Puritanism and Puritan New England

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Puritanism and Puritan New England
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What is Puritanism?

• The Puritans believe that
• Man is inherently depraved
• God is completely sovereign (in control)- this is
  called Divine Providence
• Man in general is doomed to die and has no chance
  at heaven

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Vocabulary Break

• Sovereignty of God God controls everything
• Depravity of Man Man is inherently drawn to do
  bad things

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How did they get here?

• The Puritans came to America from England because
  they believed it was becoming religiously lax
• The Puritan leaders wanted to start a segregated
  religious community a city upon a hill
• The leaders wanted to be a beacon of hope and
  true piousness

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A City on a Hill

• America is a beacon of light and hope for the
  rest of the world. A model for how to live.
• We are favored by God, and are special because
  of our commitments to liberty, equality, and
  individualism.

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American Exceptionalism

• The idea that we are an inspiration for the world
  because of our ideals of democracy and liberty is
  known as
• American Exceptionalism
• The idea originated with the Puritans, who
  thought they were favored by God.

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Some Puritan Beliefs

• The Puritans believed that there was a select
  group, chosen by God, who would get to go to live
  in heaven.
• This group was called The Elect

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How did one become Elect?

• You could not earn admission into the Elect it
  was a birthright, preordained by God
  (Predestination)
• Meaning, no amount of good deeds would get you
  into the Elect
• Likewise, no amount of bad behavior would get you
  kicked out.

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Thats unfair, scream the masses!

• It is extremely unfair, but it was a popular
  belief.
• Essentially, even before birth, even before your
  parents were born, God knew you would exist and
  he knew if you were elected.

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Vocabulary Break

• Predestination Your fate is pre-determined by
  God before your birth
• Election receiving predestination to be allowed
  into heaven and be a member of the Elect
• Grace Gods good will (There but for the grace
  of God go I)
• Covenant The promise between God and Man for
  predestination and election

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So, why not be bad all the time?

• The most obvious thought is if you were going to
  heaven or hell no matter what you did, why bother
  to act religious at all?
• Good Question!
• Even though this was a strict religious belief
  and faith matter, they werent completely sure
  they were right, so.

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Enter oppressive religion!

• The Puritans tried to ensure that they would make
  it to heaven by being obsessively pure
• The Puritans had extremely strict religious
  standards, which came into effect when children
  turned seven years old
• With the strict religious standards came
  extremely harsh punishments long imprisonments,
  hangings, excommunications, banishments, and
  public humiliation were common

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Signs, signs, everywhere are signs.

• Due to their extreme concern about whether or not
  they made it into heaven, Puritans became
  obsessed with looking for and interpreting
  signs from God.
• They believed that you could almost certainly
  tell whether or not you were predestined based on
  what happened to you

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Which led to.

• Intense scrutiny of even the most basic life
  experiences
• Extreme interest in the minutiae of daily life,
  which would be discussed, analyzed, compared, and
  considered
• Acute judgment of everyone elses habits and
  lifestyles, which could then be compared to
  theirs.

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My word, that sounds exhausting!

• And it was Puritans had such strict rules and
  such a rigorously pious lifestyle that it turned
  ordinary people into caricatures men were
  judgmental and condescending, and the women were
  catty and exclusionary.
• People loved to see others who were worse off
  than them, because it could be a sign that they
  themselves were Elect.

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Even the best need a rest

• This lifestyle would prove impossible to
  maintain. As the colony grew and spread out, the
  citizens moved away from the strict edicts of
  Puritanism.
• This caused great worry among the pastors, who
  saw their people in danger.

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But, like, oh my god, Puritanism is so boring!

• And it was! The writings and services were done
  in what is now called plain style, which is
  very dry and matter-of-fact.
• (Plain-style writers Cotton Mather, William
  Bradford)
• What the Puritan church needed was a way to
  attract people back, so they appealed to the most
  common human interest

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Death and Destruction!

• Seriously, thats what sells check out any daily
  newspaper or blockbuster movie.
• The abandonment of detailed, praise-centered
  worship was a way to get people interested in
  listening to mass again, and has been termed the
  Great Awakening.

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Ill get you my pretties!

• The gentle god of yore was abandoned for a
  meaner, more vengeful god a god who wanted not
  to forgive, but to punish everyone who went
  against his will.
• Thus enters men like Jonathon Edwards (Sinners
  in the Hands of an Angry God) who preached tales
  of brimstone and hellfire to crowds of rapt
  listeners.

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How great was the Great Awakening?

• Pretty great- it brought many people back to the
  church, and re-inspired the religious obsession
  that was the hallmark of the early days of
  Puritan New England.
• However, it couldnt last forever, and eventually
  a more intellectual, pragmatic view began to
  emerge, called the Age of Reason.