Why Did Puritans Adopt The Theology Of Calvinism

The Puritan community of the Massachusetts Bay colony was primarily focused around church and faith. In 1630, a mass exodus of Puritans moved from England to the colonies in an attempt to isolate themselves and focus on their own religion. Puritans believed that they had a covenant with God, meaning they were predestined for heaven.

Puritans were a group of people that came to America because they wanted to leave the Church of England. They left the church because they did not agree with the beliefs. These individuals thought that the Church of England needed to be purified so they started their own church. To the Puritans, America was freedom, freedom of religion. Puritans wanted to do things their way, so in the 16th -17th centuries over 20,000 Puritans came to America.

The Puritans formed a religious group to wash away the badness of Catholic beliefs. Puritanism was a religious reform movement that arose within the Church of England in the late sixteenth century. They believed that the newly founded church still held too many of the catholic churches remnants. Puritan beliefs emphasized the righteousness and sovereignty of God.

Puritans can be found at the beginnings of the English Reformation. In the 1500s England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and created a new church called the Church of England. In 1630 the Puritans left England in search of religious freedom. The Puritans wanted to leave the Church of England to become pure by getting rid of Catholic practices.The Puritans did not want to completely separate from the Church of England. They wanted to make reforms or changes, but King Charles 1 would threaten the Puritans with harsh punishments if they did not obey the Church of England. So they left England to find freedom in America. The Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony when they arrived in America. The Puritans wanted to base the colony on the laws of God.(“Puritanism”) What Puritans believed about witchcraft, forgiveness, and sin all had an enormous impact on their culture and contributed to the Salem witch trials.

The Puritans came to colonize New England with the intention to create a place free from the Church of England. John Winthrop spoke to the passengers aboard the Arbella, proclaiming they must be unified in their religious mission, or they would fail. As Calvinists, they fully believed the harder they work, the better chance they had of achieving enlightenment. The concept of unity and hard work ethic inspired by their religious beliefs lead to the early form of a democratic society in the New England Colonies.

Although the Puritan's main goal in the Americas was to “purify” the Church of England from the new church values (including indulgences), the Puritans ended up breaking away from the Church, introducing regular worship, thought of a perfect war, and secular ideas. These virtues influence their political, social, and economic development in the New England colonies from the 1630s to the 1660s. Many different peoples migrated/immigrated into the New World, but none of them had a greater impact than the Puritans because of all the various aspects that they proclaimed and spread in the New World.

A division of English protestants, called the Puritans, wanted to purify the Church of England’s unbiblical ways. When their efforts only led to persecution, their desire to worship God biblically compelled them to leave England. They had to to brave the fierce Atlantic ocean so they could reach the New World, where they could worship freely. Once there, they founded New England. The Puritans shaped the New England colonies through their democratic assemblies, hard work ethic, and God-fearing communities.

In 16th century England, in the midst of King Henry VIII’s separation from the Catholic church, this was a group of Protestants whose goal was to truly purify the Church of England of any Catholic practices. The Puritans believed in predestination. A group of Puritans, called Separatists, chose to leave the Church of England completely and settled in the New England colonies.

Up north, Puritans had arrived in the new world were fired by a zeal to create a new religion. This gave them a sense of purpose, specialness. They aimed to create a new Christian community. Back at home; they had been persecuted for calling out the king for failing to cleanse the church of catholic rituals. They had been deemed as radicals for their belief in the protestant reformation. Most of the burden to make their plans come to pass, fell upon the shoulders of John Winthrop, who had committed to the colony in 1629.

The puritans that were most likely to have gone on the voyage were those who believed they would be better off settling in a new land with a well reformed religion that they believed would guarantee their salvation. Because England only allowed the practice of one religion so this was the primary cause for them to have fled to the New World. This new land was a ‘promised’ land were they would be free and successful only if they followed the ways of God and only his being put to practice. Coming to the New World meant they would be able to freely reform the Church of England and practice it without punishment and renew their lives and seek the wellbeing of humans. Puritans assumed they would be an example to the rest of the world and everyone would lay an eye on them and follow their ways and beliefs as god said.

The Puritans believed that the Anglican Church had strayed too far from its roots, and that it needed to be purified from the Roman Catholic Church. They practiced the principles of Calvinism, and believed in the idea of predestination. They didn't believe in the hierarchy and ceremony of the Anglican Church. However, the weren't radical enough to want to split away from the Anglican Church. They believed that it could be saved and reformed from within.

They wanted to simplify the religion and the way it was practiced by being pure. They were given this chance when they were granted a charter to the New World. After they were granted the charter, the Puritans set off to find ships to take them. The most famous ship is the Mayflower which landed in Massachusetts on November 11, 1620. The Mayflower’s sister ship was named the Speedwell. The ship was supposed to accompany the Mayflower to the New World but began taking on water. They went back to England twice; they never found out where the water was coming from. When they became impatient, they decided to take all the passengers onto Mayflower and get to the New World. After they landed my ancestor William Brewster became the senior elder and the religious leader of the community. Many of the passengers perished due to the brutally cold winter weather of New England.

Puritans came to the New World because they believed the Church of England contained unscriptural elements, they wanted religious freedom. The Puritans felt the local officials should punish anyone that wasn’t living exactly how they interpreted the Bible. They noticed corruption of the courts and wanted to change the church from the inside. Charles I persecuted Puritan ministers, forcing them to conform to his theology or they would lose their license to preach. Basically they wanted religious freedom. Puritans were often considered neurotic individuals, who condemned anything they felt was ungodly.

Many of them settled in a colony in present-day Boston, previously known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Puritans had very different beliefs during their time. As stated by the Staff of Encyclopedia Britannica, “Puritans believed that it was necessary to be in a covenant relationship with God in order to redeem one 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.” They sincerely thought that they would go to Hell if they didn’t not establish a stable relationship with God and do all in their power to keep that relationship strong. They felt that in order to get to Heaven and rid themselves of their “original sin” which all men were born with, they had to win the grace of God.

The Puritans came to America early in the seventeenth century to escape the Church of England. Since the Church of England was beyond the level of improvement, their primary goal in America was to create societal, religious, and moral reforms by purifying their previous lifestyle. (Kizer) In effort to purify their religion and establishment, the Puritans divested from all traditions and regulations of Christianity. With such a great importance, the first structure to be purified was religion. The foundation of their religious principles highlighted the integrity and the authority of God. According to these philosophies, God controlled