The First American Evangelical: A Short Life of Cotton Mather

This was a inspirational read, after starting I just could not put the book down. It was my first introduction into the life of John Cotton - I was pleasantly surprised. I always assumed that the New England puritans where austere, severe and harsh with the backdrop of the witch burning. This author does a marvelous job in tracing out the life of John Cotton giving the reader insight into the life and times in the colony. His thesis of the book is to present John Cotton as a mediating figure to bridge the gap between the generation of the puritan pilgrim fathers and the coming evangelical revivals that came in the time of Jonathan Edwards and John Whitefield. Today the word """"evangelical"""" has become overly broad encompassing mainline protestants to radical pentacostals but in reading this book it helped me to see in the unfolding of the life of John Cotton through his providencial circumstances and cultural challenges and perhaps his personal piety how the evangelical spirit was birthed. What began with Cotton in the early 17 hundreds was blown into flame through the First Great Revival in the following generation. More can be said but . . . read the book for yourself.