The Puritans Religious Beliefs

In the 1630s to 1660s, the Puritans strong belief in god and its upholding shaped the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s development. The colony was fully based on the Puritan’s view which painted their religion and it effected the lifestyle. The Puritans were a highly religious group that believed god’s will was the absolute. As shown in document 3, it states how the church is always right and nothing should be done to offend it. This shows the grasp of the Puritans hold toward god because this was a statement of the church’s membership and so it should display their beliefs.

The Puritans designed a theocracy with their government enforcing God’s laws. The Enlarged Salem Covenant of 1636 states the Puritans “will willingly do nothing to the offence of the church” while obeying their rulers in the Bible Commonwealth (Document C). Governor John Winthrop called the Massachusetts Bay Colony “as a city upon a hill.” With “the eies [eyes] of all people” set upon them, the Puritans were to be a model

In early 1600's, Puritans followed the Pilgrims to America then they landed in Massachusetts bay. The Puritans started the colony because they wanted to escape religious persecution. The only religion was the Puritans.In the early 1600's of, Massachusetts there was only one Indian tribe,and that was the Wampanoag. Puritans tried to purify the Anglican church because they wanted to make services simpler and taking ranks of authority

The Puritans who came to America originally in 1620 sought religious reform instead of breaking off from the Church of England versus their counterparts the Pilgrims who had left ten years prior. Puritans were a large factor in establishing and founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Their influence in the New English region of America in these thirty years was truly mind-blowing. From their emphasis on organization, family life, education, and a great work ethic is admirable in each every sense. Organization in their towns were a key factor to their lifestyle, with the centralization of the more commonly used buildings show their importance on Church [Document B] which is centered in the town square.

When the Puritan came to the New World after being rejected in England for their beliefs, they knew the demand of perfection in God’s eyes could never be fully accomplish. Humans could never live up to the standards that God set out. After settling in New England, the Puritan became well aware they needed to have law enforcement with religious obligations, and most importantly the sexual temptations. Knowing that human could never fully obey God’s word and always be tempted, the puritans enforced certain punishments for certain sexual crimes, including fornication, adultery, rape and buggery or sodomy.

The Church of England intended to separate from Catholicism and introduce reforms in a new Protestant religion. The Puritans however thought that the Church of England still held too many of the Catholic church’s beliefs. In the Puritan religion, there was an emphasis on sovereignty and righteousness. It was also believed that all humans were depraved sinners who were unable to deem themselves worthy to God. The Puritans did believe in a predestination of some sort where God chose who was worthy for salvation, and people who did not live accordingly to the Lord’s divine law were rightly punished. The Puritans believed that it was their goal to become a “New Jerusalem.” They believed that God and Satan were in everyday life and the center of their lives was religion. The

There were obviously ideas that some did not deem acceptable in their society and felt could threaten the continuity of the community. All the sources paint a history of Puritan society. While the two documents focus on community and the protection of God’s word, this was not always clear in the society. The essay shows us that the society’s norms were not as clear cut as

The Puritans followed the Bible as closely as possible. The magistrates referred to one scripture in the Bible time and time again as to see how to deal with the accused witches, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Exodus 22:18). Since the Puritans followed

In the 1600s there were a certain group of people that took up a vast majority of the population this group was called the Puritans. The Puritans were a strictly religious group of people who had a very strict interpretation of bible and they believed anything as long as they believed it was God's’ will to be done, they only did what the bible could tell them to do, or if they preformed anything different than what was lead to be by the bible they were punished. They had so many restrictions on the littlest of things just like dancing, no fancy clothing and no smoking. But they did have restrictions on pretty big things as well like you can’t miss church no matter what even if someone were to be sick, people had to pay to celebrate christmas.

Throughout the colonization of America, many different religions and groups found a home in the New World. One of these religions was the Puritans. More commonly known as the pilgrims, the Puritans are a group of very strict, religious persons. Puritans were English Protestants who believed the Reformation did not rid the church of Catholic influences enough (“Puritans” Robinson).

In the trial of Anne Hutchinson, we meet a well intentioned yet lost people described and labelled as the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Company. These self governing Puritans, once a people who sought God to set them on their way, settled only to be found as a people who simply lost their way. This journey to lost began when first motivated by a desire for religious reform and separation from the liturgy, ceremonies and practices of the Church of England. Once they banned together, they set on their way and traveled in groups to the New World. With the Word of God as their ultimate authority and the desire for a personal relationship with God, these people landed in Boston in 1630 united to self govern the newly founded Massachussets Bay Colony. Unfortunatly, this self rule resulted in a government of intolerance, fear and a liturgy not much different from what was once found in the Church of England. A system designed to set apart outward morality, or sanctification, to strengthen the authority of the Church only worked to neglect the place of true piety purposed to strengthen the spiritual lives of the people it served.

The 17th century Puritans were known to represent a religious group migrating from England to America in order to practice religious freedom. These groups were determined to “purify” churches of England from Catholic practices. Puritans are known for their religious, social, and political influences on early America. Edmund S. Morgan’s novel The Puritan Family highlights a part of history that many would tend to look over upon- that is, the complex structural life of Puritan Families in the 17th century.

In the seventeenth century, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded as a haven for religious freedom for all early colonist, principally for the Puritans. Unlike any other migrating group in America, the Puritans were composed of families who sought the religious freedom and harmony they were unable to experience in England. ¹ These Massachusetts Bay settlers sought to achieve this haven by devising a system of government that would fulfill political and moral authority. By the 1640s their enterprise at Massachusetts Bay had grown to about ten thousand citizens, claiming great success and testimony to the Puritan greatness. However, it was a system critics argue was just as intolerant as the one they abandoned. Between 1636 and 1638, the

The Puritans left Europe to seek a new lifestyle unmediated by any ruler they had previously had. They risked everything, including their lives to live the way they wanted. They had strict and prudent looks. They had an even stricter religion. Their politics were simple and often overshadowed by their family lives.

America was and still remains an ideological experiment. This ongoing experiment-the basic foundation for American society today-began with the settlement of the Puritans (1628-1630) at Massachusetts Bay in 1630. From the very beginning the Puritans had a plan, this plan was to create an exemplary society based on their beliefs of individualism and democracy “for the world to see”. However, in order to understand Puritan society one must note that reality and belief hold two very different meanings. A belief is a state of mind in which trust and confidence is placed in an idea or thing. While reality is a fact about the living moment past, present or future. This idea is important because the Puritans lived a life of constant struggle between reality and belief. They believed in the notions of individualism and democracy. Yet, in reality these notions posed as the largest threats to their society.