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Religion in the new england colonies
Examples of persecution of Christians today
Examples of persecution of Christians today
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William Bradford and his fellow Separatists faced many challenges in their fight for religious freedom. Bradford, In Of Plymouth Plantation, gives the reader insight into the Separatist’s trial and tribulations beginning with a brief history of Christianity. Bradford states, “it is well known unto the godly and judicious, how ever since the first breaking out of the light of the gospel in our honorable nation of England, what war and oppositions ever since Satan hath raised, maintained ever since, Satan hath raised maintained and continued against the Saints.” (3) Bradford is explaining how Satan worming its way into Christianity is not a new problem but one that has and will continue to persist. Bradford mentioning this is significant, by
In the 1700’s the Puritans left England for the fear of being persecuted. They moved to America for religious freedom. The Puritans lived from God’s laws. They did not depend as much on material things, and they had a simpler and conservative life. More than a hundred years later, the Puritan’s belief toward their church started to fade away. Some Puritans were not able to recognize their religion any longer, they felt that their congregations had grown too self-satisfied. They left their congregations, and their devotion to God gradually faded away. To rekindle the fervor that the early Puritans had, Jonathan Edwards and other Puritan ministers led a religious revival through New England. Edwards preached intense sermons that awakened his congregation to an awareness of their sins. With Edwards’ sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” he persuades the Puritans to convert back to Puritanism, by utilizing rhetorical strategies such as, imagery, loaded diction, and a threatening and fearful tone.
Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford and A Description of New England by John Smith are essentially irrelevant to one another in the way that each piece has a very different point of view. The author John Smith was a pilgrim who arrived in the Americas and wrote a description of the new land. William Bradford was also a pilgrim who arrived at Plymouth and wrote more about the realities of his personal journey. The purpose of this essay is to contrast the purposes of the writers, their intended audiences, and how each writer gives out a specific feeling.
The devil's speech asks the people to awaken to the reality that virtue isn't possible, that Evil is man's true nature. By welcoming them to the "communion of your race" he emphasizes that people are unified under the fact that everyone is evil. The devil figure is like a puritan minister trying to tell everyone that they are evil, but he tells them to accept it, that "Evil must be your only happiness." People can live happily if they only realize that evil is the way we are meant to be, trying to fight it is futile. The congregation accepts his welcome "in one cry of despair and triumph.
In 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Company set sail to the New World in hope of reforming the Church of England. While crossing the Atlantic, John Winthrop, the puritan leader of the great migration, delivered perhaps the most famous sermon aboard the Arbella, entitled “A Model of Christian Charity.” Winthrop’s sermon gave hope to puritan immigrants to reform the Church of England and set an example for future immigrants. The Puritan’s was a goal to get rid of the offensive features that Catholicism left behind when the Protestant Reformation took place. Under Puritanism, there was a constant strain to devote your life to God and your neighbors. Unlike the old England, they wanted to prove that New England was a community of love and individual worship to God. Therefore, they created a covenant with God and would live their lives according to the covenant. Because of the covenant, Puritans tried to abide by God’s law and got rid of anything that opposed their way of life. Between 1630 and the 18th century, the Puritans tried to create a new society in New England by creating a covenant with God and living your life according to God’s rule, but in the end failed to reform the Church of England. By the mid 1630’s, threats to the Puritans such as Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, and Thomas Hooker were being banned from the Puritan community for their divergent beliefs. 20 years later, another problem arose with the children of church members and if they were to be granted full membership to the church. Because of these children, a Halfway Covenant was developed to make them “halfway” church members. And even more of a threat to the Puritan society was their notion that they were failing God, because of the belief that witches existed in 1692.
Smith and Bradford use religion as a literary tool to persuade the reader towards their own interests. There are similarities and differences in the motivation to use religion by these two authors, yet the use is still prevalent in their writings. The reasons for these similarities and differences are found in the greater interest of each individual author.
Intro: “We have been a race of honest men and good Christians…”(Hawthorne, pg. 388). In Salem, Massachusetts evil was found everywhere; therefore, many good Puritans fell through the evil of witchcraft. This concept is found in the short story of “Young Goodman Brown”, where the readers are introduced to a innocent and pure couple who are all about religion and against any evil worshippers. Faith and Goodman Brown will face a diabolic journey to hell, and fight against the will of evil which is nearly impossible for everyone in town has walked through sin.I am writing about Young Goodman Brown because I am trying to show you how Hawthorne relies on Faith, the old man, and young Goodman Brown to illustrate the evil in nature.
God has an important role in the stories of Bradford, just like other literature pieces from the colonial times. The Pilgrims encountered adversaries on their way to America but prevailed thanks to God’s will. For example, there was a man who wanted to throw passengers overboard because they were seasick. However, the man himself was the first to be cast overboard as he caught some type of illness. They believed that God gave what the man deserved. In another incident, they were sailing through rough winds when one of their passengers fell overboard but didn’t die. They arrived at Cape Harbor with the casualty of a servant all thanks to God’s providence. Their belief of divine authority starts to cease overtime from other stories written by
(H) Freedom is something many crave and fight for. (CS) Freedom has copious attributes and qualities that are present in “Revolution 2.0” by Wael Ghonim, “The Letter from Birmingham” by Martin Luther King Junior, and the ‘Speech at the March on Washington” by Josephine Baker. (G1) Using speech is a glorious way to show your freedom. (G2) People have to be equal to really be free. (G3) Respect is another major quality of freedom. (TH) Speech, equality, and respect all constitute freedom.
In the New World Bradford and Morton were both important men of our history. The stories of both great men give us an insight into the way religion and influence affected Puritan life.
At the beginning of his journey, Goodman Brown’s will and pride were both embedded in the belief that he was a pious man. Goodman’s pride in piety evidently fails him, as he discovers that his faith was based on the principles of individuals who had sworn allegiance to the devil. This deplorable truth destroyed his conviction, and in this sense the devil prevailed against Goodman Brown.
Throughout history freedom has had many different meanings and definitions; based on race, gender, and ethnicity. According to the dictionary freedom means the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint (“freedom” def. 1). Freedom may seem like something given to everyone however it was something workers had to fight for. Not everyone believed that workers’ rights needed to be changed, which led to a long battle between workers, employers and the government. To the working class people freedom meant making higher wages, having regulated hours, workable conditions and the right to free speech.
H. Bietenhard et al., “Satan” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd ed., ed. Walter E. Elwell, Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001.
One element of Young Goodman Brown is a criticism of Puritan self-righteousness; the devil points out to Brown that he has “a very general acquaintance here in New England” and then proceeds to cite instances of hypocrisy, prejudice, and persecution (Hawthorne 5). The devil also reveals that he is familiar with Brown’s ancestors, leading them toward sin (Hawthorne 5). All of this is disturbing to Brown and the issue of evil is f...
...s Online - Harvard Theological Review - Abstract - The Social History of Satan, the "Intimate Enemy": A Preliminary Sketch. Harvard Theological Review, 1991. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.
But it is not enough for us to visualize a sort of "First Thanksgiving" picture of Pilgrims with steeple-crowned hats, Bibles, and blunderbusses. For one thing, we need to know something of Puritan religion and theology. This means at least a slight knowledge of Calvinism, a main source of Puritan religious doctrine. A theology as extensive and complex as Calvinism and one that has been the subject of so many misconceptions cannot be described adequately in a handbook of this type. But at the risk of perpetuating some of these misconceptions, let us mention three or four tenets of Calvinism that will illuminate to some degree the story of Goodman Brown. Calvinism stresses the sovereignty of God --- in goodness, power, and knowledge. Correspondingly, it emphasizes the helplessness and sinfulness of man. Man has been, since the Fall of Adam, innately and totally depraved. His only hope is in the grace of God, for God alone is powerful enough (sovereign enough) to save him. And the most notorious, if not the chief, doctrine is predestination, which includes the belief that God has, before their creation, selected certain people for eternal salvation, others for eternal damnation. Appearances are therefore misleading; an outwardly godly man might not be one of the elect. Thus it is paradoxical that Goodman Brown is so shocked to learn that there is evil among the apparently righteous for this was one of the most strongly implied teachings of his church.