Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
Puritans religious beliefs
Puritans religious beliefs
Puritans religious beliefs
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Puritans religious beliefs
Puritans religious beliefs
Puritans religious beliefs
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Puritans sought to create a society that was more pure and righteous than the corrupt society they believed existed in England. The Massachusetts colonies were founded by Puritan separatists who left England in search of religious freedom. They believed that the Church of England was too hierarchical and corrupt, and they wanted to establish a society that was more focused on individual piety and a direct relationship with God. The Puritans emphasized education and literacy, and they believed that all members of the community should be able to read and interpret the Bible for themselves.
Puritan’s harsh beliefs represented the beginning of the Nineteenth Century in the newly colonized America. Their community ruled with an iron fist: unforgiving, pitiless, stern. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne expresses his disagreement with puritan priorities by revealing the hypocrisy widely practiced throughout their community. Hawthorne’s utilization of dim diction aids in the establishment of his scornful tone, while inclusion of symbols and intricate juxtaposition all serve to accentuate the Puritan’s duplicity. All these factors combine to develop a critical tone which rebukes puritan society.
First of all, the Puritans were reformed Protestants from England in 16th and 17th centuries, who wanted to purify the church from Roman Catholic practices. They were dressed in simple and modest clothing; Puritans spent most of their time praying. They believed in the notion of predestination, which means that every human’s fate is known at birth. Moreover, many Puritans moved to America fleeing from religious persecution.
In Puritan communities their lives were dedicated to their religion. They emphasized strict loyalty to biblical ideas and rejection of secular ones. In “ The Enlarged Salem Covenant of 1636” the
Puritans believed nothing was more important than education, because it would rear children properly and allow for their society to prosper and survive. ” … Puritans taught their children to read and write.” (Hollitz, Page 22) Learning to write gave children the ability to write diaries, letters, and many other writings which permitted them to express their feelings, keep notes, and learn. Reading was very important to Puritans and was heavily taught in schools, because it was “one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures.”
The Original Puritan vision of having of doing everything as a collective effort for the eyes of England, with almost no aspect of individualism, as seen with John Winthrop, morphed into the Puritans displaying “The Other” theme through King Phillip’s war and finding an enemy and try to define themselves, away from the church, and also there is change with the Nature theme and the Salem Witch Trials which shows the Puritan Dilemma and how it secularized the second and third generation Puritans. Firstly, the original Puritan Errand had little individualism and called for a collective effort for their society to be an example for England. In John Winthrop’s, A Model of Christian Charity, he explains how the Puritans’ original goal is to be a
“ Freedom and prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged” (Ronald Reagan). The Puritans were people who left New England in search of religious freedom. They believed that the Church’s doctrine was incorrect and didn’t follow God’s intentions. This led John Winthrop ( a Puritan leader) to migrate a large quantity of Puritans to America during the 1600’s. Before they moved to America the Puritans were persecuted and weren't able to practice their beliefs in peace.
They were doing good and helping people out and setting a good example for others. They brought hope and joy and they shared and helped each other and they were kind. It it is good when the Puritans help people and it is cool how they share everything.
The Puritans were the first and surprisingly largest colonists of America during Colonial Times. A separatist group that had migrated from England to escape persecution and to find a place where they could be religiously satisfied and undisturbed. The Puritans built their society in North America that revolved around a strong connection towards God and family. Although the Puritans were not the only group of people to migrate to North America or only group present in colonial times, they were one of the most impactful, and many of their ideals, morals, and values influenced the economic, political, and social development of New England.
When the Puritans got to Plymouth Rock they saw a vast land filled with “red skinned savages. ” They did not agree on whose land this was and there creation stories were a bit different as well. The Native Americans like every civilization in the world have a creation story. The creation stories tell the origins of the world as they believe it begun. Native American stories were not written and kept a record of they were passed down orally, they are essentially the indians version of the bible.
We began our interview with an introduction to the Puritans. They were members of a religious group that migrated to America in hopes of reforming the church—to purify it from its Catholic practices—however, their reform didn’t last long because of the new way they lived. In the newly formed colony, citizens lived on farm and far away from each other. This made it hard to go to the church and in turn the numbers of the church declined. Instead they relied on each other and held services in their home or a with a close by neighbor.
In exasperation of the Angelica church, not following the scriptures, early puritans came to America to escape persecution. Puritans believed that God had formed a unique covenant, or agreement with them. They believed in a new sect in which God’s law was held supreme. They believed that the bible and its message were above man’s law, and therefore that , it was the key to salvation. Most of the dissenters settled in New England, and it was in these new colonies that they establish a close-knit community governed by absolute religious faith and strict discipline.
Document B is a map that shows the terrain of a New England town; which includes farms, houses, the school, and the church. From the map, I can interpret that the Puritans helped New England to develop a sense of community within the town, based of how compact and dense the town seems. In document C, it discusses the importance of spreading the knowledge of the gospel to puritans and non-puritans. Education was important to them, because they wanted to teach their children how to read, so they could be able to read the bible. Document E discusses the importance of education after establishing their colony.
Puritans are a people with a very strong belief in both God and the power of God. When people see power, they interpret it in different ways. Some know of power through anger and impulse, while others see power through the goodness the powerful one shows. Although Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards are both puritan poets, their writings convey mainly different, though sometimes similar, views on God because they have different perceptions of His will and the use of His power. Anne Bradstreet listens to and accepts anything that God wishes, and that is shown through her poem Upon the Burning of my House.
Essentially, Puritans are expected to follow a strict set of religious and moral guidelines from which their actions and morality are derived. According to Hall’s A Reforming People, these moral expectations first introduced by the pilgrims were the driving force behind the power that the Puritan ministry had over society: “Ministers and laypeople looked first to congregations as the place where love, mutuality, and righteousness would flourish, and second to civil society. …Alongside love, mutuality, and righteousness they placed another set of values summed up in the word “equity.” Employed in a broad array of contexts, the concept of equity conveyed the colonists’ hopes for justice and fairness in their social world.”