Puritans: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
m Reverting possible vandalism by 163.248.33.226 to version by Tdslk. False positive? Report it. Thanks, ClueBot NG. (1268734) (Bot)
No edit summary
Line 1: Line 1:
CRACK MAN CRACK[[el:Πουριτανισμός]]
{{About|the religious movement}}
{{Copyedit|date=September 2012}}
[[Image:PuritanGallery.jpg|right|300px|Gallery of famous 17th-century Puritan [[theologians]]: [[Thomas Gouge]], [[William Bridge]], [[Thomas Manton]], [[John Flavel]], [[Richard Sibbes]], [[Stephen Charnock]], [[William Bates (Puritan)|William Bates]], [[John Owen (theologian)|John Owen]], [[John Howe (Puritan)|John Howe]], [[Richard Baxter]].]]

The '''Puritans''' were a community of English [[Protestants]] active during the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism was created by Marian clergy exiles as an activist movement within the [[Church of England]] shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. England practiced strict laws controlling religion, which restricted the Puritans ability to practice religion according to their beliefs. Seeking the ability to practice Puritan beliefs without persecution, the community emigrated from England to the [[Netherlands]]. Afterwards, the Puritans also emigrated to the [[New England]] region of the United States. The Puritan belief system was also spread by evangelical clergy to [[Ireland]] and later [[Wales]]. The educational system also played a role in the spread of Puritanism, as certain colleges within the [[University of Cambridge]] supported the group’s viewpoints.

Puritans took distinctive views on clerical dress. They also opposed the Episcopal system after the 1619 conclusions of the [[Synod of Dort]] were resisted by English bishops. In the 17th century the Puritans adopted [[Puritan Sabbatarianism|Sabbatarian]] views and were influenced by [[millennialism]].

The 17th century featured a growth in the commercial world and growing parliamentary opposition to the [[royal prerogative]]. [[Scottish Presbyterians]] also emerged in the late 1630s and shared many beliefs with the Puritans. These factors fostered an environment in which the Puritans were able to gain power. As a result of the [[First English Civil War]] (1642 – 46), the Puritans became a major political force in England.

[[English Restoration]] in 1660 and the [[1662 Uniformity Act]] caused almost all Puritan clergy to leave the Church of England. Some became [[nonconformist]] ministers. The movement in England changed radically at this time, though this change was not as immediate for Puritans in New England.

Puritans felt that the [[English Reformation]] was not sufficient, and still believed that the Church of England was tolerant of [[Catholic Church]] practices. They formed religious groups advocating a greater “purity” of worship and doctrine. They also desired greater personal and group [[piety]]. The Puritans adopted a [[Reformed theology]] and became, in a sense, [[Calvinists]]. Their criticism of [[Zwingli]] and [[John Calvin|Calvin]] distinguished Puritan beliefs from Calvinism.

Some Puritans wanted complete separation from all other Christians. These independent strings of Puritanism became more prominent in the 1640s after supporters in the [[Westminister Assembly]] were unable to forge a new English national church.


==Background==
{{Puritan history}}
{{Main|History of the Puritans}}
The term "Puritan" in the sense of this article was not coined until the 1560s, when it appears as a term of abuse for those who found the [[Elizabethan Religious Settlement]] of 1559 inadequate. Puritanism has a historical importance over a period of a century (followed by 50 years of development in New England), and general views must contend with the way it changed character and emphasis almost decade by decade over that time.

===Puritanism===
{{details|History of the Puritans under James I}}

The accession of James I brought the [[Millenary Petition]], a Puritan manifesto of 1603 for reform of the English church, but James wanted a new religious settlement along different lines. He called the [[Hampton Court Conference]] in 1604, and heard the views of four prominent Puritan leaders including Chaderton there, but largely sided with his bishops. Well informed by his education and Scottish upbringing on theological matters, he dealt shortly with the peevish legacy of Elizabethan Puritanism, and tried to pursue an [[eirenic]] religious policy in which he was arbiter. Many of his episcopal appointments were Calvinists, notably [[James Montague (bishop)|James Montague]] who was an influential courtier. Puritans still opposed much of the [[Anglo-Catholicism|Catholic summation]] in the Church of England, notably the ''Book of Common Prayer'', but also the use of non-secular vestments (cap and gown) during services, the sign of the Cross in baptism, and kneeling to receive Holy Communion.<ref>Neil (1844), [http://books.google.com/books?id=72gPAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false p. 246]</ref> Although the Puritan movement was subjected to repression by some of the bishops under both Elizabeth and James, other bishops were more tolerant, and in many places, individual ministers were able to omit disliked portions of the ''Book of Common Prayer''.

The Puritan movement of Jacobean times became distinctive by adaptation and compromise, with the emergence of "semi-separatism", "moderate puritanism", the writings of [[William Bradshaw (Puritan)|William Bradshaw]] who adopted the term "Puritan" as self-identification, and the beginnings of [[Congregationalist polity|congregationalism]].<ref>John Spurr, ''English Puritanism, 1603-1689'' (1998), Chapter 5.</ref> Most Puritans of this period were non-separating and remained within the Church of England, and Separatists who left the Church of England altogether were numerically much fewer.

===Fragmentation and political failure===
{{details|History of the Puritans from 1649}}
[[File:WestminsterAssembly.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Westminster Assembly]] in a Victorian history painting by [[John Rogers Herbert]].]]
The Puritan movement in England was riven over decades by emigration and inconsistent interpretations of Scripture, and some political differences that then surfaced.

The [[Westminster Assembly]] (an assembly of clergy of the Church of England) was called in 1643. Doctrinally, the Assembly was able to agree to the [[Westminster Confession of Faith]], a consistent Reformed theological position. While its content was orthodox, many Puritans would have rejected portions of it. The ''[[Directory of Public Worship]]'' was made official in 1645, and the larger framework now called the [[Westminster Standards]] was adopted for the Church of England (reversed in 1660).{{Clarify|date=December 2009|When and what legislation/ordinance enabled it? How does it fit into the Solemn League and Covenant?}}{{Citation needed|reason=dateDecember 2009|date=December 2009}}

The [[List of the Westminster Divines|Westminster Divines]] were, on the other hand, divided over questions of [[church polity]], and split into factions supporting a reformed [[episcopal polity|episcopacy]], [[Presbyterian polity|presbyterianism]], [[Congregationalist polity|congregationalism]], and [[Erastianism]]. Although the membership of the Assembly was heavily weighted towards the presbyterians, [[Oliver Cromwell]] was a [[Independent (religion)|Congregationalist separatist]] who imposed his views. The Church of England of the [[Interregnum]] was run on presbyterian lines, but never became a national presbyterian church such as existed in Scotland, and England was not the theocratic state which leading Puritans had called for as "godly rule".<ref>William M. Lamont, ''Godly Rule: Politics and Religion 1603-60'' (1969).</ref>

{{Anchor|Great Ejection}}

===Great Ejection and Dissenters===
{{details|History of the Puritans from 1649}}
At the time of the [[English Restoration]] (1660), the [[Savoy Conference]] was called to determine a new religious settlement for England and Wales. With only minor changes, the Church of England was restored to its pre-[[English Civil War|Civil War]] constitution under the [[Act of Uniformity 1662]], and the Puritans found themselves sidelined. A traditional estimate of the historian [[Edmund Calamy (historian)|Calamy]] is that around 2,400 Puritan clergy left the Church, in the "[[Great Ejection]]" of 1662.<ref name = Calamy>{{DNB Cite|wstitle=Calamy, Edmund (1671-1732)}}</ref> At this point, the term [[English Dissenters|Dissenter]] came to include "Puritan", but more accurately describes those (clergy or lay) who "dissented" from the ''[[1662 Book of Common Prayer]]''.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009|reason=who says this?}}

Dividing themselves from all Christians in the Church of England, the Dissenters established their own separatist congregations in the 1660s and 1670s; an estimated 1,800 of the ejected clergy continued in some fashion as ministers of religion (according to [[Richard Baxter]]).<ref name = Calamy/> The government initially attempted to suppress these schismatic organizations by the [[Clarendon Code]]. There followed a period in which schemes of "comprehension" were proposed, under which presbyterians could be brought back into the Church of England; nothing resulted from them. The [[Whig (British political faction)|Whigs]], opposing the court religious policies, argued that the Dissenters should be allowed to worship separately from the established Church, and this position ultimately prevailed when the [[Act of Toleration 1689|Toleration Act]] was passed in the wake of the [[Glorious Revolution]] (1689). This permitted the licensing of Dissenting ministers and the building of chapels. The term [[Nonconformist]] generally replaced the term "Dissenter" from the middle of the eighteenth century.

==Terminology and scholarly debates==
Puritans who felt that the [[English Reformation|Reformation]] of the [[Church of England]] was not to their satisfaction but who remained within the Church of England advocating further reforms are known as ''non-separating Puritans''. This group differed among themselves about how much further reformation was necessary. Those who felt that the Church of England was so corrupt that true [[Christians]] should separate from it altogether are known as ''separating Puritans'' or simply as ''Separatists''. Especially after the [[English Restoration]] of 1660, separating Puritans were called ''[[English Dissenters|Dissenters]]''. The term "puritan" cannot strictly be used to describe any new religious group after the 17th century.

The practitioners knew themselves as members of particular churches or movements, and not by a single term. The word "Puritan" is applied unevenly to a number of [[Protestant]] churches (and religious groups within the [[Anglican Church]]) from the later 16th century onwards, and Puritans did not originally use the term for themselves, considering that it was a term of abuse that first surfaced in the 1560s. "Precisemen" and "Precisians" were other early antagonistic terms for Puritans who preferred to call themselves "the godly." The word "Puritan" thus always referred to a type of religious belief, rather than a particular religious sect, and the attribution has been determined, generally, by a polemical context. [[Patrick Collinson]] has an extreme view that "Puritanism had no content beyond what was attributed to it by its opponents."<ref>Spurr (1998), p. 16; cites and quotes [[Patrick Collinson]] (1989). ''The Puritan Character'', p. 8.</ref>

The literature on Puritans, particularly biographical literature on individual Puritan ministers, became large already in the 17th century, and indeed the interests of Puritans in the narratives of early life and conversions made the recording of the internal lives important to them. The historical literature on Puritans is, however quite problematic and subject to controversies of interpretation. The early writings are those of the defeated, excluded and victims. The great interest of authors of the 19th century in Puritan figures was routinely accused in the 20th century of consisting of anachronism and the reading back of contemporary concerns. [[Peter Gay]] writes of the Puritans' standard reputation for "dour prudery" as a "misreading that went unquestioned in the nineteenth century", commenting how unpuritanical they were in favour of married sexuality, and in opposition to the Catholic view of [[virginity]], citing [[Edward Taylor]] and [[John Cotton (Puritan)|John Cotton]].<ref>[[Peter Gay]], ''The Tender Passion'' (1986), p. 49.</ref>

Much of the religious history of the Puritans is written with a degree of anachronism or denominational bias, also. The analysis of "mainstream Puritanism" in terms of the evolution from it of separatist and [[antinomian]] groups that did not flourish, and others that continue to this day such as [[Baptists]] and [[Quakers]], can suffer in this way, as well as risking an incoherent view of where the burden of belief lay for the "godly". The national context (England and Wales, plus the kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland) frames the definition of Puritans, but was not a self-identification for those Protestants who saw the progress of the [[Thirty Years' War]] from 1620 as directly bearing on their denomination, and as a continuation of the religious wars of the previous century, carried on by the English Civil Wars. [[Christopher Hill (historian)|Christopher Hill]], who has contributed [[Marxist]] analyses of Puritan concerns that are more respected than accepted, writes of the 1630s, old church lands, and the accusations that Laud was a crypto-Catholic:

{{cquote|To the heightened Puritan imagination it seemed that, all over Europe, the lamps were going out: the [[Counter-Reformation]] was winning back property for the [[Catholic Church|church]] as well as souls: and Charles I and his government, if not allied to the forces of the Counter-Reformation, at least appeared to have set themselves identical economic and political objectives.<ref>[[Christopher Hill (historian)|Christopher Hill]], ''Economic Problems of the Church'' (1971), p. 337.</ref>}}

Puritans were politically important in England, but it is debated whether the movement was in any way a party with policies and leaders before the early 1640s; and while Puritanism in New England was important culturally for a group of colonial pioneers in America, there have been many studies trying to pin down exactly what the identifiable cultural component was. Fundamentally, historians remain dissatisfied with the grouping as "Puritan" as a working concept for historical explanation. The conception of a [[Protestant work ethic]], identified more closely with Calvinist or Puritan principles, has been criticised at its root, mainly as a ''[[post hoc ergo propter hoc]]'' fallacy aligning economic success with a narrow religious scheme.

==Beliefs==
{{Calvinism}}
There were substantial works of theology written by Detwon, such as the ''Medulla Theologiae'' of [[De'twon Smith]], but there is no theology that is distinctive of Puritans. "Puritan theology" makes sense only as certain parts of Reformed theology, i.e. the legacy in theological terms of Calvinism, as it was expounded by Puritan preachers (often known as lecturers), and applied in the lives of Puritans. The basic tenets of Puritanism include original depravity (born Goons), limited atonement (worldly ritual or pray cannot ensure salvation), predestination, literal authority of the bible, evil persons/behavior will be punished by God while good persons/behavior are rewarded, and they also believed along with Dontay Hickson (Protestant Reformation) that no pope or bishop could impose laws on Christians without their consent.

===Core beliefs===
In the relation of Projects to civil power, Detwon believed that secular governors are accountable to God to protect and reward virtue, including "true religion", and to punish wrongdoers. They opposed the supremacy of the monarch in the church ([[Erastianism]]), and argued that the only head of the Church in heaven or earth is Christ.

The idea of personal Biblical interpretation, while central to Puritan beliefs, was shared with most Protestants in general. Puritans sought both individual and corporate conformity to the teaching of the Bible, with moral purity pursued both down to the smallest detail as well as ecclesiastical purity to the highest level. They believed that man existed for the glory of God; that his first concern in life was to do God's will and so to receive future happiness.<ref>{{Cite book|last = Morison |first = Samuel Eliot |authorlink = Samuel Eliot Morison |coauthors = |title = The Oxford History of the American People |publisher = [[Mentor]] |year = 1972 |location = New York City |page = 102 |url = |doi = |id = |isbn = 0-451-62600-1 }}</ref>

Like some reformed churches on the European continent, Puritan reforms were typified by a minimum of ritual and decoration and by an unambiguous emphasis on preaching. Calvinists generally believed that the worship in the church ought to be strictly regulated by what is commanded in the Bible (the [[regulative principle of worship]]), and condemned as [[idolatry]] many current practices, regardless of antiquity or widespread adoption among Christians, against opponents who defended tradition. Simplicity in worship led to the exclusion of pre-Reformation vestments, images, candles, etc. Puritans did not celebrate traditional holidays e.g. [[Christmas]] which they believed to be in violation of the regulative principles.

===Diversity===
Various strands of Calvinist thought of the 17th century were taken up by different parts of the Puritan movement, and in particular [[Amyraldism]] was adopted by some influential figures ([[John Davenant]], [[Samuel Ward (scholar)|Samuel Ward]], and to some extent [[Richard Baxter]]). In the same way, there is no theory of church polity that is uniquely Puritan, and views differed beyond opposition to Erastianism (state control), though even that had its small group of supporters in the Westminster Assembly. Some approved of the existing [[episcopalian church governance|church hierarchy]] with bishops, but others sought to reform the Episcopal churches on the [[Presbyterian church governance|Presbyterian model]]. Some separatist Puritans were Presbyterian, but most were early [[Congregationalist church governance|Congregationalists]]. The separating Congregationalists believed the [[Divine Right of Kings]] was [[Christian heresy|heresy]]; but on the other hand there were many royalist Presbyterians, in terms of allegiance in the political struggle.

Migration also brought out differences. It brought together Puritan communities with their own regional customs and beliefs. As soon as there were New World Puritans, their views on church governance diverged from those remaining in the British Isles, who faced different issues.<ref>Charlotte Gordon, ''Mistress Bradstreet'' (2005), p. 86 and p. 225.</ref>

===Demonology===
Puritans believed in demonic forces, as did almost all Christians of this period. Puritan pastors undertook [[exorcism]]s for demonic possession in some high-profile cases, and believed in some allegations of [[witchcraft]]. The exorcist [[John Darrell]] was supported by [[Arthur Hildersham]] in the case of Thomas Darling;<ref>Francis J. Bremer, Tom Webster, ''Puritans and Puritanism in Europe and America: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia'' (2006), p. 584.</ref> [[Samuel Harsnett]], a sceptic on witchcraft and possession, attacked Darrell. But Harsnett was in the minority, and many clergy, not only Puritans, took the opposite viewpoint.<ref>{{DNB Cite|wstitle=Scott, Reginald}}</ref> The possession case of [[Richard Dugdale (demoniac)|Richard Dugdale]] was taken up by the ejected nonconformist [[Thomas Jollie]], and other local ministers, in 1689.

The context of the [[Salem witch trials]] of 1692-3 shows the intricacy of trying to place "Puritan" beliefs as distinctive. The publication of ''[[Saducismus Triumphatus]]'', an anti-sceptical tract that has been implicated in the [[moral panic]] at Salem, involved [[Joseph Glanvill]] (a [[latitudinarian]]), [[Henry More]] (a [[Cambridge Platonist]]) as editor, and [[Anthony Horneck]], an evangelical German Anglican, as translator of a pamphlet about a Swedish witch hunt; and none of these was a Puritan. Glanvill and More had been vehemently opposed in the 1670s by the sceptic [[John Webster (minister)|John Webster]], an [[Independent (religion)|Independent]] and sometime chaplain to the Parliamentary forces.

===Millennialism===
Puritan [[millennialism]] has been placed in the broader context of European Reformed views on the millennium and interpretation of Biblical prophecy, for which representative figures of the period were [[Johannes Piscator]], [[Thomas Brightman]], [[Joseph Mede]], [[Johannes Heinrich Alsted]], and [[John Amos Comenius]].<ref>Howard Hotson, ''Paradise Postponed: Johann Heinrich Alsted and the Birth of Calvinist Millenarianism'' (2001), p. 173.</ref> Both Brightman and Mede were Puritan by conviction, and so are identified by their biographers, though neither clashed with the church authorities. David Brady describes a "lull before the storm" in which, in the early 17th century, "reasonably restrained and systematic" Protestant exegesis of the ''[[Book of Revelation]]'' was seen with Brightman, Mede and [[Hugh Broughton]]; after which "apocalyptic literature became too easily debased" as it became more populist, less scholarly.<ref>David Brady, ''The Contribution of British Writers Between 1560 and 1830 to the Interpretation of Revelation 13.16-18'' (1983), p. 58.</ref> Within the church, William Lamont argues, the Elizabethan millennial views of [[John Foxe]] became sidelined, with Puritans adopting instead the "centrifugal" views of Brightman, while the Laudians replaced the "centripetal" attitude of Foxe to the 'Christian Emperor' by the national and episcopal Church closer to home, with its royal head, as leading the Protestant world ''iure divino'' (by divine right).<ref name= Lamont>William M. Lamont, ''Godly Rule: Politics and Religion 1603-60'' (1969), p. 25, 36, 59, 67, 78.</ref> Viggo Norskov Olsen writes<ref>Viggo Norskov Olsen, ''John Foxe and the Elizabethan Church'' (1973), p. 84.</ref> that Mede "broke fully away from the Augustinian-Foxian tradition, and is the link between Brightman and the [[premillennialism]] of the seventeenth century".

The dam then broke in 1641 when the traditional retrospective reverence for [[Thomas Cranmer]] and other martyred bishops in the ''[[Acts and Monuments]]'' was displaced by forward-looking attitudes to prophecy, among radical Puritans.<ref name= Lamont/>

==Cultural consequences==
{{details|New England Puritan culture and recreation}}

Some strong religious views common to Puritans had direct impacts on culture. The opposition to acting as public performance, typefied by [[William Prynne]]'s ''Histriomastix'', was not a concern with [[drama]] as a form. [[John Milton]] wrote ''[[Samson Agonistes]]'' as [[verse drama]], and indeed had at an early stage contemplated writing ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' in that form. N. H. Keeble writes:

{{cquote|...when Milton essayed drama, it was with explicit [[Paul the Apostle|Pauline]] authority and neither intended for the stage nor in the manner of the contemporary theatre.}}

But the sexualisation of Restoration theatre was attacked as strongly as ever, by [[Thomas Gouge]], as Keeble points out.<ref>N. H. Keeble, ''The Literary Culture of Nonconformity in Later Seventeenth-Century England'' (1987), p. 153.</ref> Puritans eliminated the use of [[musical instrument]]s in their religious services, for theological and practical reasons. Church organs were commonly damaged or destroyed in the Civil War period, for example an axe being taken to the organ of [[Worcester Cathedral]] in 1642.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.worcestercathedral.co.uk/index.php?pr=The_Civil_War |title=Worcester Cathedral welcomes you to their Website |publisher=Worcestercathedral.co.uk |date=20 February 2010 |accessdate=21 August 2010}}</ref>

Education for the masses was so they could read the Bible for themselves. Educated pastors could read the Bible in its original languages of [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], and [[Aramaic]], as well as church tradition and scholarly works, which were most commonly written in [[Latin]]. Most of the leading Puritan divines studied at the [[University of Oxford]] or the [[University of Cambridge]] before seeking [[ordination]].

Diversions for the educated included discussing the Bible and its practical applications as well as reading the classics such as [[Cicero]], [[Virgil]], and [[Ovid]]. They also encouraged the composition of poetry that was of a religious nature, though they eschewed religious-erotic poetry except for the ''[[Song of Solomon]]''. This they considered magnificent poetry, without error, regulative for their sexual pleasure, and, especially, as an [[allegory]] of Christ and the Church.

==Social consequences and family life==
[[File:The Snake in the Grass or Satan Transform'd to an Angel of Light.jpg|thumb|right|240px|''The Snake in the Grass or Satan Transform'd to an Angel of Light'', [[title page]], ca. 1660]]

<!-- [[Image:|thumb|right|240px|''The Snake in the Grass or Satan Transform'd to an Angel of Light'', [[title page]], ca. 1660]]
Where is this image?
-->
Puritan culture emphasized the need for self-examination and the strict accounting for one’s feelings as well as one’s deeds. This was the centre of evangelical experience, which women in turn placed at the heart of their work to sustain family life. The words of the Bible, as they interpreted them, were the origin of many Puritan cultural ideals, especially regarding the roles of men and women in the community. While both sexes carried the stain of [[original sin]], for a girl, original sin suggested more than the roster of Puritan character flaws. [[Eve]]’s corruption, in Puritan eyes, extended to all women, and justified marginalizing them within churches' hierarchical structures{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} . An example is the different ways that men and women were made to express their [[religious conversion|conversion]] experiences. For full membership, the Puritan church insisted not only that its congregants lead godly lives and exhibit a clear understanding of the main tenets of their Christian faith, but they also must demonstrate that they had experienced true evidence of the workings of God’s grace in their souls. Only those who gave a convincing account of such a conversion could be admitted to full church membership. While women were typically not permitted to speak in church, they were allowed to engage in religious discussions outside it, and they could narrate their conversions.{{Citation needed|date=March 2010}}

The English Puritan [[William Gouge]] wrote:

:“...a familie is a little Church, and a little common-wealth, at least a lively representation thereof, whereby triall may be made of such as are fit for any place of authoritie, or of subjection in Church or commonwealth. Or rather it is as a schoole wherein the first principles and grounds of government and subjection are learned: whereby men are fitted to greater matters in Church or common-wealth.”

Order in the family, then, fundamentally structured Puritan belief. The essence of social order lay in the authority of husband over wife, parents over children, and masters over servants in the family. [[John White (colonist priest)|John White]] wrote in his ''Genesis'' commentary of a wife as "but a helper", a view called "typically puritan" by Philip C. Almond.<ref>Philip C. Almond, ''Adam and Eve in Seventeenth-Century Thought'' (1999), p. 149.</ref>

Ideas of proper order both sharply defined and confined a woman’s authority. Indeed, God's word often prescribed important roles of authority for women; the ''Complete Body of Divinity'' stated that

:“...as to Servants, the Metaphorical and Synecdochial usage of the words Father and Mother, heretofore observed, implys it; for tho’ the Husband be the Head of the Wife, yet she is an Head of the Family.”{{Citation needed|date=March 2010}}.

[[Samuel Sewall]], a magistrate, advised his son’s servant that “he could not obey his Master without obedience to his Mistress; and vice versa.”

Authority and obedience characterized the relationship between Puritan parents and their children. Proper love meant proper [[discipline]];, the family was the basic unit of supervision. A breakdown in family rule indicated a disregard of God’s order. “Fathers and mothers have ‘disordered and disobedient children,’” said the Puritan [[Richard Greenham]], “because they have been disobedient children to the Lord and disordered to their parents when they were young.” Because the duty of early childcare fell almost exclusively on women, a woman's [[salvation]] necessarily depended upon the observable goodness of her child.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} Puritans further connected the discipline of a child to later readiness for conversion. Accordingly, parents attempted to check their affectionate feelings toward a disobedient child, at least after the child was about two years old, in order to break his or her will{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} . This suspicious regard of “fondness” and heavy emphasis on obedience placed pressures on the Puritan mother. While Puritans expected mothers to care for their young children tenderly, a mother who doted could be accused of failing to keep God present. A father’s more distant governance should check the mother’s tenderness once a male child reached the age of 6 or 7 so that he could bring the child to God’s authority{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} .

==New England Puritans==
Particularly in the years after 1630, Puritans left for New England (see [[Migration to New England (1620–1640)]]), supporting the founding of the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] and other settlements. The large-scale Puritan emigration to New England then ceased, by 1641, with around 21,000 having moved across the Atlantic. This English-speaking population in America did not all consist of original colonists, since many returned to England shortly after arriving on the continent, but produced more than 16 million descendants.<ref>[[David Hackett Fischer]], ''Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America'' (1989) ISBN 0-19-506905-6</ref><ref>"[http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/english2/puritans_intro.html The Puritans: A Sourcebook of Their Writings]". Perry Miller and Thomas H. Johnson.</ref> This so-called "Great Migration" is not so named because of sheer numbers, which were much less than the number of English citizens who emigrated to [[Virginia]] and the [[Caribbean]] during this time.<ref>"[http://www.virtualjamestown.org/essays/horn_essay.html Leaving England: The Social Background of Indentured Servants in the Seventeenth Century]", The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.</ref> The rapid growth of the New England colonies (~700,000 by 1790) was almost entirely due to the high birth rate and lower death rate per year.

[[File:Cotton Mather.jpg|thumb|right|[[Cotton Mather]], influential New England Puritan minister, portrait by [[Peter Pelham]].]]

===Education===
New England differed from its mother country, where nothing in English statute required schoolmasters or the [[literacy]] of children. With the possible exception of Scotland, the Puritan model of education in New England was unique. [[John Winthrop]] in 1630 had claimed that the society they would form in New England would be "as a city upon a hill;"<ref>Collins (1999), pp. 63-65. Quoting an excerpt from John Winthrop's sermon.</ref> and the colony leaders would educate all. These were men of letters, had attended Oxford or Cambridge, and communicated with intellectuals all over Europe; and in 1636 they founded the school that shortly became [[Harvard College]].

Besides the Bible, children needed to read in order to “understand...the capital laws of this country,” as the Massachusetts code declared, order being of the utmost importance, and children not taught to read would grow “[[barbarous]]” (the 1648 amendment to the Massachusetts law and the 1650 Connecticut code, both used the word “barbarisme”). By the 1670s, all New England colonies (excepting [[Rhode Island]]) had passed legislation that mandated literacy for children. In 1647, Massachusetts passed a law that required towns to hire a schoolmaster to teach writing.

Forms of schooling ranged from [[dame school]]s to “Latin” schools for boys already literate in English and ready to master preparatory [[grammar]] for Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. Reading schools would often be the single source of education for girls, whereas boys would go to the town grammar schools. Indeed, gender largely determined educational practices: women introduced all children to reading, and men taught boys in higher pursuits. Since girls could play no role in the ministry, and since grammar schools were designed to “instruct youth so far as they may be fited for the university,” Latin grammar schools did not accept girls (nor did Harvard). Most evidence suggests that girls could not attend the less ambitious town schools, the lower-tier writing-reading schools mandated for townships of over fifty families.

===Restrictions and pleasures===
[[File:OldShipWindow.jpg|thumb|left|Window, [[Old Ship Church]], Puritan [[meetinghouse]], [[Hingham, Massachusetts]]]]

In modern usage, the word ''puritan'' is often used to describe someone who is strict in matters of [[sexual morality]], disapproves of recreation, and wishes to impose these beliefs on others. This popular image is more accurate as a description of Puritans in colonial America, who were among the most radical Puritans and whose social experiment took the form of a [[theocracy]]. The [[Pilgrim (Plymouth Colony)|first Puritans]] of New England certainly disapproved of [[Christmas]] celebrations, as did some other Protestant churches of the time. Celebration was outlawed in [[Boston]] from 1659. The ban was revoked in 1681 by the English-appointed governor [[Sir Edmund Andros]], who also revoked a Puritan ban on festivities on Saturday nights. Nevertheless, it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.<ref>[http://www.apuritansmind.com/Christmas/DankoChristmasBanned.htm When Christmas Was Banned - The early colonies and Christmas]</ref> Likewise the colonies banned many secular entertainments, such as [[Gambling|games of chance]], [[maypole]]s, and drama, on moral grounds.

They were not, however, opposed to drinking alcohol in moderation.<ref>West (2003) pp. 68ff</ref> Early New England laws banning the sale of alcohol to Native Americans were criticized because it was “not fit to deprive Indians of any lawfull comfort aloweth to all men by the use of wine.” Laws banned the practice of individuals toasting each other, with the explanation that it led to wasting God's gift of beer and wine, as well as being carnal. Bounds were not set on enjoying sexuality within the bounds of marriage, as a gift from God.<ref>Lewis (1969), pp. 116–117. "On many questions and specially in view of the marriage bed, the Puritans were the indulgent party, ... they were much more [[G. K. Chesterton|Chestertonian]] than their adversaries [the Roman Catholics]. The idea that a Puritan was a repressed and repressive person would have astonished Sir [[Thomas More]] and [[Martin Luther|Luther]] about equally."</ref> In fact, spouses (albeit, in practice, mainly females) were disciplined if they did not perform their sexual marital duties, in accordance with 1 Corinthians 7 and other biblical passages. Puritans publicly punished drunkenness and [[Fornication|sexual relations outside marriage]].

===Opposition to Quakerism===
The Puritans of the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] were the most active of the New England persecutors of [[Quakers]], and the persecuting spirit was shared by the [[Plymouth Colony]] and the colonies along the [[Connecticut river]].<ref name=PER/> In 1660, one of the most notable victims of the religious intolerance was English Quaker [[Mary Dyer]] who was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony.<ref name=PER>Rogers, Horatio, 2009. ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=L5_5yIgpa-YC&printsec=frontcover&dq=mary+dyer+1660&hl=en&ei=8p99TMePDpGO4QayguXHBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Among%20the%20most%20pathetic%20chapters%20&f=false Mary Dyer of Rhode Island: The Quaker Martyr That Was Hanged on Boston]'' pp.1-2. BiblioBazaar, LLC</ref> She was one of the four executed Quakers known as the [[Boston martyrs]]. In 1661 [[Charles II of England|King Charles II]] explicitly forbade Massachusetts from executing anyone for professing Quakerism.<ref name=CHLS>[http://books.google.com/books?id=EzvHvEDPosQC&pg=PR41&dq=charles+1661+-+massachusetts+execution&hl=en&ei=HYB-TPnjLubX4watiJyxBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=charles%201661%20-%20massachusetts%20execution&f=false Puritans and Puritanism in Europe and America: a comprehensive encyclopedia]</ref> In 1684 England [[Massachusetts Bay Colony#Revocation of charter|revoked the Massachusetts charter]], sent over a royal governor to enforce English laws in 1686, and in 1689 passed a broad Toleration act.<ref name=CHLS/>

===The Puritan spirit in the United States===
[[File:WLA amart The Puritan ca 1899 Augustus Saint-Gaudens.jpg|thumb|Late 19th century view, the Puritan stereotype in a sculpture by [[Augustus Saint-Gaudens]].]]
[[Alexis de Tocqueville]] suggested in ''[[Democracy in America]]'' that Puritanism was the very thing that provided a firm foundation for American democracy. As [[Sheldon Wolin]] puts it, "Tocqueville was aware of the harshness and bigotry of the early colonists"; but on the other hand he saw them as "archaic survivals, not only in their piety and discipline but in their democratic practices".<ref>[[Sheldon Wolin]], ''Tocqueville Between Two Worlds'' (2001), p. 234.</ref> The theme of a religious basis of economic discipline is echoed in sociologist [[Max Weber]]'s work, but both de Tocqueville and Weber argued that this discipline was not a force of [[economic determinism]], but one factor among many that should be considered when evaluating the relative economic success of the Puritans.

==See also==
*[[Church covenant]]
*[[Independent (religion)|Independents]]
*[[List of Puritans]]
*[[Plymouth Rock]]
*[[Salem witch trials]]
*[[Separatism#Religious|Separatists]]
* [[Work ethic]]

==Notes==
{{Portal box|Calvinism|Christianity|History}}
{{Reflist|2}}

==References==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Puritans}}
*Coffey, John and Paul C. H. Lim (2008). ''The Cambridge Companion to Puritanism'', Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-86088-8
*Collins, Owen (1999). ''Speeches That Changed the World'', Westminster John Knox Press, ISBN 0-664-22149-1.
*{{Cite book| last = Gardiner | first = Samuel Rawson | authorlink=Samuel Rawson Gardiner | title = The First Two Stuarts and the Puritan Revolution | publisher = C. Scribner's Sons | location = New York | year = 1895 | pages = 10–11 | url=http://books.google.com/?id=8w8CAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA10}}
*{{Cite book| last = Lancelott | first = Francis | title = The Queens of England and Their Times | publisher = D. Appleton and Co | location = New York | year = 1858 | page = 684 | url =http://books.google.com/?id=N2I0XNdlphUC | isbn = 1-4255-6082-2}}
*{{Cite book|author=C. S. Lewis |title=Selected Literary Essays |place=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1969 |isbn=0-521-07441-X |authorlink=C. S. Lewis}}
*Morone, James A. (2003). ''Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History'', Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10517-7.
*{{Cite book| last = Neal | first = Daniel | title = The History of the Puritans | publisher = Harper | location = New York | year = 1844 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=72gPAAAAYAAJ | isbn = 1-899003-88-6}}
*{{Cite book| last =Spurr | first = John | authorlink= | title = English Puritanism, 1603-1689 | publisher = Macmillan | isbn = 0-312-21426-X}}
*West, Jim (2003). ''Drinking with Calvin and Luther!'', Oakdown Books, ISBN 0-9700326-0-9
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2010}}
{{Christian History|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Puritanism| ]]
[[Category:English Reformation]]
[[Category:Congregationalism]]
[[Category:Christian terms]]
[[Category:17th-century Christian clergy]]
[[Category:18th-century Christian clergy]]
[[Category:American colonial people]]
[[Category:Christian religious leaders]]
[[Category:History of Christianity in the United States]]
[[Category:History of the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:History of religion in the United States]]

[[ar:تطهيرية]]
[[az:Puritanlar]]
[[bg:Пуританство]]
[[ca:Puritanisme]]
[[cs:Puritáni]]
[[da:Puritanisme]]
[[de:Puritanismus]]
[[et:Puritaan]]
[[el:Πουριτανισμός]]
[[es:Puritanismo]]
[[es:Puritanismo]]
[[eo:Puritanismo]]
[[eo:Puritanismo]]

Revision as of 16:25, 12 October 2012

CRACK MAN CRACK

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Puritans&oldid=517423696"