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Extracted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puritans
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant.[1] Puritanism played a significant role in English and early American history, especially during the Protectorate.
Terminology
Main article: Definitions of Puritanism
In the 17th century, the word Puritan was a term applied not to just one group but to many. Historians still debate a precise definition of Puritanism.[6] Originally, Puritan was a pejorative term characterizing certain Protestant groups as extremist. Thomas Fuller, in his Church History, dates the first use of the word to 1564. Archbishop Matthew Parker of that time used it and precisian with a sense similar to the modern stickler.[7] Puritans, then, were distinguished for being "more intensely protestant than their protestant neighbors or even the Church of England".[8] As a term of abuse, Puritan was not used by Puritans themselves. Those referred to as Puritan called themselves terms such as "the godly", "saints", "professors", or "God's children".[9]
"Non-separating Puritans" were dissatisfied with the Reformation of the Church of England but remained within it, advocating for further reform; they disagreed among themselves about how much further reformation was possible or even necessary. Others, who were later termed "Nonconformists", "Separatists", or "separating Puritans", thought the Church of England was so corrupt that true Christians should separate from it altogether. In its widest historical sense, the term Puritan includes both groups.[10][11]
Puritans should not be confused with other radical Protestant groups of the 16th and 17th centuries, such as Quakers, Seekers, and Familists, who believed that individuals could be directly guided by the Holy Spirit. They gave precedence to direct revelation over the Bible.[12]
In current English, puritan often means "against pleasure". In such usage, hedonism and puritanism are antonyms.[13] William Shakespeare described the vain, pompous killjoy Malvolio in Twelfth Night as "a kind of Puritan".[14] H. L. Mencken defined Puritanism as "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."[15] Puritans embraced sexuality but placed it in the context of marriage. Peter Gay writes that the Puritans' standard reputation for "dour prudery" was a "misreading that went unquestioned in the nineteenth century". He said they were in favour of married sexuality, and opposed the Catholic veneration of virginity (associated with the Virgin Mary), citing Edward Taylor and John Cotton.[16] One Puritan settlement in western Massachusetts banished a husband because he refused to fulfill his sexual duties to his wife.[17]
Puritans in North America
Further information: History of the Puritans in North America
Interior of the Old Ship Church, a Puritan meetinghouse in Hingham, Massachusetts. Puritans were Calvinists, so their churches were unadorned and plain.
Some Puritans left for New England, particularly from 1629 to 1640 (the Eleven Years' Tyranny under King Charles I), supporting the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and other settlements among the northern colonies. The large-scale Puritan migration to New England ceased by 1641, with around 21,000 persons having moved across the Atlantic. This English-speaking population in the United States was not descended from all of the original colonists, since many returned to England shortly after arriving on the continent, but it produced more than 16 million descendants.[33][34] This so-called "Great Migration" is not so named because of sheer numbers, which were much less than the number of English citizens who immigrated to Virginia and the Caribbean during this time, many as indentured servants.[35] The rapid growth of the New England colonies (around 700,000 by 1790) was almost entirely due to the high birth rate and lower death rate per year. They had formed families more rapidly than did the southern colonies[36]
Death's head, Granary Burying Ground. A typical example of early Funerary art in Puritan New England
Puritan hegemony lasted for at least a century. That century can be broken down into three parts: the generation of John Cotton and Richard Mather, 1630–62 from the founding to the Restoration, years of virtual independence and nearly autonomous development; the generation of Increase Mather, 1662–89 from the Restoration and the Halfway Covenant to the Glorious Revolution, years of struggle with the British crown; and the generation of Cotton Mather, 1689–1728 from the overthrow of Edmund Andros (in which Cotton Mather played a part) and the new charter, mediated by Increase Mather, to the death of Cotton Mather. [37] Puritan leaders were political thinkers and writers who considered the church government to be God's agency in social life.[38]
The Puritans in the Colonies wanted their children to be able to read and interpret the Bible themselves, rather than have to rely on the clergy for interpretation.[39][40][41][42] In 1635, they established the Boston Latin School to educate their sons, the first and oldest formal education institution in the English-speaking New World. They also set up what were called dame schools for their daughters, and in other cases taught their daughters at home how to read. As a result, Puritans were among the most literate societies in the world.
By the time of the American Revolution there were 40 newspapers in the United States (at a time when there were only two cities—New York and Philadelphia—with as many as 20,000 people in them).[42][43][44][45] The Puritans also set up a college (now Harvard University) only six years after arriving in Boston.[42][46]
Notable Puritans
Main article: < List of Puritans >
- John Brockett was a founder of New Haven, Connecticut.
- Peter Bulkley was an influential Puritan minister and founder of Concord.
- John Bunyan was famous for The Pilgrim's Progress.
- William Bradford was Plymouth Colony's Governor.
- Anne Bradstreet was the first female to have her works published in the British North American colonies.
- Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader and eventually became Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was a very religious man and was considered an independent Puritan.
- John Endecott was the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and an important military leader.
- Jonathan Edwards, evangelical preacher who sparked the First Great Awakening
- Thomas Hooker was a Puritan minister and co-founder of the Connecticut Colony.
- Anne Hutchinson was a Puritan woman noted for speaking freely about her religious views, which resulted in her banishment from Massachusetts Bay Colony.
- John Milton is regarded as among the greatest English poets; author of epics like Paradise Lost, and dramas like Samson Agonistes. He was a staunch supporter of Cromwell.
- James Noyes was an influential Puritan minister, teacher and founder of Newbury.
- Philip Nye (minister) was the key adviser to Oliver Cromwell on matters of religion and regulation of the Church.
- Thomas Parker was an influential Puritan minister, teacher and founder of Newbury.
- John Winthrop is noted for his sermon "A Model of Christian Charity" and as a leading figure in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
- Robert Woodford was an English lawyer, largely based at Northampton and London. His diary for the period 1637–1641 records in detail the outlook of an educated Puritan.
Gallery of famous 17th-century Puritan theologians: Thomas Gouge, William Bridge, Thomas Manton, John Flavel, Richard Sibbes, Stephen Charnock, William Bates, John Owen, John Howe and Richard Baxter
Source: http://www.book-academy.co.uk/commentaries/puritans.php
Pilgrims Going to Church by George Henry Boughton (1867)
Source: https://www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/pilgrims-going-church-0
References
- Wikipedia contributors, "List of Puritans," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, < link > (accessed February 14, 2024).
- Wikipedia contributors, "Puritans," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, < link > (accessed February 14, 2024).
- 8 PURITAN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS: HISTORY OF A FANATIC < link > In the shadows of religious history, the Puritans loom large, their beliefs casting an indelible imprint upon the formation of American societal ethos.
- Puritan Doctrines/Beliefs < link >
- Puritans vs Quakers – What’s the Difference? (May 29, 2023) < link >
- PURITAN PRAYERS: DEVINE MERCIES (November 10, 2013). < link >
- http://www.book-academy.co.uk/commentaries/puritans.php
- “10 Most Famous Puritans.” (May 15, 2023) < link >