Under The Cope Of Heaven Analysis

LeAnn Struckman paper’s thesis is that the Puritan community, the weather, political events, and illnesses that were happening to the Salem region led to the Salem witch trial. This is supported by looking at the Puritan community and establishing the context behind the event. The paper starts by looking at the importance of the Massachusetts Bay Charter. This gave them the right to establish a colony in the New England area and the protections that came with it. The Puritans believed and desired to create an ideal society in the New World that England would want to emulate. The paper claims that the Puritans believed that the church and state should not be separate, which made their Puritan religious doctrines flow over into their government. This influences the role of the church and its membership. The Puritans believed in a strict system to gain membership of the church. Church membership carried over into the governance of the state and certain political rights like voting. The following generations were not as involved with the church and membership soon declined as they were unable to meet the strict standards. This decline created tension within the church, which created the need for reforming the standards of membership. However, with the change in membership there still was tension between the Puritans.

A second reason for the religious prevalence in Colonial America was the evil that people faced. “The providence of God was ‘wonder-working’ in making manifest the reach of his sovereignty; such acts of ‘special providence’ represented God’s clearer and more explicit than usual intervention into the affairs of man. But he was not alone in having supernatural power. The events

Colonial times in America expressed strong religious beliefs. During this era, the common person would hold a profound sense of spiritual sentiment and atonement, through self-examination and a pledge to a new standard of personal morality. Many were devoted to God and those who weren’t would feel a pressure to. Speakers and writers would use figurative language, such as repetition and personification, as well as pathos to push individuals to fully dedicate themselves to God.

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.

When taking a look at America’s short but significant history, we find that this nation was partly founded through religious ideals. Since its beginning, religion has helped to define the American Identity into what it is today. And this was explored throughout American literature especially in the Hawthorne’s The Minister’s Black Veil and Young Goodman Brown.

Today the controversy of the importance of Christianity to the colonists in the years preceding the American Revolution

American Exceptionalism is the major theme of John Winthrop’s speech for fellow Puritan passengers with religious connotations. Although Mr. Winthrop’s mission to establish a Christian Community, and convert non-Christians in the process while the rest of the world looks on is admirable I cannot ignore the irony of hypocrisy. The Puritans intended to establish a godly community, and be a shining example to all but failed to extend God’s love to “outsiders”. Their treatment of Non-Puritans, Native Americans, and Africans was reprehensible and anti-Christian. [1] In my opinion, John Winthrop and his fellow Puritans did not honor the true intentions behind the scriptures found in the Bible because their religion contained a superficial righteousness

When Protestants left Europe to move forever in America, they believed they followed God’s will leaving the corrupted England for a Promise Land in order to establish the Nation of God. They believed they were chosen by God to establish a New Israel into the wilderness that America was. They came in America with specific ideas in mind and specific plans to follow in order to complete the holy mission they had received. The importance of the immigration of the English Protestants in America, as the reader understands reading William Bradford’s “History of Plymouth Plantation”, John Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity” and Mary Rowlandson’s The Narrative of the Captivity and the Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, lays on the system of

The Colonial period, also known as the age of faith, is a very imperative time in American History due to its deep, influential writers and their powerful works of literature. In modern society, for better or for worst, life has evolved a great amount four hundred years later. For that reason, despite leaving behind a great legacy, the Puritan period is not a critical time in modern American society.

During Colonial America, religious affiliation was a significant consideration in many aspects of daily life. Politics

During the Puritan Era of American history, religion was ingrained in every aspects of society. Literature written in or set in that time shows how religion impacted daily life. Many famous pieces, including The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, and Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God clearly shows the harsh Calvinist ideals of the Puritan Age. These famous works depict the Puritan’s strict social justices, a gospel based legal system, and an overall societal fear of displeasing an unseen power in any way. Every text set in this time can be characterized by its substantial theme of religion and God.

The historical and literary analysis of any aspect of the people’s social and cultural life is impossible without reviewing either the old historical texts or the biographies of the famous authors, who witnessed the events taking place in the past. In order to comprehend the impact religion had on the society, two authors and their writings can be of great help. In particular, I mean Jonathan Edwards and Edward Taylor. The first academic was born in 1703, studied theology at Yale, served as a reverend in Connecticut Valley and a missionary to Native Americans in Massachusetts, and died in 1758. Edward Taylor, born in 1642, worked as a minister of the word of God in Westfield, Massachusetts, and died in 1729. These two individuals were both similar and different in the way they preached the gospel and led their congregations. Based on their works and preaching, the role and influence of religion was very powerful in the society, particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries.

In 1630, Puritan leader John Winthrop delivered perhaps the most famous sermon in American history entitled “A Model of Christian Charity,” in which he stressed to his fellow Puritans to adopt a sense of unity by setting aside self-interest for the sake of the community (Cohen, 2). Winthrop’s idea of putting community first has played a major role in American history, but as Winthrop probably knew would happen, his idea of unity has always been at odds with those of self-interest; as America is very much a history of these competing forces. The forces of those willing to put aside their own interest for unity, the common good, and for the preservation of the Union vs. those who have pursued their own selfish ways. This paper will offer insights into how Winthrop’s remarks have played out during the first half of American history by examining certain individuals and events that have followed along with Winthrop’s idea, or those who have posed a challenge to it.

When someone you know passes away, people feel alone and lost. However, everyone’s journey to recovery will be unique. In the novel The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks, everyone in the town is victims of the accident. However, Billy victimizing himself because of losing his wife, kids, and indulging in thoughtless activities.

“Religion in Nineteenth-Century America” written by Grant Wacker, is the second section in the book Religion in American Life: A Shorty History by authors Jon Butler, Grant Wacker, and Randall Balmer. Grant Wacker, is a professor of Christian History at Duke Divinity School who is considered an expert in the field. This work presents the religious climate of the nineteenth century in America. Wacker sets out to inform his readers about the everchanging religious climate that occupied the people and society of America. In these stories, Wacker illustrates the many changes surrounding the religious culture by the people, society, and government in America. The major argument of this work suggests “as the eighteenth-century slipped into the nineteenth, thousands of Americans drifted from traditional Christianity simply because it no longer met their needs”. Moreover, Wacker implies “that in the nineteenth-century many Americans, of diverse religious heritages, looked steadily and creatively to the past to find resources for the present and hope for the future”. In this case, the population of America found ways to redirect their focus on and understood the importance of reinventing or reforming the ideals of the past to reflect their needs of the present for its people and society as a whole. “Religion in Nineteenth-Century America” emphasized that religion remained central to some people and its society throughout the past, yet continued through the nineteenth century. While