Roman Catholic literature.^125 Richard Greenham has been acknowledged as the
founding father of Puritan casuistry. He is also representative of the Puritan
awareness of patristic and medieval sources on this subject.^126
Being a physician of the soul requires the blending of contemplation and
action. The contemplative attitude provides the sensitivity and the ability to observe
God’s presence within the life of another person. Contemplation requires patience in
waiting and lingering in God’s presence. Likewise, the soul physician needs to learn
how to linger and wait as he or she spends time with those in need. Further this
awareness must be expanded into the action of guiding the other person who will
possess varying degrees of self-awareness of God. This critical marriage between
contemplation and action has had a long and venerated history throughout Christian
spirituality.^127 Bernard of Clairvaux, who influenced many Puritans, describes this
interaction using Martha and Mary from Luke 10:38-42. Just as these two sisters
lived under the same roof, action and contemplation need to be united not
separated.^128 Thomas Hooker demonstrates a less balanced understanding between
the two sisters revealing the typical Puritan animosity towards the Church of England
(^125) See for example Bozeman, (^) Precisianist Strain, 78-83. For a broader treatment of
Puritan casuistry see McNeill, “Casuistry in the Puritan Age,” 76-89 and Thomas,
“Cases of Conscience,” 29 126 - 56.
Jebb, “Richard Greenham and Troubled Souls”; and Bozeman, On Greenham in general see Parker and Carlson, ‘Practical Divinity,” esp. 97Precisianist Strain-119; ,
129 - 136. On patristic and medieval knowledge of the Puritans see Bozeman,
Precisianist Strain, 77-8, 130-1, 143, 215; McNeill, History of Cure of Souls, 227,
265; McNeill, “Casuistry in the Puritan Age,” 79, 81-2; and Tom Webster, Godly
Clergy 127 , 81, 170.
For examples of this in the first millennium plus of Christian spirituality see
McGinn, Foundations of Mysticism, 225-26, 256-57; Growth of Mysticism, 31-32, 35-
36, 74 (^128) Bernard, -79, 184SCC-85, 218 51.2. cf. McGinn, -23; and Flowering of MysticismGrowth of Mysticism, 14, 222-15, -23. (^)