The Puritans often get a bad rap, generally characterized as dour, legalistic, and obsessed

with sin and punishment.

But despite being so prevalent, such of you isn't actually all that accurate.

In short, there's a lot more to the Puritans than you might think.

Today I'm talking to Tim Cooper, a church historian who spent his professional life studying

one of the most important Puritans of the 17th century, Richard Baxter.

We dive into the fascinating history behind Baxter's rise to prominence in his own day, explore his unique approach to

pastoral ministry, and discuss what lessons modern Christians, especially church leaders,

can learn from his example today. Let's get started. Well, Tim, thank you so much for joining

me today on the Crossfly podcast.

It's a pleasure, mate. Great to talk to you about Richard Bexter.

So you're a well-known Puritan scholar, someone who spent a lot of time getting to know a group of Christian leaders and thinkers and pastors from history who often, I think I had to have to say, get a bad

rap a little bit. They're not, they're not necessarily the, in the way that they're described,

always given a super positive light. So I'm curious if you could explain a little bit how you got

into studying the Puritans. Well, look, Matt, to be honest, it was just providential.

Richard Baxter was such a good choice for a PhD topic, but I really can't claim any credit

for it.

I was here in New Zealand.

I just wanted to do a PhD in history.

I was interested in the Reformation,

and I went to the lecturer who might supervise something on the Reformation, and he had Richard

Baxter's unpublished letters and papers on seven microfilm reels, and he pointed at those,

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