Puritan New England

1
Puritan New England

• Puritan
• 1capitalized a member of a 16th and 17th
  century Protestant group in England and New
  England opposing as unscriptural the ceremonial
  worship and the prelacy of the Church of England
• 2 one who practices or preaches a more rigorous
  or professedly purer moral code than that which
  prevails

2
The Beginning

• 1560
• Protestant
• sought to purify Church of England
• Holland
• New World
• 1620 Mayflower Compact

3
Tenets (Basic Beliefs)

• personal, inner experience
• neither church nor government
• all are sinners
• Jesus Christ came to save, but who is elect
• inner arrival
• reborn

4
TULIP

• total depravity
• unconditional election
• limited atonement
• irresistable grace
• perseverance of the saints

5
Ideals

• self-reliance
• industry
• temperance
• simplicity
• education

6
Bible

• essential
• daily living
• direction, not force
• read on ones own

7
Government by Contract

• covenant
• enter freely into government rather than by force
• inherent problems
• 1692 - Salem

8
Universities

• originally for training of Puritan ministers
• Harvard 1636
• William and Mary 1693
• Yale 1701
• Princeton 1746
• women mid 20th c
• Oberlin College 1833

9
Puritan Writers - Function

• transform a mysterious God
• make God relevant
• glorify God

10
Writing - Style

• Protestant
• purposeful
• reflected character and scope of reading public

11
Writing - Common Themes

• idealism - religious and political
• pragmatism - practical and purposeful

12
Age of Reason - Enlightenment

• Newton - God as a clockmaker
• Puritans - intimate and mysterious
• Age of Reason - born in practicality