This week in Christian history: ‘Martyr Synod,’ John Wesley attacked, Puritan leader dies

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, August 20, 2023

Thomas Shepard dies – Aug. 25, 1649

Thomas Shepard (1605-1649), a Puritan minister and writer. | digitalpuritan.net

This week marks the anniversary of when prominent colonial era Puritan minister and theologian Thomas Shepard died of an illness in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at age 43.

A native of Towcester, England, Shepard was originally ordained in the established Church of England but faced harassment for his non-conformist religious viewpoints.

Shepard immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1635, and served as a preacher at a church in Cambridge where he became renowned for his writings on various theological topics.

Shepard is also credited with helping to found Harvard and being a factor in the Ivy League school being established in Cambridge, according to Monergism.com.

Famous works of his included New England's Lamentations for Old England's Errors (1645), The Clear Sunshine of the Gospel Breaking out on the Indians of New England (1648), Theses Sabbatica (1649), several sermons published in England and an autobiography.