PURITANISM English Puritanism Associated exclusively with no single

PURITANISM

English Puritanism • Associated exclusively with no single theology or definition of the church (although many were Calvinists), the English Puritans were known at first for their extremely critical attitude regarding the religious compromises made during the reign of Elizabeth I. • Many of them were graduates of Cambridge University, and they became Anglican priests to make changes in their local churches.

English Puritanism Continued • They encouraged direct personal religious experience, sincere moral conduct, and simple worship services. • Worship was the area in which Puritans tried to change things most; their efforts in that direction were sustained by intense theological convictions and definite expectations about how seriously Christianity should be taken as the focus of human existence. The government and the church hierarchy, became increasingly repressive, causing many Puritans to emigrate. English Puritans were classified as Nonconformists.

So. . . They came to “America” America Puritanism • Early in the 17 th century some Puritan groups separated from the Church of England. Among these were the Pilgrims, who in 1620 founded Plymouth Colony. Ten years later, the first major Puritan migration to New England took place. • The Puritans brought strong religious impulses to bear in all colonies north of Virginia, but New England was their stronghold.

THEOCRACY (NO separation between Church and State) • Most of these men held ideas in the mainstream of Calvinistic thought. In addition to believing in the absolute sovereignty of God, the total depravity of man, and the complete dependence of human beings on divine grace for salvation, they stressed the importance of personal religious experience. These Puritans insisted that they, as God's elect, had the duty to direct national affairs according to God's will as revealed in the Bible. This union of church and state to form a holy commonwealth gave Puritanism direct and exclusive control over most colonial activity until commercial and political changes forced them to relinquish it at the end of the 17 th century.

• During the whole colonial period Puritanism had direct impact on both religious thought and cultural patterns in America. In the 19 th century its influence was indirect, but it can still be seen at work stressing the importance of education in religious leadership and demanding that religious motivations be tested by applying them to practical situations.

TERMINOLOGY • Puritans did not originally, by and large, use the term for themselves. It was a term of abuse that first surfaced in the 1560 s. "Recusants, " "Precisemen, " and "Precisions" were other early antagonistic terms for Puritans who preferred to call themselves "the godly. " The word "Puritan" was thus always a descriptor of a type of religious belief, rather than a particular religious sect. Scholars today increasingly prefer to use the term as a common noun or adjective: "puritan" rather than "Puritan. "

Terminology Continued • The term was used by the group itself mainly in the sixteenth century, though it seems to have been used often and, in its earliest recorded instances, as a term of abuse. By the middle of the 17 th century, the group had become so divided that "Puritan" was most often used by opponents and detractors of the group, rather than by the practitioners themselves. • These radicals were looked down on by the dominant faction in the Church of England were given the name "Puritan", in mockery of the radicals' apparent obsession with "purifying" the Church.

Beliefs • The central tenet of Puritanism was God's supreme authority over human affairs, particularly in the church, and especially as expressed in the Bible. This view led them to seek both individual and corporate conformance to the teaching of the Bible, and it led them to pursue both moral purity down to the smallest detail as well as ecclesiastical purity to the highest level. • On the individual level, the Puritans emphasized that each person should be continually reformed by the grace of God to fight against indwelling sin and do what is right before God. A humble and obedient life would arise for every Christian.

• The Puritans believed that the worship of the church ought to be strictly regulated by what is commanded in the Bible. The Puritans condemned as many worship practices regardless of the practices' antiquity or widespread adoption among Christians, which their opponents defended with tradition (they called it idolatry). • They eliminated the use of musical instruments in their worship services, for various theological and practical reasons.

• Other notable beliefs include: • An emphasis on private study of the Bible. • A desire to see education and enlightenment for the masses (especially so they could read the Bible for themselves) • The priesthood of all believers. • Perception of the Pope as an Antichrist. • Simplicity in worship, the exclusion of vestments, images, candles, etc.

Other beliefs that might be of interest: • Typology: The belief that God's intentions are present in human action and in natural phenomenon. Failure to understand these intentions are human limitations. Puritans believed in cyclical or repetitive history; they use "types" - Moses prefigures Jesus, Jonah's patience is reflected in Jesus' ordeal on the cross, and Moses' journey out of Egypt is played out in the Pilgrims' crossing of the Atlantic. God's wrath and reward are also present in natural phenomena like flooding, bountiful harvest, the invasion of locusts, and the lightening striking a home. Don’t laugh. . . Can you think of others that are current and believed?

Still More. . . • MANIFEST DESTINY: The concept of manifest destiny is as old as the first New England settlements. Without using the words, John Winthrop articulated the concept in his famous sermon (1630), when he said: ". . . for we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; . . . " Winthrop exhorts his listeners to carry on God's mission and to set a shining example for the rest of the world. From this beginning, the concept has had religious, social, economic, and political consequences. The belief was that God was rewarding the Puritans with prosperous and healthy land.

• Backsliding: The belief that "saved" believers, those with visible signs of grace, can fall into temptation and become sinners. To prevent this, believers were expected not to become smug, do constant soulsearching, be introspective, and pray constantly. Satan was particularly interested in snaring such believers.

Modern Usage • In modern usage, the word puritan is often used as an informal pejorative for someone who has strict views on sexual morality, disapproves of recreation, and wishes to impose these beliefs on others. None of these qualities were unique to Puritanism or universally characteristic of the Puritans themselves, whose moral views and ascetic tendencies were no more extreme than many other Protestant reformers of their time, and who were relatively tolerant of other faiths — at least in England. The popular image is slightly more accurate as a description of Puritans in colonial America, who were among the most radical Puritans and whose social experiment took the form of a Calvinist theocracy.

Function of Puritan Writers • 1. To transform a mysterious God - mysterious because he is separate from the world. • 2. To make him more relevant to the universe. • 3. To glorify God.

Style of Puritan Writing • 1. Protestant - against ornateness; reverence for the Bible. • 2. Purposiveness - there was a purpose to Puritan writing - described on last slide. • 3. Puritan writing reflected the character and scope of the reading public, which was literate and well-grounded in religion.

Common Themes in Early Puritan Writing • 1. Idealism - both religious and political. • 2. Pragmaticism - practicality and purposiveness.

THE END • Puritans had good intentions and wanted to keep people safe, healthy and loving God. • They believed they had a responsibility of a chosen one – the elect – to glorify God and make Him proud.