Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About The Puritans



Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About The Puritans!

I. Puritan background information

1. 1620 – a group of religions reformers, The Puritans, sail from England to the New World aboard the Mayflower

2. These religious reformers wanted to purify or “clean up” the Church of England; therefore, they became known as PURITANS.

3. Big Puritan Goal: to establish a “City on the Hill.” This would be a community guided entirely by the Bible, called a theocracy (a form of government where the State is under the guidance of God…no separation of Church and State here!)

4. RELIGION AFFECTED EVERY ASPECT OF PURITAN LIFE! Life was all about avoiding sin, condemning those who did sin, and trying to achieve salvation (or, life with God after death)

5. Puritans believe in the Adam & Eve story…the ORIGINAL SIN. This also makes them believe we were all born sinners!

6. If we were all sinners by nature, Puritans believed that only through continual hard work and self-discipline could we achieve goodness!

7. What is Puritan literature like? Hmm…no surprise: very religious and practical in nature. (Sermons, hymns, histories, biographies, etc) Since religion dominated their lives, religion dominated their writings!

P.S. Puritans never wrote any fiction or drama! Both were regarded as sinful!

8. Puritans were well-educated. In 1636, they even founded Harvard University! (Have to have educated ministers, you know…)

9. WITCH TRIALS!!! Yes, these religious people were quite responsible for the witch scares, trials & deaths of the late 1600s…a good example of beliefs going too far, and making you closed minded.

10. Did I mention? Puritans = purify = very religious! (And often intolerant of others.)

Summary (this is what YOUR summaries should look like! This is a SKILL!!!)

In 1620, a group of religious reformers called the Puritans came to the New World from England. They wanted to “purify” the Church of England. They wanted to create a community run under a theocracy, which is where all decisions are made under the name of God. Their entire life involved religion. The Puritans believed in the “original sin”, which makes us all born sinners! They believed that we could escape this sin through very hard work and self-discipline. Puritan literature is also very religious. They even believed that fiction writing was sinful. The Puritans were very well-educated and even founded Harvard University. Their religion also led to some weird things as well, like the Salem Witch Trials. Unfortunately, the Puritans were very intolerant of other groups of people.

II. Basic Puritan Beliefs

1. TOTAL DEPRAVITY – through Adam’s fall, every human is born sinful – concept of Original Sin.

2. UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION – God “saves” those he wishes; only a few are chosen for life after death in the Kingdom of Heaven – concept of predestination.

3. LIMITED ATONEMENT – Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone…

4. IRRESISTIBLE GRACE – God’s grace is freely given; it cannot be earned or denied. (It’s just there, like the Native Americans believed all living things have a spirit that connects them.) “Grace” is the saving, healing & inspiring power of God.

5. IMPORTANCE OF THE “SAINTS” – those elected by God have FULL POWER to interpret the will of God (uh-oh…giving only a few people lots of power…bad idea!) Those elected were to live uprightly, and to reject the grace of God is going against God’s will ( a GIGANTIC no-no!!!)

III. The Function/Purpose of Puritan Writers

1. To make God accessible to ordinary humans while still preserving God’s mystery. (God is “mysterious” because he is separate from the world as we know it.)

2. To make God more relevant to the universe (makes us see how important he is in our day-to-day functions)

3. To GLORIFY/praise God.

IV. Forces Undermining Puritanism (Why it eventually failed…)

1. Most humans have an inborn natural desire to do good; this goes against the idea of Predestination.

2. People disliked the closed, strict Puritan lifestyle.

3. People resented the power of the few over the many.

4. Change in economic conditions – growth of fisheries, farms, industries, etc.

5. Presence of Puritan DISSENTERS (disagreers), like Anne Hutchinson & Roger Williams.

6. The presence of the FRONTIER – lures people away, and the people of the Frontier had to be self-reliant, individualistic & optimistic to survive (opposite of Puritan goals – to rely on God, communal-style living, and focus on locating & eliminating any and all sin.)

7. Change in political conditions – Massachusetts, huge Puritan colony, becomes British Crown colony.

8. Growth in Rationality – use of the mind to know God rather than using the Bible to know God.

9. DIVERSITY of the new immigrants!

V. Signs of Puritan Decay Amongst the Puritans Themselves!

1. PRIDE

2. Hereticks (people who preached the opposite of the Puritan ways/beliefs) – Quakers & Anabaptists

3. Not keeping holy the Sabbath day!

4. Swearing and sleeping during church and sermons!

5. Decay among family units (darn it! Thos dang women didn’t want to be treated like property anymore!)

6. Discontent/petty people – seen in the rise of lawsuits and lawyers

7. Sins of sex and alcohol on the increase.

8. Decay in business morals – lying, cheating, underpaid workers, etc.

9. Lack of interest in reforming.

10. Lack of “proper” social behavior.

VI. Signs of Puritanism Today – Some Good, Some bad!

1. The need for moral justification for the acts of government.

2. The questioning for FREEDOM – political, personal, economic & social.

3. The importance of HARD WORK ETHIC

4. Concerns, even fear, regarding DEATH.

5. Judgmental tendencies.

6. Worries & fears about SINS – is it sinful to be naked? Is sex a bad thing? What do you do to do to get to heaven? Etc.

So, in a nutshell, take 3-4 sentences to sum up The Puritans in your own words:

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