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5 Minutes in Church History: 17th-Century Theological Poets

5 Minutes in Church History: 17th-Century Theological Poets

Last updated on: April 25, 2017 at 10:44 am by Christian Podcast Central

5 Minutes in Church History: 17th-Century Theological Poets 2017-04-25T10:44:24-08:00 Christian Podcast Central

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What did Anne Bradstreet, Edward Taylor, John Milton, Ben Johnson, and George Herbert have in common? In this episode of 5 Minutes in Church History, Dr. Stephen Nichols introduces us to several 17th century poets.

I’ll take 17th-century Theological Poets for a thousand!

What is: the next episode of Five Minutes in Church History?

I just had to do that.

“17th-century Theological Poets”, to me, sounds like a category we will bump into on Jeopardy. But it is the category of this episode of Five Minutes in Church History.

Fascinating that we had a number of very significant poets and they all seem clustered in this century. Of course, this century is kicked off for us by none other than Shakespeare, so we should not be surprised at this great literature that is produced by these British folks and some New England folks.

In this century, first we will talk about Anne Bradstreet. She was born in North Hampton in Old England in 1612. In 1630, she was on the Arbella with Winthrop and Company as they landed in New England. She was part of New England royalty, almost… her father was a governor and her husband, Simon Bradstreet, was also governor.

And, she was a poet.

She was, in fact, the first American colonial poet. She was the first American woman colonial poet. She was the first American woman colonial poet to be published in Great Britain. She was all kinds of firsts!

She died in Andover, Massachusetts in 1672 and left behind a wonderful legacy of poetry… and you should look up the poems of Anne Bradstreet. I suspect on a future episode we will return to Mistress Bradstreet and her poetry.

Our second poet is Edward Taylor. He was born in 1642 in Old England. He also immigrated to New England. He studied at Cambridge when he was across that side of the Atlantic. Studied at Harvard on this side of the Atlantic. And, ended up at Westfield, Massachusetts as a minister.

He produced two significant bodies of poetry.

One is called Preparatory Meditations. And these he wrote in anticipation of the Lord’s Supper. He’d write them Saturday night. I can almost see him sitting by the fire, all alone in his home, the kids are in bed, and he grabs his ink well and he writes his poems.

He also wrote a 2,102-line poem called God’s Determinations. It’s quite a thing to read, let alone write. So, we have Edward Taylor – a skillful 17th-century theological poet.

We also have, and how could we not mention this man, John Milton. Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained. Born in 1608, died in 1674. We’ve talked about Milton before and I suspect we’ll talk about him again.

I’ll give a shout out to Ben Johnson. He was a contemporary of Shakespeare. We don’t normally think of him as a theological poet, but he was theologically engaged. And, I have to tell you this: if you ever get to Westminster Abbey, you will see the grave slab of Ben Johnson. He is buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey. And, I love the inscription on his grave. It simply says: “Ben Johnson. Oh rare. 1572-1637.”

And there he is… the rare Ben Johnson.

Our last poet is George Herbert. George Herbert was born in Wales in 1593. He died in 1633. He died at the age of 39. He died of what they used to call “consumption”. We know it as Tuberculosis. He was trained at Trinity College Cambridge and he left behind a wonderful legacy of poems. Having only lived 39 years, we need to pause. Most people are just one coming into their own in their 40s and 50s. And Herbert never even made it to his 40th birthday. One of his poems is entitled Sonnet II:

17th century theological poets who displayed God’s majesty in words

Image: Desiring God

Sure, Lord, there is enough in thee to dry

Oceans of ink

For, as the Deluge did

Cover the Earth so doth Thy Majesty.

Each Cloud distills Thy praise

And doth forbid Poets to turn it to another use.

And so these theological poets of the 17th century turned their use to displaying God’s majesty in words.

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(This podcast is by Ligonier Ministries. Discovered by e2 media network and our community — copyright is owned by the publisher, not e2 media network, and audio is streamed directly from their servers.)

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