Closely related is the question of continuities and discontinuities between the
Roman Catholic and Puritan approaches to meditation.^57 This is a significant
question, as it will guide my reading of Ambrose more accurately. A certain amount
of overlap would be expected since at least initially Puritans were dependent upon
Roman Catholic sources.^58 One of the more vivid demonstrations of this is Edmund
Bunny’s bowdlerization of Jesuit Robert Parsons’ First Book of Christian Exercise
(1582). However, this example also illustrates that Puritan writers never borrowed
Roman Catholic works wholesale.^59 There was always the necessity of theological
fine-tuning to remove offensive papist passages to Protestant theology. In fact,
Bunny’s changes while somewhat restrained demonstrated his ignorance of Parson’s
more nuanced Roman Catholic theology.^60 This incensed Parsons to such a degree
that he devoted twenty-four pages in a later volume refuting them.^61 Further, while
both groups might employ the same components they often approach them from very
different angles. Therefore, the respective approaches to meditation can be
summarized around nine significant areas.^62 Generalizations are always prone to
(^57) While Puritans and Anglicans shared a common distaste for Roman Catholics there
were numerous discontinuities between these two branches of Protestants in their
practice of (^58) For an opposing view minimizing the Roman Catholic influence on Puritan piety meditation. See McGee, “Conversion and Imitation of Christ.”
see Campbell, 59 Religion of the Heart, 42-4, cf. 68 for greater receptivity to this.
Bozeman, Precisianist Strain, 76. See de Reuver, Sweet Communion, for Willem
Teellinck’s revision of a’ Kempis’ Imitation of Christ to fit Reformed sensibilities.
116n40. 60
Houliston, “Edmund Bunny’s Theft of Book of Resolution,” compare 169 with 163-
4, 173. (^61) Parsons, (^) Christian Directory, Preface [4-27]. Parsons previously declared that
Bunny “greatly perverted and corrupted” his work. Christian Directory, To the
Reader [7], cf. Preface [2]. For a good overview of the scholarship related to Bunny’s
pirating of Parsons’ work see Houliston, “Edmund Bunny’s Theft of Book of
Resolution 62 .”
This summary comparison is a composite from the following sources plus my
reading of the primary sources: Horton Davies, Worship and Theology in England,
2:68Kaufmann, -132; Knott, Pilgrim’s Progress in Puritan MeditationSword of the Spirit; 7 9 - 81; Lewalski, , 125Protestant Poetics-8, 206-7, 215; Lovelace, , 148-67;