We began this book by highlighting two dominant images of our subject – Goodwin ‘a man by himself’, and Goodwin ‘a harbinger of the Lockean age’. We have seen that the first image is seriously misleading. Goodwin had many enemies, but he also had numerous allies. Although he developed a distinctive intellectual profile that did not fit neatly into any of the major ideological blocs of his day, there was nothing eccentric or unintelligible about his ideas. Many contemporaries shared his congregationalism, tolerationism, Arminianism and republicanism, though few combined them all at once. Anglicans who warmed to his theology deplored his politics; Independents who liked his ecclesiology blanched at his doctrine.

But far from being an isolated maverick, Goodwin was always well connected to significant networks. In his Cambridge days, he was inducted into the spiritual brotherhood of Puritan clergy. For the best part of three decades, he was one of the major voices of Puritan London, a man with many ties to merchants and politicians, intellectuals and artisans. Throughout the revolutionary years, he enjoyed the passionate support of a large and gifted congregation that played an active role in the events of 1648–49 and was a significant force in City politics. He and his followers worked closely with the Saye-St John faction at Westminster and with other City Independents, and endured a troubled relationship with the Levellers. In the 1650s, Goodwin's anti-Calvinist books created a stir at Oxford and Cambridge, and he was at the heart of a developing network of Arminian Puritans.