Ranters

religious sect

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July 13, 2026

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The Ranters were a radical English religious sect active in the 17th century. They held extreme beliefs, including that believers were free from traditional restraints and that sin was merely a product of imagination. They also believed private ownership of property was wrong. Laurence Claxton, a preacher and pamphleteer, was a prominent leader of this group. The term "ranter" can also refer to a noisy, bombastic speaker or, in derision, to members of certain Methodist groups known for their fervent preaching. Ranterism refers to the practices and beliefs of this sect.123

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Ranterism
Laurence Claxton
ranter

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- Laurence Claxton
  …religious sect known as the Ranters.
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  …religious sect known as the Ranters.
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- Christianity
  Protestant Christianity
  The Ranters provide a good example of the conflict between mysticism and established religion. They held, with Fox and Hendrik Niclaes, that perfection is possible in this life. Puritan leaders under the Commonwealth denounced them for their “blasphemous and execrable opinions,” and there was, no doubt,…
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  The Ranters provide a good example of the conflict between mysticism and established religion. They held, with Fox and Hendrik Niclaes, that perfection is possible in this life. Puritan leaders under the Commonwealth denounced them for their “blasphemous and execrable opinions,” and there was, no doubt,…
  Read More

United Kingdom
Commonwealth and Protectorate
…were mystics, such as the Ranters, led by Laurence Claxton, who believed that they were infused with a holy spirit that removed sin from even their most reprehensible acts. The most enduring of these groups were the Quakers (Society of Friends), whose social radicalism was seen in their refusal to…
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…were mystics, such as the Ranters, led by Laurence Claxton, who believed that they were infused with a holy spirit that removed sin from even their most reprehensible acts. The most enduring of these groups were the Quakers (Society of Friends), whose social radicalism was seen in their refusal to…
Read More
English literature
Prose styles
…Law of Freedom (1652); and Ranters, whose language and syntax were as disruptive as the libertinism they professed. The outstanding examples are Milton’s tracts against the bishops (1641–42), which revealed an unexpected talent for scurrilous abuse and withering sarcasm. Milton’s later pamphlets—on divorce, education, and free speech (Areopagitica, 1644) and…
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…Law of Freedom (1652); and Ranters, whose language and syntax were as disruptive as the libertinism they professed. The outstanding examples are Milton’s tracts against the bishops (1641–42), which revealed an unexpected talent for scurrilous abuse and withering sarcasm. Milton’s later pamphlets—on divorce, education, and free speech (Areopagitica, 1644) and…
Read More