Sources & Further Reading for The City on the Hill

Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion.1536. Translated by Henry Beveridge, 1845.This foundational theological text introduces Calvin’s views on predestination, total depravity, and divine sovereignty. It is the central doctrine informing Calvinist influence in later Protestant thought and American Puritanism.Read online at CCEL.org »
Winthrop, John. “A Model of Christian Charity.”1630.This sermon outlines the vision for the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a “city upon a hill,” reflecting early American adoption of Calvinist-infused communal ideals and moral expectations.Full text via National Humanities Center »

Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.Translated by Talcott Parsons. New York: Scribner, 1930.Weber connects Protestant (especially Calvinist) theology to the emergence of capitalism, arguing that doctrines like predestination encouraged disciplined labor and personal moral performance.Internet Archive Link »
Noll, Mark A. America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln.New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.Noll traces how Calvinist theology adapted in the U.S. context and how deeply it influenced political and social ideologies.Oxford University Press »
Hatch, Nathan O. The Democratization of American Christianity.New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.Explores how revivalism and grassroots religious movements shaped American notions of righteousness and public morality.Yale Press »

Guelzo, Allen C. “Calvinist Roots of American Individualism.”Christianity Today, October 2000.A more favorable view arguing that Calvinism helped lay the groundwork for liberty and individual rights in the American context.Read on Christianity Today »
Lerner, Gerda. “The Puritan Roots of the American Work Ethic.”Excerpt from The Creation of Patriarchy. Oxford University Press, 1986.Links Calvinist influence with early American attitudes toward labor, gender roles, and moral hierarchies.Gerda Lerner profile »

Piper, John. “Calvinism: A Cause for Rejoicing.”Desiring God, 2009.Piper defends Calvinism as a doctrine that uplifts God’s sovereignty and grace, rejecting the claim that it produces guilt-driven moralism.Read at Desiring God »
Taylor, Charles. A Secular Age.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007.While not directly about Calvinism, Taylor critiques how Western moral frameworks evolved post-Reformation, often shedding the spiritual core while retaining the disciplinary logic.Harvard University Press »