Awakening Moses

Awakening Moses offers the first full-length study of how Puritans used the Old Testament as a legal and political text in early New England. Drawing on numerous overlooked archives, Awakening Moses unearths the rise and fall of the Puritans’ bold attempt to create a polity modeled after ancient Israel. Much of the literature tends to downplay the significance of this phenomenon, dismissing it as an aberrational, marginal, or failed endeavor. By contrast, I argue that Old Testament politics played a central role in Puritanism and reflected an impactful effort to reform society in line with Scriptural precedent. Amid a resurgence of Christian nationalism in America, Awakening Moses offers a timely reminder of both the possibilities—and the limitations—of living biblically in the modern world.