Puritanism: Christianity and English Protestant Church Essay

Submitted By Crawfordderrick1
Words: 491
Pages: 2

Puritanism Puritans are members of a group of English Protestants who in the 16th and 17th centuries advocated strict religious discipline along with simplification of the ceremonies and creeds of the Church of England. This may sound like a regular religion, but to me Puritans are a group of refugees led by zealous leaders that wanted to purify the English protestant church by publicly criticizing people for not living by their very strict rules to earn salvation.

Puritanism is the principles and practices of a movement within 16th-century Anglicanism, demanding reforms in doctrine, polity, and worship, and greater strictness in religious discipline, chiefly in terms of Calvinist principles. To the Puritans dancing, music, drinking, and theater were forbidden. Puritans believed that, if a person worked until they were tired, God would reward them with prosperity. However, they also believed strongly in the need to be careful, and to use their God-given resources efficiently. They were dedicated to the work and did not accept playing around on the job.

Though the Puritans were hard working, their belief in puritanism was misleading. What was misleading was in their minds they considered themselves as better or above the average man. Most Puritans believed that God was the only way to heaven, that his grace could not be earned, and that a select few were chosen at birth to go to Heaven. This doesn’t make sense because the definition of grace says “in Christianity, the condition of being free of sin, through repentance to God” so you need to repent to have the grace of god”. (Bing dictionary) this shows that grace is to be earned by people.

The poem “The Burning of Our House” by Anne Bradstreet is basically totally different from the sermon by Jonathan Edwards because the lady was thanking god for burning her house down. The reason why she thanks god for burning her house down is