Puritanism During the first few weeks of being in this American Thought and Culture course, I found the topic that was covering the argument about Puritanism to be the most interesting. Puritans was a term of contempt assigned to the movement by its enemies to which this religious movement were apart of the 16th and 17th century. Puritanism was a religious movement that arose within the Church of England in the late 16th century. The central argument for the Puritans was that man were potrayed as many negative characteristics and did not obtain the "free will" to determine if they were cabable of receiving eternal salvation. This was stated because ever since the story of the "Garden of Eden", man was placed as evil and worthless. However, to receive eternal salvation was by the "Covenant of Grace", which meant God …show more content…
In this lecture it clearly states that giving your life to God will increase your blessings, but this essay that was found in "Philosophy in America: Interpretive Essays Vol. 11" from Emerson which is called "Self-Reliance" expressed the opposite of the lecture. In the essay, Emerson encourages man to be more independent with themselves. Emerson had different beliefs than the Puritans and some strange reason he believed and described humans as basically their own Gods stating, " each of us has the diginity and value that enables us to act under our own guidance. (pg.78)" In closing of Emerson's messege he states "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself." Now if that doesn't sound like a man who truly doesn't believe in God and only believes in "Self-Reliance" then I do not know what does. Emerson's big output on "Self-Reliance" was about Reason. To rely on Reason you wouldn't be able to grasp the full truth nor grasp a spiritual concept of