Female Piety in Puritan New England

"An excellent brief...interdisciplinary study."--American Studies "Well-researched and very readable. The inclusion of biographical narrative enlivens the era for the reader."--Rosalie Beck, Baylor University "Makes for absorbing reading."--ADRIS Newsletter "Porterfield provides some interesting readings of texts by major New England authors....[She] examines some compelling issues."--Journal of American History "Will be of interest to specialists in Puritanism, spirituality, and women's religious experience. Especially impressive is Porterfield's ability to treat 17th-century Puritan experience as part of a larger story."--Choice "Bursting with insight and...elegantly rendered in prose....An excellent example of how scholarship that is attentive to gender can reveal a new world even in the well-charted history of seventeenth-century Puritanism."--Church History "This study is well worth reading--and thinking about--especially for students of American Puritanism."--Christianity & Literature "There is much that is helpful and rewarding about the author's evidence and analyses....This book makes a worthwhile contribution."--Sixteenth Century Journal "Porterfield's book contributes vitally to the ongoing reconceptualization of Puritanism that includes the category of gender; it will attract a wide audience."--American Literature "Appealing and well argued."--The Historian "An excellent brief...interdisciplinary study."--American Studies "Well-researched and very readable. The inclusion of biographical narrative enlivens the era for the reader."--Rosalie Beck, Baylor University "Makes for absorbing reading."--ADRIS Newsletter "Porterfield provides some interesting readings of texts by major New England authors....[She] examines some compelling issues."--Journal of American History "Will be of interest to specialists in Puritanism, spirituality, and women's religious experience. Especially impressive is Porterfield's ability to treat 17th-century Puritan experience as part of a larger story."--Choice "Bursting with insight and...elegantly rendered in prose....An excellent example of how scholarship that is attentive to gender can reveal a new world even in the well-charted history of seventeenth-century Puritanism."--Church History "This study is well worth reading--and thinking about--especially for students of American Puritanism."--Christianity & Literature "There is much that is helpful and rewarding about the author's evidence and analyses....This book makes a worthwhile contribution."--Sixteenth Century Journal "Porterfield's book contributes vitally to the ongoing reconceptualization of Puritanism that includes the category of gender; it will attract a wide audience."--American Literature "Appealing and well argued."--The Historian "...Provides new insight into the complicated intellectual journey of New Englanders from Puritan to Yankee."--Reviews in American History "Persuasively argues that this female religiosity enabled men to control their anger, their fear of abandonment, and their ambition in order to develop, in return, clerical power. Her research involves deep, sophisticated readings of original texts, utilizing trope analysis and typology, two approaches that are well appreciated and used by students of Puritanism. Porterfield has extended our understanding of Puritanism in an exciting direction."--Journal of Interdisciplinary History "Porterfield's work deserves praise...good work."--Seventeenth Century News "The analysis of the role of gender in Puritan piety puts a new gloss on debates about women and patriarchy. This work is valuable as a sophisticated model for interdisciplinary discussions of religion and gender."--Religious Studies Review "Porterfield provides some interesting readings of texts by major New England authors, also, she examines some compelling issues."--The Journal of American History "THe discussion of Puritan women and food (in symbol and reality)is probably her most original and interesting contribution to the scholarly literature."--The Historian