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Puritans religion and religious convictions
The rise of puritans
Puritan theology
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Puritans religion and religious convictions
The rise of puritans
Puritan theology
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In document F it says “There is confined unto the atmosphere of our air a vast power or army of evil spirits under the government of a Prince (Satan) who employs them in a continual opposition to the designs of God.” They believed in God and that the evil spirits and witches are under the influence of Satan. The Puritans believed that the bible was true. In Document H says “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” The Puritans were
Causing many suspicion of demonic activity throughout the salem village, hysteria spread quickly as the population ascended to witchcraft creating the act of cynicism. Most conducted these suspicions though dissecting their physical and mental image meaning that most of the civilians would convert to supernatural explanations in order to assume the act of demonic possession and I quote “Good also had a reputation for holding a grudge and for muttering curses against those who crossed her, which would have alarmed her neighbours, not least because many people believed that such curses would work” ( The Salem Witch Hunt, p.69). This quote taken from Sarah Good’s bibliography confirms the suspicions of witchcraft as these sign were depicted as supernatural to the puritans perspective. Being fearful of the devil, most puritans believed that the abnormal should endure punishment as for these acts were created against the church law leading to christian ignorance and disbelief and I quote “They also show how easily people could become convicted that hostile neighbours were wielding occult forces against them”(The Salem Witch Hunt, p.69).
Telling fortunes, showing peoples faces in glasses, enchantments, and healing the sick are some of the things people who practiced witchcraft claimed to be able to do. New Englanders often turned to people who could do these things for favors and referred to them as "cunning folk" (pg.107). The New Englanders didn't see any harm in using their occult powers for there own good, when in fact these people were in contact with the devil. They did not see it that way but they were indeed risking being banished to hell.
The Puritans were unhappy with the church in England, They stated that the church wasn’t pure and wasn’t the pure way of a church. So they had decided to leave England. The Puritans had decided to settle in New England. They had a strong belief in the Bible, and the pure way of the church. The majority of times the accuser would find that they despised, was jealous of them, or just saw them as unholy.
Puritans believed that God was constantly at work within their lives, tempting them as well as rewarding them (Winthrop). When God chose to warn people, he either chose to inflict the warning himself or he chose to do it through the Devil. For example, when Minister Cotton Mather’s infant son died suddenly, Mather knew that either the devil was acting in a witch who in turn harmed his child or it was the will of God to directly harm his son (Godbeer Document 3). Mather himself states, “I made little use of, and laid little stress on, this conjecture, desiring to submit unto the will of my heavenly father, without which not a sparrow falls unto the ground.” Another example of the devil working in the lives of the Puritans was interactions with Native Americans.
Religion was a very strong influence in the lives of Puritans as they followed a very strict moral code and based their entire lives on their faith. Most Puritans were taught from the Bible that "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Doc. A), which explains why the witch scare was taken so seriously and why the accused were punished so harshly. They believed and feared that "evil spirits were all around" (Doc. C) as noted in Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions by Cotton Mather, who at that time was a reputable expert in the "invisible world. " It seems strange to 21st-century dwellers that people believed that witches could be identified by marks of the devil, as portrayed in an 1853 painting by T.H. Matteson (Doc. D).
According to the text the Puritans believed that the reformed church had to be very different from the catholic church and they centered around the bible. They “believed that faith, not works, was the key to salvation.” That is what the Puritans believed. The girls caused people to be tested to see if they were a witch or not.
The Puritans believed that the Devil would “enter a normal person’s body and turn that person into a witch... [who] could make all kinds of trouble” (Background Essay). Reverend Samuel Parris’s daughter and niece accused Tituba, a slave, of witchcraft. She confessed to practicing witchcraft, so her life was saved. However, this caused the undeniable fear of witches in the town.
Are they in harmony with the sympathies of Christ? or are they swayed and perverted by the sophistries of worldly policy?” Putting morality over the system. Religion preaches mercy and equality under one God and by asking questions like “Shall the church of Christ hear in silence the taunt that is thrown at them, and shrink away from the helpless hand that they stretch out;...” she is reminding them that they can create a change too, and showing that they forging their principles if they support
The puritan community were highly religious and believed in the sense of purity. They also believed that if they didn’t lead a part of righteousness and acted sinful or wanted to test the existence of god, those people were tormented and Satan would
This new idea of witchcraft gave the church a reason to punish these “devil worshippers” while permanently having the chance to get rid of them before they changed other people’s minds about the church also. As Allison R. Anderson wrote, “By stating that the colonists were concerned for their “individual souls' ' as well as the safety of the region itself, Godbeer brings the Salem witch-hunt’s personal characteristics into his research. He claims in his writing that Puritans were convinced that every part of life, and every “trivial” daily
According to Richard Sibbes, a Puritan Minister, "The whole life of a Christian should be nothing but praises and thanks to God, we should neither eat nor sleep, but eat to God and work to God and talk to God, do all to His glory and praise" (Faiza,2008). Their belief that the devil could be amongst them was one of the main factors of the start of the Salem witch trials. The Puritans wanted their communities to only be made up with believers and followers of God and they thought that by hanging anyone suspicious of being "touched" by the devil they would accomplish that goal. According to Faiza (2008), one theory remains that ministers spread the rumor of witchcraft to bring more people into the churches.
With the Puritans having strict religious beliefs about the devil and God, it gave them strong feelings about the ways in which women impacted their community. Along with their religious beliefs, their society had certain beliefs about women and the way they should act which led them to suspect anything out of the “norm” as a sign of the devil. While some of this could be on women and the way we speak, the Puritans already had such strong feelings toward the vulnerable mind of women that it wouldn’t matter. The women were represented by weakness in nearly every aspect a person can be judged on and this thought of them as the weaker vessel is what ultimately led to them being accused and persecuted more than men during the Salem Witch
Puritans believed the devil could persuade people to do evil things. Puritan Ministers compared women women to Eve implying that women were no good from the beginning of time, the minister, Samuel Parris, might have led to the witch hunt with the push to believe in evil things. These beliefs lead to strict physical and mental punishments. Some punishments were sitting in stocks and splitting of tongues. Another punishment was cutting off hands or ears.
The Grand Inquisitor corrupts the Church since he argues against free will. He argues this through Christ’s resisting three