Summary Of The Puritan Dilemma

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The Puritan Dilemma is the story of John Winthrop growing up in the Puritan colonization of America. This book tells the reader of the events that Puritans had to go through during that time period. The book also talks about the attempts, both by John Winthrop and the Puritans, to establish a new type of society in the New World, something they couldn’t do in England. This story is told by the theology of the Puritan ideas, and focuses a lot on how their beliefs intervene in their daily lives, churches, and political ideologies. Puritanism was the belief that the Church of England should remove traditions that inherited from the Catholic Church, and make the Church of England more pure in Christ. The book starts by stating that Henry VIII …show more content…

Puritans believed that every individual or kingdom was placed by the Almighty, and if the individuals were faithful to the Almighty, He would reward them. Whenever bad situations arose, anything from drought to scarcity, they accepted it, because they believed it was a punishment for disobedience, “Preachers sounded the alarm again and again, calling up the memory of Sodom and Gomorrah” (P.17). Sodom and Gomorrah are the cities that were destroyed by the wrath of God, according to the Old Testament in the Bible. John believed that the English government was “under the shadow God’s wrath” (P.18), Charles I became king in 1625, and demanded the loyalty of the Parliament, King Charles I accepted Arminianism, which is the belief that attempts to explain the relationship between God’s sovereignty and individual free will. The book states that Puritans had three options: overthrow Charles, separate from the Church of England and make their own, or leave England together as a group. John decided to head to Massachusetts, since this was the opportunity God has given him to be prosperous, by using his talents and practicing true Puritanism,” The colony was to be a refuge for truth, a religious rather than a commercial …show more content…

John persuaded and got the Puritans to join the expedition to the New World, and the main reason for the persuasion was because of their faith, where in the New World they could practice it, and with God’s favor by their side. John prepared for the expedition to the New World, but although he prepared, the first 1,000 settlers were unprepared for what they encountered in Massachusetts. Cold winters killed men, and most of them were not prepared for the new things that were in the New England. They finally settled in Charlestown. “He returned with the conclusion that the bay was the place to settle: there was plenty of champion land on its rivers and peninsulas…” (P.54), it offered them protection and security. John was a leader to the Puritan community, and stated that they had a special calling from God, much like the way Israel in ancient times, and just like Israel followed Moises, and the Puritans followed John’s commands. Dangers of separatism came across the minds of the Puritans, and was an issue that John had to deal with it. Puritans wanted an establishment of a church in which God commanded it to be, they wanted an end for bishops, and archbishops, “…an end to the idolatrous ritual and trappings that exalted the clergy instead of God in the divine service…” (P.70). Two groups immerged because of this, the Congregationalists which believe there should be no

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