While I'm sitting here at my computer, in my air conditioned home, with the radio blaring and the t.v. on downstairs, I try to imagine how life was as a young Puritan. To be honest, I don't think I could live a week the way they do. I could try but it would be excruciatingly difficult. The Puritans didn't have all the luxuries we have today. They were told many things by preachers such as Jonathon Edwards, who lit a candle of fear in their minds. If I was alive to hear Edwards preach, I'd certainly have to question myself. He preached that God holds us in his hands and he can make or break us. If God decides it so, he will let us go and we will fall from his hands to nothing but Hell. Certainly no one wants to go to Hell. So, the Puritans tried to better their lives, and go by rules or "resolutions." They believed if they followed these resolutions, even though their fate was predetermined by God, they could live a life of good and maybe prove they are meant to go to Heaven. One of the many detailed resolutions they had to follow was "To think much, on all occasions, of my own dying and of the common circumstances which attend death." I certainly would be frightened to think of dying every second of the day. I'd be paranoid, looking around, thinking how I would die, what would happen to me after I die. I don't think I'd be a happy person to be around. I often wonder how many Puritans walked around day to day thinking about "I could die today!" The other resolution, similiar as above, "Never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life." When I was in class, I actually tried to think what I would actually do, if it was the last hour of my life and if what I was doing then, is what I would actually do. I think I'd have a lot more to say, I'd speak my mind more. I once thought, if I was on an airplane that was crashing, what I would do. I think I'd write. I'd write my finals words in my journal which I always carry and then close my eyes. Nothing more, nothing less. But, I wouldn't actually know that is what I'd do until faced with the situation.
According to Mrs. Anne Bradstreet and Mr. Cotton Mather, I think Puritans have some admirable qualities, such as the relationship with the family - especially Mrs. Bradstreet with her husband, and she was trying hard to be a great mother. In addition, Mr. Mather was strong and powerful person even though his life was darkened by disappointment and tragedy. He tried hard to make a difference for his life.
In the provocative article, Were the Puritans Puritanical?, Carl Degler seeks to clarify the many misconceptions surrounding the Puritan lifestyle. He reveals his opinions on this seventeenth century living style, arguing that the Puritans were not dull and ultra-conservative, but rather enjoyed things in moderation. They had pleasures, but not in excess. The Puritans could engage in many pleasurable and leisurely activities so long as they did not lead to sin. According to the article, the Puritans believed that too much of anything is a sin. Degler writes about the misconceptions of Puritan dress, saying that it was the “opposite of severe”, and describing it as rather the English Renaissance style. Not all members of Puritan society
The puritans had many religious beliefs. The religious beliefs they held were strong and they were extremely devoted to serving their Lord. Puritans believed that people of God had a teetotal lifestyle, worked hard and were responsible. They also believed that anything and everything that happens on earth is already predestined by God. People would not earn salvation with works of righteousness but through God’s grace. The congregation would make all of the decisions in the church and they would not acknowledge any other religions. When Puritans worshipped, it was very simple and only focused on God. There was no music, stained glass windows or art.
They believed they had the right to worship and govern themselves in whatever manner they pleased. Puritan freedom did not include religious tolerance or individualism. John Winthrop 's speech highlighted the concept of what Puritan freedom was. He believed in a civil society where through God 's path stability would be found. Socially, it can be summarized to two ideas, natural liberty vs. moral liberty. Natural liberty was said to be corrupt because it meant doing what you pleased, whereas moral liberty meant only doing what was right. One actions were reflected based upon their position in society. The higher up one was ranked social the more "moral" their actions were and vice versa for actions defined as
The Puritans were "Christians," in that they believed in Jesus Christ yet some may argue that they did not lead "Christian" lives. These fanatics seemed to obssess over a major tenet of their religion, that being "Pre Destination." That is, God Himself chose those destined for eternal salvation in the beginning of time, long before our conception and birth. This pre-ordained number is considerably miniscule, which, at times, the Puritans seemed to ignore.
Throughout time, family dynamics continually adapt to fit an always changing society. Using the sociological imagination, I can analyze my family’s history to understand the shift between Puritan farming life to the Industrial Era to the modern-day family I live in now.
The church and Christian beliefs had a very large impact on the Puritan religion and lifestyle. According to discovery education, “Church was the cornerstone of the mainly Puritan society of the 17th century.”( Douglas 4). Puritan laws were intensively rigid and people in society were expected to follow a moral strict code. And because of Puritans and their strict moral codes, any act that was considered to go against this code was considered a sin and deserved to be punished. In Puritan theology, God h...
When the Puritans came to New England, they came to settle with a clear society in mind. Not only would this society be free from the persecution that they endured in Old England; it would be free to create what the leader of the religion referred to as a "perfect" society. In their attempt to escape the persecution they had come so accustomed to, they set up their own rigid belief system based on the inclusion of the human soul and the exclusion of everything else as being unimportant (Wolff 14). The belief system of the Puritans allowed for several different types of theologies, two of which are the Covenant theology and the Paradise theology.
Puritans believed in strict religious dedications, by trying to follow the holy commandment. “The discipline of the family, in those days, was of a far more rigid kind than now.”(Hawthorne 9). They wanted to be considered the holiest of all people because they try to reflect a world of perfection in the sight of God. While they where trying to portray a holy life; however, they where also living a sinful life because they have been judgmental, slandering, uncompassionate, resentment, and forbearing, which are all sinful acts of the bible.
“ ‘Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.’ ” Then [Peter] began to curse, and swore an oath, “ ‘I do not know the man!’ ” (The Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha, Mathew. 73, 74). Strong and bold, Peter swore to never disown Jesus; however, Peter lied to himself, Jesus, and the other disciples. Moreover, Peter, acting greedy and selfish, chose not to suffer with Jesus, yet escape freely. In other words, lying to the people and disowning Jesus, Peter proved to be self-serving. Realizing his mistakes, Peter devoted his life and love to the Lord, purifying himself from the sins he committed. Similarly, in Puritan society, Puritans initially were seemingly self-serving people, fighting for their chance at being predestined.
The Puritans were Englishmen who chose to separate from the Church of England. Puritans believed that the Anglican Church or Church of England resembled the Roman Catholic Church too closely and was in dire need of reform. Furthermore, they were not free to follow their own religious beliefs without punishment. In the sixteenth century the Puritans settled in the New England area with the idea of regaining their principles of the Christi...
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines puritanism as the beliefs and practices of people who follow very strict moral and religious rules about the proper way to behave and live. Puritans based their beliefs off the idea that God was morally right and supreme above all others. In Anne Bradstreet’s “To My Dear and Loving Husband” and “Upon the Burning of Our House” and Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” it is very evident of this idea that the Puritans had believed. With the access to the Earl’s library, Anne Bradstreet used it to help educate herself. Marrying young, Anne Bradstreet left England and sailed to America with her husband. Enduring the harsh conditions of her new life in America, Anne Bradstreet used her faith in God and poetry to help her survive in her new home. Jonathan Edwards, a child prodigy had experienced a religious experience while at Yale University that had made him want to follow in the path of his father and grandfather and become a minister. After the passing of his grandfather, Jonathan Edwards became a pastor and eventually, an influential preacher. Using sermons so powerful and influential, Jonathan Edwards actually helped trigger the Great Awakening, a religious movement
Puritans are generally viewed as religious extremists. Their religious beliefs were extended to all areas of life, and were zealously enforced. This is true for the most part, especially the way they conducted themselves publicly. They believed in public piety to the extent that once, “a young married couple was fined twenty shillings for the crime of kissing in public” (Kennedy, 45). This couple was already married, so one can imagine the people would come to feel that rules like this served no purpose. As Albion’s Seed reads, Puritans “believed that costume should not be a form of sensual display” (140). Their finickiness even included their refrain from wearing the color black because it was too stylish for anyone but the elect. It would be difficult to see how this relates to any scriptural laws of God, therefore, one can imagine how people would grow tired of such pointless restrictions on every trivial choice and action.
Popular mythology conjures up images of Puritan New England as a pious, homogenous, agrarian community, a "Citty upon a Hill" intended to inspire the English homeland to turn to Puritan ways.(1) However, Puritan New England was more than a collection of small, agrarian communities. The harbors of New England supported shipping and fishing industries, and abundant timber and ore supplies inspired the Puritans of North America to pursue a colonial version of the English iron industry. These new American Ironworks required skilled labor; it was not possible simply to take the offspring of Puritan farmers and merchants and turn them into iron workers. The experienced, skilled laborers needed were mostly recruited from England and, generally, were not Puritans. Stephen Innes describes these iron workers as having "had a long, and apparently well-earned, reputation for stout-hearted truculence and profane living."(2) How, then, did these most un-Puritan individuals function in Puritan Society?