In Pursuit of Purity, Unity, and Liberty ─ Richard Baxter's Puritan Ecclesiology in Its Seventeenth-Century Context

Baxter self-consciously pursued the ideal of unity, purity, and liberty of the church throughout his ecclesiastical career, from his ordination in 1638 to his death in 1691, says Lim (history of Christianity, U. of Cambridge). He focuses on the ecclesiology of the one of the best known and certainly most prolific writer among the Puritans in 17th-century England. Among his topics are preaching and reform of the true church, the Worcestershire Association and the rhetoric of partial conformity, and The Grotian Religion and the true history of puritanism. He conducted most of the research for his study in the Rare Book Room at the Cambridge University Library while undertaking his doctoral studies there. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Paul Chang-Ha Lim, Ph.D. (2001) in History of Christianity, University of Cambridge, is Assistant Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Hamilton, MA. His current research project focuses on Karl Barth's Trinitarian theodicy.