This study explores two central themes related to Puritan warfare. I termed the first ‘godly violence’ and the second ‘military providentialism’. Godly violence was a way of thinking about the act of killing; military providentialism an interpretive practice in war. As such, godly violence was embedded within the broader category of military providentialism. Of the first, this was violence performed by ‘the godly’, believed to be godly and thought to involve God as an active participant. Military providentialism (before, during and after war) helped partisans differentiate godly from ungodly, just from unjust – and this pertained to persons, causes and actions. This chapter sets the stage for the case studies by overviewing providentialism, with a particular focus on how these beliefs related to politics and war. The next chapter spells out how this study of military providentialism undergirds a deeper understanding of the relationship between justice and holiness in war.

Early modern beliefs about providence were relatively similar across Christian confessions. As noted by Barbara Donagan, ‘Puritan providentialism was doctrinally indistinguishable from Anglican or Catholic’. She continues: ‘The intensity of Puritan providentialism did not … derive from a new or distinctive doctrine. It was Augustinian as well as Calvinist, and Puritan preachers acknowledged it to be so’. There were subtle differences in how Puritans held and articulated these shared beliefs. As Mark Noll noted about providentialism in the American Civil War: ‘With these convictions, the chorus, though singing different notes, sang them all in the same way’.

The case studies address a central question: What did the godly say God did in war; and how did they claim to know? Each decisive victory occasioned hundreds – sometimes thousands – of uses of Scripture and theology. ‘The number of possible interpretations of providence was potentially limitless’, writes Geoffrey Browell. Each victory might be viewed radially – spawning an increasing number of interpretations that often pointed in opposite directions. Partisans in each conflict made dozens of claims about how they knew particulars about the will and agency of God. The chapters bear witness to the immense energy and creativity that went into their dynamic and richly textured beliefs.