What the Lives of 5 Puritan Women Teach about Holy Living and Devotion to God
The writings of the Puritans have had a recent resurgence, but many Puritan women have often been overlooked or misunderstood. As mothers, daughters, grandmothers, and wives, the vibrant faith of Puritan women has much to teach modern day readers.
In 5 Puritan Women: Portraits of Faith and Love, Jenny-Lyn de Klerk shows how the lives and writings of Christian women encourage the beauty of holy living and provide practical wisdom for the home and the church. Each chapter portrays a different Puritan woman—Agnes Beaumont, Lucy Hutchinson, Mary Rich, Anne Bradstreet, and Lady Brilliana Harley—telling their stories of devotion, lament, and family. By studying their faith journeys, modern readers can learn more about their roles in church history and glean insights into the Christian life.
- Accessible Introduction: An affordable, easy-to-read format to introduce readers to the neglected writings of Puritan women
- Applicable: Explains the need for, and the value of, studying Puritan women today and highlights spiritual disciplines that these women demonstrate
- Women in Church History: Broadens the reader’s understanding of women’s roles in furthering God’s kingdom throughout history
- Foreword by Karen Swallow Prior
Endorsements
“In 5 Puritan Women, Jenny-Lyn de Klerk introduces us to five faithful saints who have gone before us. As you get to know these women through the pages of this book, you will feel as though you have met five new friends. Through their words and stories, they will instruct, strengthen, and encourage you in your faith. So grab a warm drink, sit down with your new friends, and let them spur you on to love God and live a faithful, beautiful life.”
Courtney Doctor, Director of Women’s Initiatives, The Gospel Coalition; Bible teacher; author, From Garden to Glory; coauthor, Behold and Believe
“At some point, someone somewhere must have convinced me to believe the Puritans were boring. But as it turns out, that person was dead wrong. In 5 Puritan Women, Jenny-Lyn de Klerk shakes the dust off the stories of five women we never should have overlooked. Their remarkable strength, distinct personalities, and substantial faith offer women today an unexpected and delightful inheritance that can impact the way we express and enjoy our faith today.”
Caroline Saunders, author, The Story of Home and Kids in the Bible
“We are all prone to stereotypes and misunderstanding, but part of loving our neighbors—even dead ones!—is seeking to understand them on their own terms so that we can better appreciate and learn from them. Jenny-Lyn de Klerk has written a book about five Puritan women who faced real challenges in a real world with their real God. What she also helps us (both men and women) learn from these godly mentors is significant. I’m only sad it has taken us this long to hear from these too-often-forgotten saints.”
Kelly M. Kapic, Professor of Theological Studies, Covenant College; author, You’re Only Human
“Often neglected, usually misunderstood, and grossly maligned, the Puritan women of the past are far overdue for a revival. Agnes Beaumont, Lucy Hutchinson, Mary Rich, Anne Bradstreet, and Lady Brilliana Harley should be household names. For not only did they contribute robust theological insights of their own, but they mastered the Christian life by exemplifying with profound maturity the love of Christ, a love so absent from our relationships with one another today. Who better to bring about this revival than a talented, even magical writer who embodies the spirit and theology of these Puritan women herself? Look no further than Jenny-Lyn de Klerk. She has not only become a kindred spirit with these Puritan women, but she has given them a voice. May the resiliency of their religion and the fervor of their faith infuse the church today until it becomes the spiritual family envisioned by our Lord.”
Matthew Barrett, Associate Professor of Christian Theology, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; author, Owen on the Christian Life
“Discover the extraordinary lives and deeply inspiring and insightful writings of the five women in Jenny-Lyn de Klerk’s illuminating new book. Each of these Puritan women deserve to be better known by Christian readers. Their words are infused with the evidences of intimate, daily experience of God’s living word, and their spiritual wisdom is on par with any well-known saint in Christian history, with enduring relevance. The lives of Agnes Beaumont, Lady Brilliana Harley, Mary Rich, Anne Bradstreet, and Lucy Hutchinson traced every conceivable extreme of joy and suffering that the seventeenth century could present, and yet they demonstrated what it means to persevere in love, with mercy, and in full assurance of salvation. This is an accessible, much-needed, and soul-enriching book that you will not regret having read.”
Johanna Harris, Senior Lecturer in English, University of Exeter
