When was puritanism

Some scholars have called this form of government a theocracy. To understand the Puritans and the nature of their society, it is necessary to grasp some of the theological principles of Calvinism.

He reasoned that since God has infinite power and knowledge He knows everything that has ever occurred in the universe and everything that will occur. Thus, since God knows what every human on earth has done and will do, He already knows who is predestined to receive His grace, have a conversion experience, and spend eternity in heaven.

No person can change what is predestined so free will plays no role in the process of salvation. The clergy advised their church members that they should pray, study the Bible, and hope to receive grace, but they also must accept that if an individual is not predestined to be saved, there is nothing that he or she can do to save themselves. When a person receives grace, he or she is quiet aware of the powerful experience, and a congregation is made up of those joyful converted souls whom they call saints.

Many may have lived very virtuous lives, but if they do not experience grace and conversion, they will not be saved. While a large percentage of the first arrivals were saints, many of their children were not. To be sure that the church leaders were not fooled into admitting hypocrites who give false testimony of their conversion, the clergy required applicants for membership to give a detailed personal narrative of their conversion experience before the congregation and answer questions.

Because many who did not experience grace became discouraged, the clergy tried to find ways to encourage good behavior even as they knew that only the few were predestined for salvation. This problem of controlling the disgruntled and unconverted produced many problems for the colony. Although most of those who migrated to America in shared a common Calvinist theology and the experience of having been persecuted in England for their faith, there was by no means unanimity regarding how they would practice their religion.

Each congregation was autonomous and followed the rules of its own written covenant, and each minister had his own ideas on how to apply the various doctrines of Calvinism. As the colony grew, increasing numbers did not embrace Calvinism at all or even Christianity.

Different dissenting groups and sects arose including Quakers, Anabaptists, Millenarians, Baptists, Familists, Enthusiasts, and Antinomians. The Congregationalists sought to purge these other groups from the colony, and they agreed with Rev. Such problems with religious diversity only increased with time. The most serious and destructive case of dissent arose from within the original group of settlers and involved a very prominent family. Having immigrated to Boston in to follow their minister John Cotton, Anne and William Hutchinson quickly became prominent figures in the community.

William was elected deputy to the Massachusetts Court, and Anne continued her community service as a nurse midwife and spiritual adviser to women. As people grew weary of not receiving grace and others faked conversion experiences, all the clergy could do was to encourage people to pray, study the scriptures, and await grace and conversion. But this doctrine was frustrating for many who felt that living a virtues life of good deeds should count for something toward receiving grace and salvation.

When the Reverend John Wilson, who was the pastor of the congregation in which Cotton was the teacher, seemed to go too far in the direction of suggesting that good works might lead to salvation, the Hutchinsons were disturbed. Disturbed by what she heard as heresy, Anne began to hold weekly meetings in her home to discuss theology. She and her husband gathered others who sought to oust Reverend John Wilson, but the clergy closed ranks and declared Hutchinson to be the heretic.

Unlike her husband, she refused to recant her opinion and was subjected to a sensational trial that included suggestions that she was in love with John Cotton. Cotton was forced to condemn her, and she was excommunicated.

When she and her family were banished in , they moved to Rhode Island for five years and then to New York where all of her family but one was killed in an Indian raid.

While the Hutchinson case is the most famous of many theological and political upheavals that occurred in the first decades of the colonies, Roger Williams was also disturbed by the preparation doctrine, and he disputed the use being made of Biblical typology to construct such notions as the Puritans being the new Chosen People and Boston being the new Zion.

In addition, he challenged the role of the clergy in political and judicial issues as he believed in the separation of church and state, and he deeply opposed the taking of land from the Native peoples without compensation. Yet another leading clergyman, Thomas Hooker, became involved in a major dispute with John Winthrop over political franchise. While Winthrop held that only those who had been converted could be church members, vote, and participate in the government, Hooker held that any adult male property holder should be able to vote and hold office regardless of church membership.

Hooker lost this argument and moved his congregation to Connecticut. The peaceful utopia that Winthrop envisioned never became a reality as such internal conflicts and divisions kept the community in turmoil much of the time. In spite of these internal problems, however, visitors to New England in the s described the flourishing agricultural communities of pious, hardworking families where the church and the state appeared to cooperate in governance.

The first recognition of such links was proposed by the German sociologist and economist Max Weber who argued in his book, The Protestant Ethic and the Rise of Capitalism , that the Calvinist emphasis on hard work and good deeds as the signs of a model citizen laid the foundation for the emergence of capitalism in the late eighteen century. In , the Puritan dissenters in England overthrew the monarchy and executed Charles I, and Oliver Cromwell governed the Protectorate in the s.

Immigration to New England accelerated after the Puritans lost power in England, but tensions arose again when the newcomers could not meet the strict standards for conversion and church membership and were denied land and voting rights that were reserved for the converted. Such privileges were also withheld from those adult children and grandchildren of the original settlers who had not experienced a conversion experience. While the clergy tried to sustain the original Calvinist doctrines and principles, bitter divisions occurred and many of the older church members began to demand that their offspring be granted church membership so that they, rather than outsiders, would benefit from the wealth of the colony.

A rancorous synod church council was held in and the Half-Way Covenant doctrine was devised to allow for grandchildren of the founders to be baptized even if their parents were not converted. The s marked a significant transition from the corporate assurance and religious fervor and a decline of confidence in the churches and communities that ensued.

This war with the Wampanoag people, whose leader, Metacomet, was known as Philip to the English, resulted in the loss of ten percent of the soldiers on each side as well as the loss of many civilians, making it one of the bloodiest wars ever in North America. In spite of their reassurances at the end of their jeremiads, the clergy and the older church members began to lament the continuing decline of fervor within the congregations.

Over time, the Pilgrims who clung to Plymouth's rocky shores were absorbed into the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Like the Pilgrims, the Puritans believed that the Church of England needed to be reformed, but they elected to remain within the church, rather than separate from it. They arrived by the thousands, then the tens of thousands, building a thriving religious community that profoundly shaped American ideas of liberty of conscience, the nature of individual spiritual experience and the notion of Americans as a chosen people.

The Pilgrims' legacy is less robust, yet they live on in historical memory, immortalized by a national holiday that commemorates their thanksgiving, but forgets the hardships they suffered and their eventual betrayal of their Indian allies.

Like the Pilgrims, the Puritans were English Protestants who believed that the reforms of the Church of England did not go far enough.

In their view, the liturgy was still too Catholic. Bishops lived like princes. Ecclesiastical courts were corrupt. Because the king of England was head of both church and state, the Puritans' opposition to religious authority meant they also defied the civil authority of the state. In , the Puritans set sail for America. Unlike the Pilgrims who had left 10 years earlier, the Puritans did not break with the Church of England, but instead sought to reform it.

Seeking comfort and reassurance in the Bible, they imagined themselves re-enacting the story of the Exodus. Onboard the flagship Arbella , their leader John Winthrop reminded them of their duties and obligations under the covenant. If they honored their obligations to God, they would be blessed; if they failed, they would be punished. Life was hard, but in this stern and unforgiving place they were free to worship as they chose. The Bible was central to their worship.

Their church services were simple. The organ and all musical instruments were forbidden. Puritans sang psalms a cappella. The Puritans believed God had chosen a few people, "the elect," for salvation. The rest of humanity was condemned to eternal damnation. Some Puritans emigrated to the New World and established colonies built around churches that fit those beliefs. Some Puritans believed in total separation from the Anglican Church, while others simply sought reform and wished to remain a part of the church.

The belief that the church should not have any rituals or ceremonies not found in the Bible united the two factions. They believed that the government should enforce morals and punish behavior such as drunkenness and swearing. However, Puritans did believe in religious freedom and generally respected the differences in belief systems of those outside the Church of England.

Some of the major disputes between the Puritans and the Anglican Church regarded the beliefs that priests should not wear vestments clerical clothing , that ministers should actively spread the word of God, and that the church hierarchy of bishops, archbishops, etc.

Regarding their relationships with God, Puritans believed that salvation was entirely up to God and that God had chosen only a select few to be saved, yet no one could know if they were among this group. They also believed that each person should have a personal covenant with God. The Puritans were influenced by Calvinism and adopted its beliefs in predestination and the sinful nature of man.

Puritans believed that all people must live by the Bible and should have a deep familiarity with the text. To achieve this, Puritans placed a strong emphasis on literacy and education. Puritanism first emerged in the 16th and 17th centuries in England as a movement to remove all vestiges of Catholicism from the Anglican Church. The Anglican Church first separated from Catholicism in , but when Queen Mary took the throne in , she reverted it to Catholicism.

Under Mary, many Puritans faced exile. This threat and the increasing prevalence of Calvinism—which provided support for their viewpoint—further strengthened Puritan beliefs. In , Queen Elizabeth took the throne and reestablished the separation from Catholicism, but not thoroughly enough for the Puritans.

The group rebelled and, as a result, were prosecuted for refusing to abide by laws that required specific religious practices. This factor contributed to the eruption of the English civil war between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists, who fought in part over religious freedom in In , some Puritans moved from England to Holland. In , they boarded the Mayflower to Massachusetts, where they established Plymouth Colony. In , another group of Puritans founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Puritans eventually spread throughout New England, establishing new self-governing churches.