Dennis C. Bustin 
Champions of Choice and Change 
Religious Dissent in Seventeenth-Century England and the Rise of Democratic Ideals in Western Society

Champions of Choice and Change examines the role of seventeenth-century English dissenting religious groups and the rise of democratic ideals in western society. Many people assume that the French philosophers whose ideas and writings gave rise to the Revolution in France were the creators and initiators of the democratic theories which would shape, order, and give direction to modern Western society as it developed. This work argues otherwise, claiming that such advances–ideas related to equality, choice, political involvement, education, enabling and inclusion of women, religious liberty/toleration–occurred first, not in the secular context of late eighteenth-century Enlightenment France, but in the spiritual context of radical and/or dissenting religious groups in Stuart England over a century earlier, shaped by previous ideas of the European Reformers.

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Dennis C. Bustin’s early studies concentrated on New Testament studies and backgrounds.He earned an MDiv with a focus on the New Testament from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, after which he completed a Th M at Harvard University in Greco-Roman and Jewish backgrounds of the New Testament. Following this, Dennis shifted his attention to British/European history, receiving an MA and Ph D, from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. His research concentrates on the Stuart era of British history, particularly on dissenting religion. His first book, Paradox and Perseverance, examined the life and thought of Hanserd Knollys, one of the founders of the Particular Baptists in London. Dennis is currently Associate Professor of History at Crandall University in Moncton, NB, Canada, where he resides with his wife Diane.