A Model of Christian Charity

Laud went wrong when he tried to make church services more about doctrine and sacraments, and sought to make freewill the official doctrine of the Church. He did not stop there. He ordered that alters should be re-sited from the central places in churches to the east end of churches across the country. This essay will discuss Laud’s Arminian doctrines and his misjudgement of England’s religious mood, which led to his downfall and to the civil war. Laud’s New Religious Policies for the Church of England.

“Winthrop was chosen governor in October 1629; for the next twenty years most of the responsibility for the colony rested in his hands”. He shouldn’t be considered a founding father because he merely raised a colony, while others fought for the birth of America and its independence from England. In his sermons, “A Model of Christian Charity”, he preaches the message to “love thy neighbor” and the expectations to bear the burden and grace of making a “covenant with God”. Winthrop is not considered a founding father because his works deal with the recurring theme of “love is the bond of perfection”. He is not fueled by revolutionary spirit, but he simply desires to change the church.

In his classic reformation style, Calvin symbolically compared Catholic to Protestant theology by framing his theocracy not on the church as the government, but rather he separated civil government from spiritual government into a divinely ordained, segregated Protestant theocracy. Intricately expressed and executed, Calvin’s doctrine is dripping with figurative language, suggesting that Calvin went to great lengths to insure that his dislike for the Catholic papacy would not go unnoticed. Calvin’s writings, teachings and beliefs were the platform for the Puritans (Polishook). "[The Puritans] sought an intellectual, moral, and spiritual "clean-up" of institutionalized Christianity. Their standard of purity was the Bible.

Unlike the Church of England, Puritans wanted to build a church one would join voluntarily and be active in the running of the congregation. “The American governmental system was designed by political architects who assumed that human beings could not be trusted with power” (Wald 49). The Founders focused more on defects of humanity more than its virtues, much like the Puritans. In Reformation theology, Puritans viewed the story of Adam as a lesson that when given the choice between good and evil, mankind will often choose evil. Puritans also believed redemption did not exist and God had already chosen those who would experience his grace and those who would only experience sin and torment.

For the Puritans in the early New England colonies life was by no means easy, but there was the possibility to expand their beliefs free from the persecution from Church of England. They had the opportunity to create their ideal society under God with the bible as their law from which they would define how to live. The Puritans set out to create their model society which could spread and cull the impurities from the church. But how did these beliefs and goals ultimately effect their society? In the book Give Me Liberty: An American History by Eric Foner he notes that: “Puritanism, however, was not simply a set of ideas but a state of mind, a zealousness in pursuing the true faith that alienated many who held differing religious views” (Foner 63).

"They sought homogeneity, not diversity, and believed that the good of the community outweighed protecting the rights of its individual members". Beyond ... ... middle of paper ... ...unities for the benefit of all, The "A Model of Christian Charity" sermon, delivered by John Winthrop, is an example of the deeply religious Puritans that settled in Boston. They felt they had a convent with God to live a righteous life, a life that put God commandments and the community first. The puritans were very concerned with proper behavior – theirs and others. The settlers of Boston were pious Puritans who regularly reassessed the state of their souls.

He began to feel that the existence of a minority undermined his political authority and he wanted to eradicate any such doubts. Martin Luther wanted to see reform in the Roman Catholic Church; he wanted the religion to be for everyone and wanted people to follow the word of God and his scriptures, not the church. Such reformation would eventually bring about a new religion and a huge shift away from the Roman Catholic Church. However, there was a big difference in how Louis and Luther addressed what they believed to be the “evils” plaguing their land. According to King Louis, the Protestants were the evil that plagued his land and they were given the power... ... middle of paper ... ...uther’s reforms eventually led Germany to adopt Lutheranism and gave birth to many different sects of Christianity different to that of the Roman Catholic Church.

After studying the work of Augustine, Luther used his basic ideas to help form how he thought Christianity should be practiced. During Luther’s life the 2 people looked toward the religious officials such as the bishops, priests, and the pope for guidance. Augustine said that religion should be more centered around the bible rather than religious officials, and Luther soaked in that theory and made it into much of what Christianity is today. Luther believed that it was basically blasphemy to sell indulgences and made it evident that he believed this. He thought that God would forgive one if forgiveness through Him was sought, also in faith alone rather than doing good deeds in life.

Winthrop believed that the government should be ruled with a theocracy and imposed laws with this view in mind. Roger Williams differed in Winthrop’s in that he believed everyone should have freedom to worship as they saw fit and not just the Puritans themselves. “Williams was a spiritual or theological separatist whose relentless quest was to separate the true church from theological impurity and the unclean world. (Williams, his critics said, even refused fellowship with his own wife when he thought she was insufficiently pure in her spiritual life.) He contested an essential premise of the Puritans’ New England commonwea... ... middle of paper ... ...e have left a lasting footprint on many aspects of the heart of America.

Exam 1, Question 1 The Protestant Reformation of the Church of England took place over a hundred year period under the Tudor monarchy. Beginning with Henry VIII desire to divorce Catherine of Aragon, the reformation exposed deep rifts within English society. The radical efforts of Edward VI and Mary turned into religious persecution. It was left to Elizabeth, the last of the Tudor dynasty, to institute the final reforms and ensure the success of Protestantism within the Church of England. Henry VIII separated the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church for selfish reasons.