The Puritans' main fears and anxieties tended to revolve around Indian attacks, deadly illnesses, and failure.
The ideal Puritan woman was what has sometimes been called a "helpmeet" or a "goodwife." Women were expected to marry and serve as a godly mother to the children that were born into their households. Women were generally expected not to play a public role in Puritan communities but rather to maintain the household.
“Puritans believed in ghosts, witches and demons because, to them, that proved that the supernatural existed.
The Puritans, a strict fundamentalist Protestant sect who immigrated to the New World for religious freedom beginning in 1609, believed that education was necessary in order to read the Bible to receive salvation. This was in line with the beliefs of the Protestant Reformers.
The Puritans disapproved of many things in Elizabethan society, and one of the things they hated most was the theater. Their chief complaint was that secular entertainments distracted people from worshipping God, though they also felt that the theater's increasing popularity symbolized the moral iniquity of city life.
Puritans believed that it was necessary to be in a covenant relationship with God in order to be redeemed from one's sinful condition, that God had chosen to reveal salvation through preaching, and that the Holy Spirit was the energizing instrument of salvation.
The Puritans were members of a religious reform movement that arose within the Church of England in the late 16th century. While the Separatists believed that the only way to live according to Biblical precepts was to leave the Church of England entirely, the Puritans thought they could reform the church from within.
The Puritans were members of a religious reform movement known as Puritanism that arose within the Church of England in the late 16th century. They believed the Church of England was too similar to the Roman Catholic Church and should eliminate ceremonies and practices not rooted in the Bible.
The Puritans in Massachusetts Bay believed in a separation of church and state, but not a separation of the state from God. restricting future freemanship and the right to vote only to Congrega- tional Church members in order to guarantee a “godly” government.
The American concept of limited government stems from the Puritan community. Puritans believed that no single person or group of people should be trusted to run the government. Finally, many Americans have adopted the Puritan ethics of honesty, responsibility, hard work, and self-control.
Predestination, in Christian theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. In this usage, predestination can be regarded as a form of religious determinism; and usually predeterminism, also known as theological determinism.
Arriving in New England, the Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in a town they named Boston. Life was hard, but in this stern and unforgiving place they were free to worship as they chose. The Bible was central to their worship. Their church services were simple.
The Puritans were strict Calvinists, or followers of the reformer John Calvin. Calvin taught that God was all-powerful and completely sovereign. Human beings were depraved sinners. God had chosen a few people, "the elect," for salvation.
The Puritans had left England because they didn't agree with the Church of England and they wanted to practice their own faith. They had originally intended to come to America so they could practice their own religion, purify the Church of England, and then return to Europe with this new and improved religion.
The Quakers rejected the orthodox Calvinist belief in predestination. Instead, the Quakers insisted that salvation was available to all. It came, however, not through an institutional church, but from within, by following the "inner light" of God's spirit.
Puritan LifeA typical Puritan family lived a humble existence in a small house with one room. Within the room was a fireplace that was used for cooking and warmth. Because the family lived in a single room, it was often very smoky, particularly during the winter.
They held many of the same Puritan Calvinist religious beliefs but, unlike most other Puritans, they maintained that their congregations should separate from the English state church, which led to them being labeled Separatists.
The Geneva Bible remained popular among Puritans and remained in widespread use until after the English Civil War. The Geneva notes were surprisingly included in a few editions of the King James version, even as late as 1715.
Others trace their origin to the Anabaptists, a 16th-century Protestant movement on the European continent. Most scholars, however, agree that Baptists, as an English-speaking denomination, originated within 17th-century Puritanism as an offshoot of Congregationalism.
The Great Awakening was a religious revival that impacted the English colonies in America during the 1730s and 1740s. The movement came at a time when the idea of secular rationalism was being emphasized, and passion for religion had grown stale. The result was a renewed dedication toward religion.
Predestination, in Christianity, the doctrine that God has eternally chosen those whom he intends to save.
Puritan ideas and values greatly influenced the political, social, and economic developement of the New England Colonies in many ways between 1630 and the 1660s. Puritans came to the Americas, like many other people, in order to create a "perfect and ideal christian society".
The forming of American individualism and democratic thoughts were, obviously, influenced by Puritanism in New England. It also shaped American people's national character of being hard-working and thrifty, and made them bear a strong sense of mission.
While both followed the teaching of John Calvin, a cardinal difference distinguished one group from the other: Pilgrims were Puritans who had abandoned local parishes and formed small congregations of their own because the Church of England was not holy enough to meet their standards. They were labeled Separatists.
Nor did Puritans abstain from alcohol; even though they objected to drunkenness, they did not believe alcohol was sinful in itself. They were not opposed to artistic beauty; although they were suspicious of the theater and the visual arts, the Puritans valued poetry.
Pilgrims were separatists who first settled in Plymouth, Mass., in 1620 and later set up trading posts on the Kennebec River in Maine, on Cape Cod and near Windsor, Conn. Puritans were non-separatists who, in 1630, joined the migration to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
