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Strangers and Pilgrims bookCF
Mayflower pilgrims remembered in new book

It is 400 years since the Mayflower's pioneering voyage, which saw the Pilgrims sailing to America to seek religious freedom. A Norwich author is editing a book, to be published later this year, to commemorate this anniversary.
 

Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth: Remembering the Mayflower Pilgrims, 1620 – 2020 will be available in November and is now available to pre-order.
 
The idea for writing this came from a little book that was given to Dr John Clements, the pastor of the Old Meeting House Congregational Church, it had been published in Norwich in 1920 by Jarrold’s of Norwich, to mark the 300th anniversary of the Pilgrim Fathers.
 
John said, "I wonder how many of us know about this period of Christian history. It is estimated that around 38 million Americans today can trace their ancestors back to the Pilgrim Fathers, many of whom came from Norwich and Norfolk."
 
Jonathan Piesse, a historian who attends St Andrews Church in Norwich is one of the many contributors to the book. John Robinson, who became the Pastor to the Pilgrim Fathers for a short time was a minister at St Andrews Church. Jonathan’s contribution covers the teachings of Robinson which were very instrumental in developing the Christian Church in America.
 
Another English contributor is Adrian Grey from Retford. He is an English historian who organises Christian tours which cover the places in England associated with the Pilgrim Fathers.
 
The other contributors come both sides of the Atlantic and consist of Church Pastors and University Professors.  The book will also feature a special essay by the late Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
 
John Clements has been invited to write the introduction and Prof Michael Haykin and Dr Roy Paul are co-editing the book with him. The book is being published in Peterborough, Canada by H&E Publishers.
 
Chapters will include the life of the Pilgrims in Holland; the voyage in 1620; William Bradford; William Brewster; the Mayflower Compact; the relevance of Thanksgiving Day; the encounter with the Indians; the Pilgrim Mothers; and several on the spirituality of the Pilgrim Fathers.
 
It is hoped to have a special book launch in November but until the current lockdown is over this cannot be finalised. Please watch out for further details.

About the book

Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth: Remembering the Mayflower Pilgrims, 1620–2020
As in other histories, the history of Christianity has certain key turning-points after which the flow of historical events is profoundly transformed. Some of these moments of transition—well expressed by the Greek term kairos—are immediately pellucid to the student of church history: the Constantinian Revolution, the rise of the heresy of Islam, the Reformation, the Great Awakening. While not as immediately obvious as these turning-points, the sailing for America in 1620 of those whom historians have called the Pilgrims needs to be reckoned as a key event in the story of both the American nation and American Christianity. To be sure, there are some today who dispute its central role in the founding of America, yet generations of historians have accorded it a key place in that story, and it is in line with this older interpretation that this book of essays has been written. The various essays in this anniversary volume remember the manifold details of this historic voyage in an attempt to inform and even inspire the modern Christian as he or she seeks to be a faithful pilgrim to that heavenly country that was ever in the mind of the men and women whom these essays recall.

Now available for pre-order: https://hesedandemet.com/mayflower


Pictured above: an image from the book cover
 

Helen Baldry, 15/07/2020

Helen Baldry
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