A History of the Congregational Churches in the United States

Seeking freedom from religious oppression and the corrupting influence of foreign cities, William Brewster led a fledgling group of 18 religious dissenters up the gangplank of the Mayflower and sailed for Plymouth. Called Separatists in their native England, they became known as Congregationalists in the New World—and their churches dominated the landscape of New England for three centuries. Williston Walker details these inauspicious origins and tracks the growth of Congregationalism in colonial America and beyond, accenting the social influence and theological ingenuity that made the movement a galvanizing force in American history.