial to understanding the Pilgrims’ and Puritans’ confessional commitments in the face of persecution and exile.

Wolterstorff, Nicholas. The Mighty and the Almighty: An Essay in Political Theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.    — Wolterstorff builds a Christian political theology rooted in justice and covenant, offering a conceptual bridge between 17th-century Protestant political imagination and contemporary pluralism.

Endnotes

1.      Brad S. Gregory, The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012), 32–58.

2.      Michael Walzer, The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965), 45–61.

3.      John D. Wilsey, American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion: Reassessing the History of an Idea, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2015), 73–91.

4.      Perry Miller, The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1939), 65–82.

5.      Leland Ryken, Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1986), 107–129.

6.      John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994), 122–138.

7.      Alister E. McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction, 4th ed. (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 186–199.

8.      Richard Lints, The Fabric of Theology: A Prolegomenon to Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993), 245–257.

9.      John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, 2 vols. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 1.5.9–12.

10.  Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, rev. ed. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1974), 58–64.

11.  William Ames, The Marrow of Theology, trans. John D. Eusden (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997), 77–92.

12.  Samuel Rutherford, Lex, Rex: The Law and the Prince, ed. John Coffey (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2009), 37–49.

13.  Peter Marshall, Reformation England 1480–1642, 2nd ed. (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022), 203–218.

14. Perry Miller, The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1939), 15–28.

15. Edmund S. Morgan, The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop, 3rd ed. (New York: Longman, 2007), 39–60.

16. Michael Walzer, The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965), 121–144.

17. Francis J. Bremer, John Robinson and the English Separatist Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 78–95.

18. Alister E. McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction, 4th ed. (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 163–185.

19. Thomas F. Torrance, Calvin’s Doctrine of Man (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1957), 101–113.

20. David D. Hall, Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990), 29–54; Mark A. Noll, America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 212–243.

21. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 4.1.1–4.

22. Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1956), 3–22.

23. John Robinson, Of Religious Communion, Private and Public (London: n.p., 1614), 45–59.

24. William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, ed. Samuel Eliot Morison (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991), 14–27.

25. John Winthrop, A Modell of Christian Charity*, in *The Puritans: A Sourcebook of Their Writings, ed. Perry Miller and Thomas H. Johnson (New York: Harper & Row, 1963), 195–212.

26. Nicholas Wolterstorff, The Mighty and the Almighty: An Essay in Political Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 67–84.

27. Alvin Plantinga, Warranted Christian Belief (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 203–223.

28. Richard Baxter, The Saints’ Everlasting Rest, ed. John T. Wilkinson (London: Dent, 1952), 9–20.

29. Martin Luther, Three Treatises, trans. Charles M. Jacobs and W.A. Lambert (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1970), 9–22.

30. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 4.1.9–4.1.13.

31. Timothy George, Theology of the Reformers, rev. ed. (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2013), 134–150.

32. Alister E. McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction, 4th ed. (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 141–159.

33. Richard Muller, The Unaccommodated Calvin: Studies in the Foundation of a Theological Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 85–112.

34. David F. Wright, ed., The Cambridge History of Christianity, Volume 6: Reform and Expansion 1500–1660 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 212–225.

35. Robert Godfrey, John Calvin: Pilgrim and Pastor (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2009), 98–116.

36. Willem van 't Spijker, Calvin: A Brief Guide to His Life and Thought, trans. Lyle D. Bierma (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 117–135.

37. Heinrich Bullinger, The Decades, trans. Thomas Harding, 4 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1851), 1:45–67.

38. Michael Horton, Introducing Covenant Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006), 23–45.

39. Samuel Rutherford, Lex, Rex, or The Law and the Prince (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1982), 29–51.

40. Johannes Althusius, Politica, ed. Frederick S. Carney (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1995), 73–96.

41. Leland Ryken, Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1986), 102–119.

42. John Winthrop, “A Modell of Christian Charity,” in Puritan Political Ideas, 1558–1794, ed. Edmund S. Morgan (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1965), 91–103.

43. Perry Miller, The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1939), 154–172.

44. Charles E. Hambrick-Stowe, The Practice of Piety: Puritan Devotional Disciplines in Seventeenth-Century New England (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982), 65–88.

45. Harold S. Bender, The Anabaptist Vision (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1944), 18–37.

46. William R. Estep, The Anabaptist Story: An Introduction to Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), 89–112.

47. Martin Luther, Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants*, in Luther’s Works, vol. 46, ed. Robert C. Schultz (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1967), 49–52.

48. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 4.1.1–9.

49. Balthasar Hubmaier, On Heretics and Those Who Burn Them, trans. H. Wayne Pipkin and John Howard Yoder, in The Writings of Balthasar Hubmaier, vol. 1 (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1989), 49–54.

50. Leonard Verduin, The Reformers and Their Stepchildren (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964), 75–94.

51. Michael G. Baylor, Radical Reformers in the Sixteenth Century (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1991), 117–135.

52. James M. Stayer, Anabaptists and the Sword (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1972), 145–162.

53. Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation: A History (New York: Viking, 2003), 303–334.

54. Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400–1580 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), 537–553.

55. Alec Ryrie, Being Protestant in Reformation Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 85–112.

56. Peter Marshall, Reformation England, 1480–1642, 2nd ed. (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022), 141–163.

57. Patrick Collinson, The Elizabethan Puritan Movement (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967), 173–188.

58. Robert Browne, A Treatise of Reformation without Tarrying for Anie (Middleburg: Richard Schilders, 1582), 14–22.

59. Henry Barrow, A True Description of the Visible Church (London: n.p., 1589), 31–44.

60. Gerald Bray, ed., Documents of the English Reformation (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994), 273–289.

61. John T. McNeill, The History and Character of Calvinism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1954), 295–313.

62. Basil Hall, Geneva and the Consolidation of the English Reformation (London: SPCK, 1965), 120–138.

63. William Ames, The Marrow of Theology, trans. John Dykstra Eusden (Boston: Pilgrim Press, 1968), 31–42.

64. Leland Ryken, Worldly Saints: The Puritans as They Really Were (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1986), 54–66.

65. John Robinson, A Justification of Separation from the Church of England (London: n.p., 1610), 27–34.

66. Peter Lake, Moderate Puritans and the Elizabethan Church (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 211–235.

67. Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, ed. Arthur Stephen McGrade (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), Book V, 43–55.

68. Michael Walzer, The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965), 112–129.

69. Edmund S. Morgan, Visible Saints: The History of a Puritan Idea (New York: New York University Press, 1963), 23–45.

70. John Robinson, A Justification of Separation from the Church of England (London: n.p., 1610), 13–25.

71. Henry Ainsworth, A Censvre upon a Dialogue of the Anabaptists (Amsterdam: Giles Thorp, 1609), 45–52.

72. Perry Miller, The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1939), 9–23.

73. David D. Hall, A Reforming People: Puritanism and the Transformation of Public Life in New England (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011), 22–36.

74. Francis J. Bremer, John Robinson and the English Separatist Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 118–139.

75. Michael Walzer, The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965), 88–95.

76. Alister E. McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction, 6th ed. (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017), 421–430.

77. Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Holy Spirit, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2020), 111–134.

78. John Robinson, Works of John Robinson, ed. Robert Ashton, 3 vols. (London: John Snow, 1851), 2:167–173.

79. Edmund S. Morgan, Visible Saints: The History of a Puritan Idea (New York: New York University Press, 1963), 90–101.

80. Richard Greaves, Deliver Us from Evil: The Radical Underground in Britain, 1660–1663 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 67–69.

81. Horton Davies, *The Worship of the English Puritans (Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria, 1997), 140–158.

82. Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2012), 567–580.

83. B. R. White, The English Separatist Tradition: From the Marian Martyrs to the Pilgrim Fathers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), 134–146.

84. Francis J. Bremer, The Puritan Experiment: New England Society from Bradford to Edwards, 2nd ed. (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1995), 55–73.

85. Daniel J. Elazar, Covenant and Commonwealth: From Christian Separation through the Protestant Reformation, vol. 2 (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1996), 301–312.

86. John Robinson, Works of John Robinson, ed. Robert Ashton, 3 vols. (London: John Snow, 1851), 2:245–260.

87. Glenn A. Moots, Politics Reformed: The Anglo-American Legacy of Covenant Theology (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2010), 69–85.

88. William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, ed. Samuel Eliot Morison (New York: Random House, 1952), 45–49.

89. Michael Walzer, Exodus and Revolution (New York: Basic Books, 1985), 62–78.

90. David A. Weir, Early New England: A Covenanted Society (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005), 23–31.

91. Alister E. McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction, 6th ed. (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017), 412–417.

92. Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956), 56–73.

93. Francis J. Bremer, John Robinson and the English Separatist Tradition (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994), 157–165.

94. Michael Walzer, Exodus and Revolution (New York: Basic Books, 1985), 36–52.

95. John Robinson, The Works of John Robinson, ed. Robert Ashton, 3 vols. (London: John Snow, 1851), 3:341–356.

96. David Weir, Early New England: A Covenanted Society (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005), 48–60.

97. Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956), 29–44.

98. Stephen Foster, The Long Argument: English Puritanism and the Shaping of New England Culture, 1570–1700 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1991), 114–130.

99. Edmund S. Morgan, The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop (New York: Longman, 1999), 17–23.

100. Alister E. McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction, 4th ed. (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 187–190.

101. Horton Davies, The Worship of the American Puritans, 1629–1730 (Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria, 1990), 45–60.

102. Sinclair B. Ferguson and J.I. Packer, New Dictionary of Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 713–718.

103. William Ames, The Marrow of Theology, trans. John Dykstra Eusden (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1997), 192–208.

104. Francis J. Bremer, Puritanism: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 67–75.

105. Michael Winship, Hot Protestants: A History of Puritanism in England and America (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2018), 132–140.

106. Edmund S. Morgan, Visible Saints: The History of a Puritan Idea (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1963), 85–99.

107. Alister E. McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction, 6th ed. (Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017), 411–419.

108. T. H. L. Parker, Calvin's Preaching (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1992), 154–165.

109. Peter Lake, Moderate Puritans and the Elizabethan Church (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 240–258.

110. R.T. Kendall, Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), 151–168.

111. John Robinson, The Works of John Robinson, ed. Robert Ashton, 3 vols. (London: John Snow, 1851), 2:354–359.

112. Keith L. Sprunger, Dutch Puritanism: A History of English and Scottish Churches in the Netherlands, 1560–1640 (Leiden: Brill, 1982), 193–208.

113. Francis J. Bremer, The Puritan Experiment: New England Society from Bradford to Edwards, revised edition (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1995), 45–56.

114. Edmund S. Morgan, The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop (Boston: Little, Brown, 1958), 28–36.

115. Michael Walzer, The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965), 145–160.

116. Alister E. McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction, 4th ed. (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 234–239.

117. Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1956), 3–21.

118. John Winthrop, 'A Model of Christian Charity,' in Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 3rd ser., vol. 7 (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1838), 31–48.

119. Edmund S. Morgan, The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop (Boston: Little, Brown, 1958), 45–64.

120. Charles E. Hambrick-Stowe, The Practice of Piety: Puritan Devotional Disciplines in Seventeenth-Century New England (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982), 88–95.

121. Carla Gardina Pestana, The English Atlantic in an Age of Revolution, 1640–1661 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004), 104–118.

122. Harry S. Stout, The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial New England (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 147–153.

123. Michael McGiffert, 'American Puritanism and the Defense of Orthodoxy: A Critique of Perry Miller,' William and Mary Quarterly 22, no. 1 (1965): 30–35.

124. Mark A. Noll, America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 89–103.

125. David D. Hall, A Reforming People: Puritanism and the Transformation of Public Life in New England (New York: Knopf, 2011), 15–32.

126. John Witte Jr., From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition, 2nd ed. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012), 144–163.

127. Richard Lints, The Fabric of Theology: A Prolegomenon to Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 93–110.

128. Daniel L. Dreisbach, Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), 65–89.

129. Michael Winship, Godly Republicanism: Puritans, Pilgrims, and a City on a Hill (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012), 101–115.

130. Francis J. Bremer, The Puritan Experiment: New England Society from Bradford to Edwards, revised ed. (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1995), 47–63.

131. Mark Noll, America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 158–172.

132. Alister McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction, 4th ed. (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 187–205.

133. Alister E. McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction, 4th ed. (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 205–215.

134. Alvin Plantinga, Warranted Christian Belief (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 3–30.

135. John Witte Jr., The Reformation of Rights: Law, Religion, and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 45–72.

136. Richard A. Muller, Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003), 261–285.

137. David VanDrunen, Divine Covenants and Moral Order: A Biblical Theology of Natural Law (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 121–142.

138. Daniel L. Dreisbach, Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), 91–118.

139. Mark A. Noll, Protestantism: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 59–81.

140. Michael Allen and Scott R. Swain, Reformed Catholicity: The Promise of Retrieval for Theology and Biblical Interpretation (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015), 173–196.

141. Michael Walzer, The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965), 12–29.

142. Mark Noll, America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 103–121.

143. William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, ed. Samuel Eliot Morison (New York: Knopf, 1952), 19–23.

144. Stanley Hauerwas, After Christendom: How the Church Is to Behave If Freedom, Justice, and a Christian Nation Are Bad Ideas (Nashville: Abingdon, 1991), 54–66.

145. John Witte Jr., God's Joust, God's Justice: Law and Religion in the Western Tradition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), 235–250.

146. T. David Gordon, Why Johnny Can't Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2009), 90–97.

147. James K. A. Smith, Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017), 183–199.

148. Oliver O'Donovan, The Desire of the Nations: Rediscovering the Roots of Political Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 219–232.

Outline

I. Introduction: Protestantism, Political Theology, and the Problem of Reform

• A. Research Problem and Significance

  • Protestant fragmentation and the paradox of freedom and order in Reformation thought.

  • Why Puritans and Pilgrims matter for political theology today.

• B. Methodological Commitments

  • Interdisciplinary: historical theology, political philosophy, and Reformation studies.

  • Key figures: Calvin, Knox, Ames, Robinson, Hooker, Rutherford.

• C. Literature Review

  • Major contributions in Pilgrim and Puritan studies (e.g., Perry Miller, Edmund Morgan, Michael Walzer).

  • Theological frameworks (e.g., Torrance on Calvin, McGrath on Protestant identity).

• D. Thesis and Structure of the Argument

  • Articulate the central claim and preview chapters.

II. Reformation Theology and the Ecclesiology of Reform

• A. Luther and Calvin: Sola Scriptura, Ecclesial Authority, and the Visible Church

  • Definitions of “reform” in magisterial Protestantism.

  • Doctrine of the church (ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda).

• B. Covenant Theology and Political Order

  • Federal theology as the backbone of Protestant political thought.

  • Human nature, original sin, and social covenant.

• C. Radical Reformation vs. Magisterial Reformation

  • Anabaptist critiques of Constantinianism; fear of anarchy by magisterial Reformers.

• D. The English Reformation’s Ambiguity

  • From Henry VIII to the Elizabethan Settlement: unfinished reform.

  • Theological tension between conformity and dissent.

• E. Calvinism in England

  • Reception of Reformed thought among English dissenters.

  • Role of Beza, Bullinger, and Ames in shaping separatist logic.

• F. Summary: A Doctrinal Trajectory of Reform and Separation

III. The Pilgrims: Theological Separatism and the Logic of Exile

• A. The Ecclesiology of Separation

  • John Robinson, William Brewster: the impossibility of true worship within a corrupt church.

• B. Pneumatology and Church Discipline

  • The inner witness of the Spirit and gathered church polity.

• C. The Mayflower Compact as Political Covenant

  • Early example of “biblical republicanism” rooted in theological voluntarism.

• D. Eschatology and the Logic of Exile

  • Vision of the Pilgrims as a remnant people and typological Israel.

• E. Worship, Simplicity, and the Rejection of Forms

  • Purity in worship as the gateway to divine communion.

• F. Critiques and Tensions

  • Criticism of separatism by mainstream Puritans and internal Pilgrim debates.

IV. The Puritans: Reforming the Nation through Covenant

• A. Non-Separating Puritanism and the Call to Purify the Church of England

  • Theological basis for remaining within a flawed national church.

• B. The Massachusetts Bay Experiment

  • Winthrop’s “City on a Hill” and the fusion of theology and governance.

• C. The Covenant of Grace and the Body Politic

  • From individual piety to communal discipline: a polity of godly conformity.

• D. The Role of Preaching and Law

  • “Regulative principle” and Puritan homiletics as tools for moral and civil order.

• E. Sacralization of Society vs. Theocracy

  • Differentiating moral community from political theocracy.

• F. Limitations and Intra-Puritan Controversies

  • Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, and the struggle over liberty of conscience.

V. Comparative Analysis: Two Theologies of Reform in Practice

• A. Political Theology of the Pilgrims vs. Puritans

  • Voluntarism vs. federalism; exile vs. sanctified nation.

• B. Anthropology and Grace

  • Differing assumptions about ecclesial purity and human depravity.

• C. Typology and Biblical Hermeneutics

  • How Scripture shaped divergent visions of polity and worship.

• D. Suffering, Providence, and Divine Election

  • Contrasting understandings of redemptive suffering and chosenness.

• E. Institutional Flexibility vs. Rigidity

  • The Pilgrims’ adaptability and the Puritans’ formalism.

• F. Long-Term Legacy in American Religious and Political Identity

  • Enduring marks of Puritan legalism and Pilgrim pluralism in American democratic thought.

VI. Philosophical Theology and Protestant Imagination

• A. Reformed Epistemology and the Justification of Religious Dissent

  • Plantinga, Wolterstorff: the rationality of faith-based polity.

• B. Church and State in Protestant Metapolitics

  • Tracing political secularism to Puritan covenantalism.

• C. Moral Anthropology in Calvin and the Colonial Context

  • View of human agency, sin, and moral discipline.

• D. Trinitarian Political Theology

  • Theological grounding for covenantal mutuality and communal structures.

• E. The Protestant Imagination and the American Founding

  • From New England sermons to Enlightenment republicanism.

• F. Protestant Fragmentation as Enduring Problem and Opportunity

  • The legacy of ecclesiological disagreement for global Protestantism.

VII. Conclusion: Toward a Theology of Reform in Exile

• A. Reassessing the Pilgrim and Puritan Legacy

  • Reform and separation as theological paradigms.

• B. Implications for Ecclesiology Today

  • What can dissenting traditions offer post-Christendom churches?

• C. Political Theology After Christendom

  • Is biblical republicanism still viable in pluralist democracies?

• D. Final Reflections on Reform, Freedom, and the Protestant Project

Appendices

• Textual comparison: Mayflower Compact vs. Massachusetts Bay Charter.

• Primary source sermons from John Winthrop and John Robinson.

• Visual charts: genealogies of Reformation influence on colonial theology.