Abstract
The upheaval of the mid-seventeenth century has naturally focused scholars’ attention on the politics of nation and church. As a result, theologians of the period have often been defined by their ecclesiol-ogy or by their views on the more openly debated theological issues of the day. In the process, we risk overlooking some of the more subtle issues of personal devotion to which many of the pastors and teachers of the time gave considerable attention. Thomas Goodwin (1600–80) is most often studied for his substantial contribution to the formation of Independent ecclesiology. Yet alongside this radicalism, the devotional writing which formed the bulk of his published work had a very different, quasi-mystical focus. In this, at least, he was no extremist. The mystical tendencies evident in Goodwin are by no means fringe cases or idiosyncrasies peculiar to him alone. Rather, Goodwin represents a kind of piety that was thriving among some of the godly of his day. His importance in respect of the puritan understanding of joy lies in the clarity with which he develops the idea of the saints’ journey of faith leading to the ultimate joy of an unhindered view of God.
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Notes
Joel R. Beeke, ‘Introduction’ in Joel R. Beeke (ed.), The Works of Thomas Goodwin (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2006), I, 1.
Authors such as Burgess, Carter, Dallison, Fienberg, Walker and Wilson have sought to outline and assess Goodwin’s contribution to the debate between Presbyterian and Independent, and have tried to establish what was at the core of Goodwin’s thought that led him to take an Independent stand. John Paul Burgess, ‘The Problem of Scripture and Political Affairs as Reflected in the Puritan Revolution: Samuel Rutherord, Thomas Goodwin, John Goodwin and Gerrand Winstanley’ (PhD thesis, University of Chicago, 1986);
R.B. Carter, ‘The Presbyterian Independent Controversy with Special Reference to Dr. Thomas Goodwin and the Years 1640–1660’ (PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1961);
John F. Wilson, ‘A Glimpse of Sions Glory’, Church History, 31(1) (1962): 66–73;
A.R. Dallison, ‘The Latter-Day Glory in the Thought of Thomas Goodwin’, Evangelical Quarterly, 58 (1986): 53–68;
S.P. Fienberg, ‘Thomas Goodwin, Puritan Pastor and Independent Divine’ (PhD thesis, University of Chicago, 1974);
S.P. Fienberg, ‘Thomas Goodwin’s Scriptural Hermenuetics and the Dissolution of Puritan Unity’, Journal of Religious History, 10 (1978): 32–49;
Graham Harrison, ‘Thomas Goodwin and Independency’ in Brian Freer (ed.), Diversities of Gifts (London: Westminster Conference, 1981), 21–44;
David John Walker, ‘The Language of Canaan: The Typology of Thomas Goodwin’ (MA thesis, University of Melbourne, 1977);
and David John Walker, ‘Thomas Goodwin and the Debate on Church Government’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 34(1) (1983): 85–99.
K.-S. Cha, ‘Thomas Goodwin’s View of the Holy Ghost in Relation to Assurance’ (PhD thesis, University of Aberdeen, 1989);
P.E. Brown, ‘The Principle of the Covenant in the Theology of Thomas Goodwin’ (PhD thesis, Drew University, 1950);
Guy Davis, ‘Thomas Goodwin: His Life, Times and Quest for Assurance’, Congregational Studies Conference Papers, (1994): 55–83;
James Fry, ‘The Grace of Election in the Writings of Thomas Goodwin’ (MA thesis, Durham University, 1970);
Alexander McNally, ‘Some Aspects of Thomas Goodwin’s Doctrine of Assurance’ (ThM thesis, Westminster Theological Seminary, 1972); Brian Freer, ‘Thomas Goodwin, the Peaceable Puritan’ in Freer (ed.), Diversities of Gifts, 7–20; and M.S. Horton, ‘Thomas Goodwin and the Puritan Doctrine of Assurance: Continuity and Discontinuity in the Reformed Tradition, 1600–1680’ (PhD thesis, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and Coventry University, 1995).
Paul Blackham, ‘The Pneumatology of Thomas Goodwin’ (PhD thesis, King’s College, London, 1995);
Paul Blackham, Thomas Goodwin: Word and Spirit (London: Congregational Memorial Hall Trust (1978) Ltd., 2001);
Paul Ling-Ji Chang, ‘Thomas Goodwin (1600–1680) on the Christian Life’ (PhD thesis, Westminster Theological Seminary, 2001);
D.I. Childs, ‘Thomas Goodwin’s Teaching on the Person and Work of Christ’ (PhD thesis, University of Cardiff, 2004):
Mark Jones, ‘Why Heaven Kissed Earth: The Christology of Thomas Goodwin (1600–1680)’ (PhD thesis, Leiden University, 2009);
Valdeci da Silva Santos, ‘A Light Beyond the Light of Ordinary Faith: Thomas Goodwin’s View on the Seal of the Holy Spirit’ (ThM thesis, Reformed Theological Seminary, 1997);
Thomas Goodwin, Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, A Habitual Sight of Him: The Christ-Centered Piety of Thomas Goodwin (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2009); and
T.M. Lawrence, ‘Transmission and Transformation: Thomas Goodwin and the Puritan Project, 1600–1704’ (PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, 2002). Lawrence takes a careful look at the dating of Goodwin’s works. While much of Goodwin’s published work is often considered to be the product of his old age, Lawrence persuasively demonstrates that the bulk of Goodwin’s works were completed before the mid-1650s. Indeed, Lawrence demonstrates that Goodwin was working on a major four-part theological work, the structure of which was totally obliterated by his sons’ later publication.
Ibid., 122, 124. For a detailed discussion of the idea of ‘sweetness’, see Mary Carruthers, ‘Sweetness’, Speculum, 81 (2006): 999–1013.
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© 2016 Karl Jones
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Jones, K. (2016). Thomas Goodwin and the ‘Supreme Happiness of Man’. In: Ryrie, A., Schwanda, T. (eds) Puritanism and Emotion in the Early Modern World. Christianities in the Trans-Atlantic World, 1500–1800. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137490988_3
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