Puritans Essay

The Puritans were religious reformers of the late 16th and early 17th centuries who attempted to “purify” the Church of England from remnants of Roman Catholic “popery,” which they argued had remained after the religious settlement reached early in Queen Elizabeth I's reign (Britannica). The theological and economic factors of their religious implementation aimed to combat crime and misbehaviors in order to reform society. Theologically, Puritans believed in an emphasis on a personal relationship with God, strengthening one's individualism and weakening their societal culture. Among Puritans, entrepreneurship and economic initiative were encouraged by an emphasis on individual responsibility and personal strengths. As a result of their belief

The Reformation in its successive stages, reproduced a massive doctrinal and jurisdictional shift. Puritans advocated for the “abolition of prayer for souls in purgatory, changes in church services and the abolition of pilgrimages, processions, and the veneration of saints” (Ingram, 1995). Anti-Catholic rhetoric was encouraged by the Puritans, and there was an increase in stress upon the personal responsibility of the individual in religious faith and observance. Anti-Catholicism, which developed into a characteristic facet of English culture, unexpectedly united Puritans. The papacy identified with the Antichrist, and “Catholicism was remotely linked with tyranny, oppression, disloyalty, and persecution” (Ingram, 1995). By fostering religious division and undermining Catholic teachings, the Puritans condemned Catholicism. Puritanism’s social control was designed to stop the suffering that an angry God was inflicting. They believed that disease and suffering were linked to sin, and if they implemented strict social control, then God willing their souls would be saved. The ecclesiastical courts executed a majority of the social and political implementation of the law in the late 16th and 17th centuries. The dominance of the Church is revealed particularly in the records of the ecclesiastical courts, which were drawn up by the Church hierarchy to enforce prescribed standards of religious belief and practices (Spufford, 1985). The ecclesiastical authorities worked hard– by a variety of coercive, persuasive, and educative means--both to inculcate the new patterns of belief and observance and to eradicate the old (Ingram, 1995). The Church had a significant political and social impact on society, in the sense that it executed strong legal, administrative, and pastoral organization– with its complex of spiritual