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PURITAN HISTORY
PURITAN HISTORY
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE PURITANS?
PROTESTANTISM
¡ 700s to 1500s - Catholic Church controlled Christianity
¡ 1517 – Martin Luther wrote 95 thesis criticizing Catholicism
¡ Wrote it in German & stuck it to the church door…so people noticed
¡ What do you know?
¡ 1520s/1530s – John Calvin & others start the Puritan or Reform Church
GETTING TO NORTH AMERICA
¡ Trouble in England:¡ Church of England set up in the 1530s
¡ Puritan’s aim to Purify the Church
¡ Fled to Holland/The Netherlands/the Dutch¡ Birthplace of Calvinism (which influenced the Puritans)
¡ Puritans didn’t like that the Dutch were tolerant of everyone
¡ So…they got kicked out again
FIVE MAJOR BELIEFS
1. Pre-destination: God already knows if someone will go to heaven or hell.
¡ Looked for signs from God to show if they were destined for salvation.
2. Original Sin/Total Depravity: All humans are born sinners, and only the Grace of God saves us from burning in the pit of hell.¡ Believed the worst of people because wicked humans were capable of any kind of evil.
3. Limited Atonement: Jesus died to make up for human sins, but not everyone’s worthy of receiving this.¡ Wanted everyone to believe they were worthy, so tried always to appear holy.
FIVE MAJOR BELIEFS
4. Irresistible Grace: The grace of God is always in their hearts, so their job was to spread His word.
¡ Need to talk about faith, tell community members to be faithful, and prove that you’re “righteous”.
5. Saints: Once a person was on the path of salvation, they would never leave it and could avoid evil.
¡ Community leaders, especially preachers, were incredibly respected. Basically, they could do no wrong.
ORIGINAL SIN
¡ Garden of Eden = literal paradise¡ Adam & Eve = first people
¡ 1 rule = don’t eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge
¡ Downfall of Man¡ ”the serpent” talks Eve into trying the fruit
¡ She shares with Adam, they freak out
¡ God kicks them out & dolls out punishment
THE ORIGINAL SIN
¡ Muslim Faith = act of disobedience
¡ Bad because didn’t listen to God’s rules
¡ Catholic Faith = pride of knowledge
¡ Bad because didn’t trust God to give them what they needed
¡ Believe the snake was Satan/temptation
¡ Jewish Faith = pride of knowledge
¡ Bad because defied God and learned more than they should
¡ Believe Adam could’ve stayed in Paradise, but he decided to go with Eve (love story!)
Desire to know what
God knew
PURITAN INTERPRETATION
¡ Basically, picked up on Catholic Punishment and added to it:¡ Unknown/Forbidden part of nature is dangerous
¡ Sins get punished
¡ Women are deceitful & lustful
¡ Because the snake symbolizes a part of male anatomy…
¡ 1 (of 2) major American hypocrisies = Sexuality is bad
PREDESTINATION
If nothing you did made a difference to where you went after death, what would you do?
How would you live?
WAITING FOR A SIGN
¡ Puritans couldn’t get rid of their anxiety about salvation¡ Watched for signs as clues from God
¡ Did everything to LOOK like they were on the path to salvation
¡ Would know their fate once they’d had a Conversion Experience¡ Could help this happen by following religious rules, going to church, thinking about
their soul, and watching their every action
¡ Experience might reveal salvation OR damnation
WAITING FOR A SIGN
¡ Conversion Experience = show them their fate¡ Moment of distinct clarity or spiritual connection
¡ After the Experience¡ Convincingly describe experience in church
¡ Earn status of “the elect” in the church
¡ Earn full citizenship in town
GENERATIONS 1 & 2
HEADING TO THE NEW WORLD
¡ Headed to America in 1630¡ Ship Arabella, lead by John Winthrop
¡ Established Massachusetts Bay Colony
¡ Additional Puritan groups arrived 1630 - 1640¡ Called the Great Migration
“A MODEL OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY”
JOHN WINTHROP
¡ Background:¡ Grew up in Suffolk, England
¡ Came from the gentry (family had money)
¡ Studied law at Cambridge & served in public offices
¡ Sold his land, dedicated his family (including 16 children) to the voyage, and was elected governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company
BELIEFS
¡ He was destined for salvation (Puritan “sainthood”)
¡ Dedicated to reforming the wicked world
¡ God demanded hard work and a little suffering, but it would all be worth it
¡ “the life which is most exercised with tryalls and temptations is the sweetest, and will prove the safeste” (Winthrop)
¡ Taught followers combination of group cooperation and individual responsibility
HOW TO BUILD “A CITY ON A HILL”
¡ Keep God, Biblical laws, and the Puritan church at the center of their lives
¡ Stick together as a community, treat each other as family
¡ Don’t be selfish or get distracted by worldly things
¡ Build a strong foundation for the future
¡ If they succeed, God will be with them and the world will praise their success
¡ If they fail, they will be shamed and others will doubt their faith
BEGINNING OF PURITAN LIFE
¡ Generations 1 & 2 = SURVIVAL & CONFORMITY¡ Beliefs shaped community, making it a theocracy (government based on religion)
¡ The Bible is law, and community leaders were selected by God
¡ Women were educated so they could read the Bible and teach religion to their children, but their social standing still depended on marriage.
¡ Worried about being seen as “righteous”
¡ Worried about receiving signs from God
LIVIN’ LIKE THE PURITANS
PURITAN DOS AND DON’TS
Forbidden
¡ No dancing, no theatre, no art, no drinking to excess
¡ No Lust, one of the Seven Deadly Sins
¡ No enjoyment of sex, no sex outside of marriage, no LGBT+
¡ (Basically sexual deviance/sexual desire = going to hell)
Acceptable¡ Celebrate birthdays and nature holidays
(Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice)
¡ Do: work, pray, eat (repeat)
¡ Do: sex is for making kids, that’s it
HOW TO AVOID SEXUAL DEVIANCE
¡ Bundling = giant straight jacket/mummy suit to wrap around themselves
¡ Couldn’t be overcome with temptation in the night
¡ Boarding = nail a board on the bed between male and female sleepers
¡ Often lived in one-room houses with extended family or visiting friends
WHAT IF YOU DON’T FOLLOW THE RULES?
¡ Public shaming
¡ Whipping post
¡ Wearing a sign
¡ Branding
¡ Dunking stool
¡ Pillory or Stocks
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR COMMUNITY
¡ Demon Hunting
¡ Sending men into the woods to kill demons who wanted to lead people astray
¡ Believed in certain demons
¡ (Succubus = female, Incubus = male)
¡ Killing them released the town from trouble
DIFFERENCE = DEVIANCE
CONVERSION EXPERIENCES
SIGNS YOU WERE SAVED
¡ A young girl wrote about her conversion experience. The day was very humid. She had been out working with her family the entire day, and they were preparing to break their fast at the table. She writes that as she was preparing the family meal, something took over her body, and she started to shake uncontrollably, she described her arms flailing about, and she fell to the floor in a heap, shaking. She wrote that after the fit had left her, she sat up and felt the looseness and calmness in her body. And she knew that was her conversion experience.
¡ A man had been out walking in the rain, and as he continued to walk, he reached a spot where the rain was no longer falling. He believed that the Lord had shielded him from the rain, and that he was saved.
SIGNS OF “ELECTION”
¡ God & Church were at the center of their lives
¡ What they thought about day after day
¡ Being ”knit together”, they would succeed or fail as a group
¡ Justified monitoring their neighbors & publicly shaming sinners
¡ Legal system of tattle-telling
¡ Inside = safe, Outside = death
What issues might arise from those attitudes?
PURITAN VALUES: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
¡ Rules help us survive
¡ Faith and family values are central
¡ We don’t want the people around us to judge us
¡ But we stick our noses in other people’s business
¡ Sex is an uncomfortable topic
¡ If we want to get anywhere in life, we have to work hard
