In Revolution of the Saints, Michael Walzer provides an account of the dramatic socio-political changes wrought by Puritan radicals in the English revolution of 1640. Calvinists clergy are labeled ôrootless intellectualsö by Walzer (p. 8) and the individuals who follow them as ôself-disciplined agents of social and political reconstruction.ö The revolution of citizen-saints represented a risky experilent in political and social relations, fueled by a worth ethic ethos that sought profit and would serve as the foundation of capitalism and Protestantism in the U.S. colonies.
The new breed of political activity that unfolded in England during the revolution of 1640 was brought about by what Walzer (p. 4) labels ôcitizen-saints,ö a group of individuals who were committed to a political ideal that they strove by hard labor to achieve. Nevertheless, despite a work ethic that was made legitimate by the pursuit of profit, the citizen-saints were ultimately guided by a belief in their faith and the acceptance that they were a chosen people of God. As Walzer (p. 291) writes, ôWhat finally made men revolutionaries, however, was not only this secret preparation, but an increasingly secure feeling that the saints did know the purposes of God, a more open and direct reinforcement of their pride and contentiousness.ö
The men who led this revolution were not all clergy. However, all individuals involved in leading the revolution embraced the ideology of Calvinism that was a distinct separation from the traditional political structure of feudalism prior to this point. In addition to devotion, commitment, and religious faith, these individuals combined spiritual worthiness with the requirement to succeed in worldly and materialistic pursuits in their ideology. Though Walzer (p. 12-13) maintains that the pursuit of wealth is condemned in a number of Protestant writings during the sixteenth and se
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