This is a study of the most fascinating and idiosyncratic of all seventeenth-century figures: Thomas Totney (1608-1659), a London puritan, goldsmith and veteran of the Civil War. In November 1649, after fourteen weeks of self-abasement, fasting and prayer, Totney experienced a profound spiritual transformation and declared himself TheaurauJohn Tany, 'a Jew of the Tribe of Reuben' descended from Aaron the High Priest. During his prophetic phase Tany enacted a millenarian mission to restore the Jews to their own land and wrote a number of remarkable but elusive works. By contextualizing and then unraveling the mind of this exceptional person, this book provides a clearer view of what it was like living in the wake of the English Revolution, when freed men and women spoke their minds and challenged the times.

Ariel Hessayon is Lecturer in the History Department at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.

Contents: Introduction: TheaurauJohn Tany and the English Revolution. Part I Genesis: Genesis; The bitterness of the godly; The wilderness of Zin; Birth of the Prophet. Part II Genealogy of the High Priest: TheaurauJohn; Genealogy of the High Priest; Justice; Hell. Part III King of the Jews: King of the Jews; Canonical and extra-canonical sources; Son of the morning stars; The book of Theos-ologi according to TheaurauJohn; To your tents, O Israel; Gold Tried in the Fire. Bibliography; Indexes.