Puritanism

(a.k.a. Calvinism)

Puritanism – a definition

• “Puritanism” is the body of religious beliefs accepted by members of a particular Protestant denomination of Christianity.

• It is the religious thought of John Calvin (1509-1564), a French Protestant theologian of the Reformation.

• Puritanism is Calvin’s interpretation of the Bible as set forth in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536, final edition in 1559).

“I’m a Puritan.”

NOT! It was mainstream 17th century Protestantism. No such thing, technically speaking, as a

“Puritan.” You didn’t go to “the Puritan Church.” Congregationalists, Separatists, Presbyterians,

and Quakers – all got lumped in under the moniker “Puritan,” just like we lump all tribes into “American Indian.”

[Interestingly, the Quakers were persecuted by the Puritans.]

From the Reformation

Idea was to purify the Anglican Church of contamination that came through the Roman Catholic Church (RC).

Similar to Anglicanism, except • No ecclesiastical structure – minister chosen by

each congregation• No ceremony (“imported” from RC)• No icons or frippery (no “graven

images”)

American Puritans

• The English colonists who settled the New England area brought with them this particular body of Christian doctrine – this “Puritanism,” this “Calvinism.”

• It profoundly affected every aspect of their lives, from their political organization and political attitudes to their literature and customs of dress.

• Therefore, a real understanding of the Puritans and their lasting influence on American life and character can be had only if there is a basic understanding of their religious belief.

Some assumptions you need to be familiar with:

• God is triune, meaning he is three persons in one – – the Father, – the Son (Jesus), – and the Holy Spirit.

• God is good, just but wrathful, and unknowable (beyond man’s understanding).

• God is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent (all-present, can be everywhere at one time).

Some assumptions you need to be familiar with:

• The Universe is God’s creation and is predestined by God (all events are totally planned out by Him).

• The Universe is hostile toward man, even though it is a manifestation of God’s glory and beauty.

• The Universe, like God its Maker, is unknowable.

Inquiry:

What would the Puritans have thought of the scientific method?

Discuss.

Some assumptions you need to be familiar with:

• Man’s basic nature was originally good, when first created and placed in the Garden of Eden…

• …but since the original sin of Adam and Eve, man’s basic nature has been evil.

Inquiry:

How would Puritans view that old adage, “Innocent as a newborn babe”?

Discuss.

Some assumptions you need to be familiar with:

• Man’s will was originally free when man was first created and placed in the Garden of Eden…

• …but since the original sin of Adam and Eve, man’s will is not free.

• The individual’s life and his destiny beyond life in this world are totally predestined by God.

Inquiry:

• According to Puritanism, can the person who leads a ‘good life’ take credit for his goodness? Is the person who leads a life of evil really responsible for his evil acts? Can the individual ‘earn’ punishment or rewards?

Discuss

Some assumptions you need to be familiar with:

• Man’s destiny is eternal damnation to hell for nearly all.

• Man has been predestined by God as just (fitting, right, appropriate, deserved) punishment for the original sin, a sin committed by Adam when he HAD free will, when he CHOSE to sin.

• Salvation (heaven) is the destiny of a very few “elected” by God to be spared eternal judgment through His grace.

• This saving grace is undeserved, but it is provided by the sufferings of Christ on the cross. It is evidence of God’s benevolence and love.

Some assumptions you need to be familiar with:

• Man has NO knowledge of his destiny, whether it be damnation or election.

• His final destiny is not determined by his “good works” or his evil.

• However, it was assumed that God probably predestined the elected ones to goodness in this life, as well.

• It was also believed that the state of grace was accompanied by an inner consciousness of it, an intense feeling of election; however, such a feeling may be a false sign.

Inquiry:

What sort of disposition does Puritanism promote among its followers?

Discuss.

Some assumptions you need to be familiar with:

• Man’s duty, in this life, is to glorify God through good works.

• To the Puritans, “good works” meant industriousness, laboring hard and well at whatever one put one’s hands to in life.

• Hence the term “the Puritan work ethic.” • It was also man’s duty to strive toward comprehension of

what God has seen fit to reveal to man (through the Bible) about Himself and His will.

• This duty was to be carried on as a scholarly and intellectual process, avoiding the dangers of emotionalism and intuitive religious conclusions.

Inquiry:

How consistent is this last point with the Puritan insistence that the feeling of grace may be false and no real indication of a person’s final destiny?

Discuss.

In brief, the basic Puritan attitude toward life stressed the following:

• intellect over emotion

• simplicity over ornamentation

• restraint over exuberance

• obedience to established authority over individual freedom

• pessimism over optimism

• rigid order over flexibility

Let us remember:

• “A tulip is a flower with 5 petals, all intertwining, and without which, it would not make up a complete flower. 

• “If one petal is removed from the flower, it ceases, for all intents and purposes, to be complete.  

• “It is the same with the essential doctrines of salvation.  Each doctrine is essentially linked to the others.   If one of them is removed, then the whole system falls into absurdity and contradiction”

TULIP

• You may have heard of the Five Points of Calvinism. A “good” Calvinist is called a “5-point Calvinist.”

• The essential doctrines concerning salvation, which the Puritans clung to, are summed up in the acronym T.U.L.I.P. 

TULIP

TOTAL DEPRAVITY• Mankind (“man”) is created in the image of God. • When man was first created, man was good. • But ever since the original sin of Adam and Eve in the

Garden of Eden, man’s basic nature fell. • Man is now born into sin, having been depraved (=

marked by corruption or evil; perverted) by the Original Sin.

• Because of his sinful nature, nothing man does is good. • Because man is born a sinner, he deserves hell and

eternal damnation and separation from God.

TULIP

UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION• “God did, by His most wise and holy counsel, of His own,

freely and unchangeably ordain some men to heaven and some men to hell by the nature of His good pleasure.”

• “God has predetermined the course of everything and everyone.”

• In other words, the “elect” are those whom God has preordained to go to heaven, through no works of good or evil on their own.

• “The election of men rests solely on the counsel and purposes of God.” God did not foresee the future; he determined the future.

TULIP

LIMITED ATONEMENT• “Limited atonement is that fundamental Christian doctrine which states that Jesus

Christ came and died for a limited number of people.  • He did not die, or redeem, every individual for all of time, but for some individuals,

i.e. His sheep.  • This does not mean that the power of His death could not have saved all men. 

The power and efficacy of His death through one drop of His blood could have saved a million-billion worlds. 

• But the Scripture does not dabble in "possibilities."  It does, though, state that the scope of His death is limited.  He died for some people, and secured the salvation of those people through his death which took away their sin and imputed His own righteousness to them.  This is something Christ accomplished on the cross alone.”  

• While the Bible says that Christ died for ‘all men,’ this does not mean that all men will indeed be saved. Rather, it means that Christ died for all of the sins of some men.

TULIP

IRRESISTIBLE GRACE• Grace, by its very definition, is undeserved favor.

• The idea of irresistible grace indicates that “when the Spirit of God is sent to change a person's heart, that person cannot resist the change.  This is when the Spirit of God applies the work of Christ to the soul. 

• This does not mean that the person is unwilling to be changed because the Spirit of God is "fighting against them", rather the Spirit changes the heart of stone to beat as a heart of flesh.  The change opens the eyes of the spiritually blind to the work of Christ.” 

• This is completed by God alone, and has nothing to do with anything the person has done.

• “There are two types of calling upon people, external and internal.  The external calling is the preaching of the Word to men's physical ears.  The internal is the Spirit of God changing the heart to respond inwardly to the Gospel message.” 

TULIP

PERSEVERANCE of the SAINTS• This idea teaches that “once God has renewed the heart of a sinner

through the application of the redemption wrought by Christ upon the cross, he will continue to be saved and show forth the fruits of that salvation. 

• The sinner perseveres because of Christ, but he continually shows himself as one who has been changed by Christ. 

• God has saved the individual and will sanctify him until the end when he is ultimately glorified, and in heaven. 

• It does not mean man has a license to sin.  Those who think they have a license to sin are not changed or saved by grace.   They are still in sin. 

• Those who are saved by grace [are] changed [and] desire to show forth the fruits of that salvation.” 

To recap:

• The consequence of the Fall is natural depravity. We are incapable of doing anything good, anything that is not selfish.

• Salvation through grace alone. It’s a freely given gift to us from God, not because of anything we have done.

• Before the creation of the world, the chosen were chosen – the elect (doctrine of election)

Doctrine of Visible Sanctity

• Visible Sanctity – We can’t know who is chosen or not chosen…BUT we CAN gather evidence. So…if I behave in a way that is unselfish, perhaps it is logical to conclude that I am chosen. – The outward and visible sign of an inner and invisible

grace.– Chances are, if you are acting with good outward

behavior, you might be chosen. – Grace is the cause. Behavior is the symptom. – Winthrop says that visible sanctity is to give freely to the

poor of your prosperity, out of love. God will demonstrate his grace by having you act outwardly in a good way.

American Prosperity

• In America, the idea of visible sanctity morphed into prosperity as a sign of chosenness.

• We are successful; therefore, God must be blessing us; therefore, we have a mandate to continue doing what we’re doing.

• Hence the value of industry in America. Hence the so-called Protestant work ethic.

Puritan Logic

• The Puritans were very logical – logic and rhetoric are their strengths.

• If you accept the Puritan premises (the underlying assumptions), then it’s difficult to argue with their conclusions.

• Modern Christianity tends to want the omniscient, omnipotent God, but they don’t want the consequences – a God who cannot tolerate imperfection or sin.

• The Puritans’ relentless logic – their strength, and also their weakness.

The Puritan Errand

• Why did the Puritans come to the New World? What was the “Puritan errand?”

• The Bible combines Jewish Scriptures and Christian Scriptures into one volume. Since both are unique, this creates all kinds of tensions – e.g. “an eye for an eye” vs. “turn the other cheek.”

• The OT is actual and historical, but contains prophecies of the future; it’s forward-looking. The OT is TYPE. The NT is ANTI-TYPE.

• The OT is not a metaphor and not an allegory; it actually happened…but it’s a type of something in the NT. E.g. Isaac is a type of Christ, as is the ram; Abraham is a type of God the Father.

Reading Typologically

– One of the most important stories to read typologically is the story of the Exodus. (Summarize the story.)

– As you read further in American literature, the wilderness is a significant motif.

– OT: chosen people/slavery/Egypt cross Red Sea wilderness wandering (40 years) Canaan (promised land)

– NT: slavery to sin baptism by water (red(sea)=blood) affliction (40 years is approx. length of adult life) salvation

– NE (New English): persecuted in England Atlantic crossing wilderness (to A.I., it looked like home, like god) find and create New Canaan (see “Model of Christian Charity” by Winthrop)

Significance?

– History just a series of repetition of same events at higher and higher levels in Puritanism.

– This isn’t just about their survival as a colony. It’s about Christian history! All eyes are on us! If we fail, the mouths of the world will be open against Christianity.

Significance?

• This view opened doors to the following: • Arrogance – the land never belonged to the A.I.; it

was set aside for Protestants. (Works typologically, too – the Promised Land was occupied by others, too)

• Persistence – Protestant work ethic• Purpose – community and drive

BUT…

• Wealth does NOT equal Visible Sanctity

• Wealth shared equals visible sanctity (Winthrop)

• All wealth comes from God.

We’re going to look at how the Puritan model changes and mutates into the rest of America.

The Gradual Morphing

• William Bradford (1620) and John Winthrop (1629) – idea that God provides prosperity because you’re good is an EVIL notion (you work hard for God alone).

• (Michel-Guillaume) Jean de Crevecoeur (1770s) – idea that God provides prosperity because you’re good is SACRED (you work hard to become prosperous)

• Also, the concept of “un-American” is unique to us, largely through early Puritan ideas. Logic: We are a city set on a hill; all eyes are on us; we have a great responsibility.

Scarlet Letter Connection

• Winthrop – spoken of in Scarlet Letter; how? Lived what he preached – Cotton Mather reported that a neighbor of Winthrop’s was stealing firewood from him; Winthrop gave the neighbor permission to take his firewood, and so the neighbor could never steal again.

• [So is Ann Hutchinson -- Antinomianism (anti = against, nomian = laws, order) – Ann Hutchinson was accused of this (chapter 1 of Scarlet Letter). Idea that if I can’t know and can’t change it, then to heck with it. I don’t have to follow any rules!]

Paradox of Beliefs

• Anxiety is the engine that drives Puritanism. It’s corrosive and expensive, but it’s a powerful propellant. You’re not proving to each other. It’s to yourself! Deeply anxious about state of election.

• Idea: We have a special mission. We have entered into a formal covenant with God. The deal is on if we make it to the New World. It means God has signed on to the agreement, essentially.

• Paradox: Humility (we are nothing) YET Arrogance (the universe exists to show God’s will for us)

Other effects of belief

• Winthrop envisioned the English recognizing their model and inviting them back. Bradford did not envision a return to England; he was a separatist – there is no help/hope for the Anglican church.

• Very anti-RC. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s father argued that RCs should not be allowed to cross the Mississippi River! (Great Circle civilization passing from East to West. When America is settled from sea to shining sea, it would be the end of history.)

Timeline

• Bradford was first -- @ Plymouth in 1620.• 2nd group was Salem – 1626 • Winthrop @ Boston – 1630• All worked together closely as allies.

(Contrast this to John Smith in GA, 1607-09 – colonies made up of deportees and criminals from England. Not Christian.)

• Harvard founded in 1636 – clear emphasis on education

What they are NOT:

Puritan does NOT equal Fundamentalist (in today’s terms).

For example, Cotton Mather – he was highly intellectual, loved science, loved alcohol (strong drink was a gift from God; the drunkard comes from the devil.

Winthrop• Winthrop’s model is a lay sermon (not an ordained minister)

– Establishes the principle of charity– Guidelines for lending and forgiving

• Dichotomies in Puritan thinking:– Justice/Mercy; – Works/Grace; – OT/NT

• If a man can pay you back, it’s a business matter – justice. If he can’t pay you back, it’s a matter of mercy; give according to need.

• But by Winthrop’s time (1630), there are already 2 views of what America is: – City on a Hill model– The Land of Opportunity

• The 18th century superficially resolves the conflict: Conflict? What conflict? The Land of Opportunity is the City on a Hill.

OK, back to the Puritans…

• Doctrine of Affliction: If my shovel ship sinks, I can’t raise prices; it’s my affliction. If John’s shovel ship sinks, I can raise my prices all I want, because it’s John’s affliction, not mine.

• Doctrine of Affliction says that affliction is a sign of visible sanctity. Your life is out of balance in some way, so God is sending you affliction to put you back on His path.

• God gives you affliction, in His mercy, because God cares enough about you to let you know that you are placing something between you and God.

• Affliction is a sign of grace.

The Devil and Dogs

The devil is actually God’s sheepdog. The devil thinks he’s harming you, and you

think so, too. The sheep always think the sheepdog is attacking them;

but in reality, the sheepdog is always under the control of the shepherd.

God has sent his sheepdog, the devil, to get you back on the path.

Complications of History

• Questions re: history are usually oversimplified. • ASSIGNMENT: Write the history of your day. Include

everything. • What do you include?• (Volume? Definition? How much detail? What is

everything? What to exclude? Biases? What’s worth recording? Context – school, home, etc.???)

• Any history can’t be a recording of events; it is an interpretation of history.

• What is important can change. That’s why history has to be retold again and again. (re: American Indians; re: Mexico; re: Christopher Columbus)

Complications of History• Bradford was there. He saw things. Yes, but he was wearing

cultural spectacles. (For example, the law of Exodus.) Bradford saw a hideous and desolate wilderness. But the Plymouth area had already been cleared and settled by villages. The A.I. population had been wiped out by Hepatitis A (brought by Europeans).

• (Incidentally, why did Europeans transmit so many deadly diseases to the A.I., but the A.I. only transmitted one major disease – syphilis?

• Europeans were living with domesticated animals, the way we treat our animals. Cowpox smallpox; chicken pox; SIV HIV.)

• Bradford doesn’t say that his first encounter with A.I. is in a deserted village and a cemetery!

• For Bradford, A.I. were savages. For us, A.I. have to be taken into account, and therefore, we have to retell history.

Complications of History…and Fur

• Both history and autobiography tell who we are, but it’s the past in relationship to who we are now.

• The Puritans were supposed to be in the fur trade. (How they got funded to go)

• Mutual trade – guns for furs; make the A.I. better hunters, b/c they can’t make guns; make them dependent.

• The Puritans really wanted, not furs, but land. Had to spread out, so they’re at odds with A.I., unprotected, taken A.I. land. A.I. hated cattle (they eat the garden!). – If misunderstandings, the case must be adjudicated in English courts.

• The prosperity quest (land of opportunity) leads to breakdown of community, spreading out, and causing tensions with A.I.

• To reconcile capitalism with Christianity – the American quest!

Government Structure

Puritanism is a democracy, but only church members could vote. In order to become a church member, you had to give your spiritual autobiography to the minister.

Ben Franklin’s Autobiography is the newer, more secular American version of the spiritual autobiography.

The Great Morphing

• Only in America: Patriotism – from pagan virtue to Christian virtue

• Only in America: Wealth – sign of being chosen by God

• This is pretty much heretical from the Christian standpoint, from St. Augustine all the way to 17th century America. To be Christian is to be helping God.

• The model got changed!