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Enlightenment period and puritanism
Enlightenment period and puritanism
How religion affect history
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Throughout history our views have constantly changed. These changes usually clash with other’s beliefs; just like the ideas and beliefs of the Puritan and enlightenment periods. Both of these periods, saw similar and differences in philosophy, religious views, and writing styles. The Puritan and Enlightenment philosophy of a community were similar in both believed that a community came before an individual and everyone should live by a set of laws. “Of Plymouth Plantation” by William Bradford focuses on the importance of community, you might need one another, so it is best to live close together and no one person is better than another. Where the two periods differ is in which laws the community should follow. The Puritans believed religious
After the Civil War, America went through a period of Reconstruction. This was when former Confederate states were readmitted to the Union. Lincoln had a plan that would allow them to come back, but they wouldn’t be able to do it easily. He would make 10% of the population swear an oath of loyalty and establish a government to be recognized. However, he was assassinated in Ford’s Theater and Andrew Johnson became the president; Johnson provided an easy path for Southerners. Congress did their best to ensure equal rights to freedmen, but failed because of groups who were against Reconstruction, white southern Democrats gaining control within the government and the lack of having a plan in place for recently freedmen.
First, both of the main speakers within each of the following Puritan literary works were ministers during the 1700s, which was around the time of the Puritans. These works were also written within third person point of view. Now, both of these ministers then express their concerns for their congregation
“Religion is the backbone of evolution.” Without the cultural differences and belief systems we would not have a regulated religious base. It is evident some religions can be both alike but yet still very different. The historical William Bradford and Jonathan Edwards demonstrate this theory. William Bradford portrays more leniencies while allowing for more religious tolerance within the puritan community. With some contrasting beliefs but familiar goals, Jonathan Edwards, pursued a stricter religious background. Both of these author’s play an important role in sculpting the puritan way of life.
As America slowly began molding into the creases of different values and cultures, so did its literature. One trait that had always been securing itself within the lines of these literary texts was the protagonists’ naivety. Theses characters typically established an intention to do good things, but eventually fail due to tumbling upon tempting obstacles and falling into the trance of distractions. An example of this situation occurred long ago during the 16th and 17th century. A cult of English Protestants known as Puritans aimed to “purify” the Church of England by excreting all evidence of its descent in the Roman Catholic Church. The Puritans enforced strict religious practices upon its believers and regarded all pleasure and luxury as wicked or sacrilegious. Although their “holy” cond...
The Enlightenment period in Europe was a shift in the way that society thought about power and liberty. The ideals of this period helped to inspire the revolutions of the 18th century. The American colonies desired liberty from foreign rule, the French wanted to increase the power of the people in their class structure, and the Haitians fought for representation for the millions of slaves on their island. While the ideas of the enlightenment were not fully employed in each of these revolutions, they brought the nations closer to a fully representative government, rather than one of absolute power.
The puritans were very religious. They wanted to show everyone what happens if you are good and believe in god and the heavens. If you do bad things you would be punished or be killed. If you do good things you can be hand chosen to go to heaven.
In distinction to the early eighteenth century, the small groups of integral Puritans families dominated the economic, military, and political leadership of New England. The Puritans agreed that the church composed many families and wasn’t isolated people. The Puritan family was the major unit of production in the economic system each family member expected an economically useful benefit and the older children worked in some family industries, trending gardens, forcing animals, rotating wool, and protecting their younger brothers and sisters. Wives needed to supervise servants and apprentices to keep their financial accounts, enlightened crops, and to display goods. The Puritans had faith in the larger community that had a compelling duty to secure the families and to see their functions.
Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mathers, and John Winthrop. This paper will explore the writings of these three men and how their religious views shaped their literary works, styles, and their historical and political views.
The church and Christian beliefs had a very large impact on the Puritan religion and lifestyle. According to discovery education, “Church was the cornerstone of the mainly Puritan society of the 17th century.”( Douglas 4). Puritan laws were intensively rigid and people in society were expected to follow a moral strict code. And because of Puritans and their strict moral codes, any act that was considered to go against this code was considered a sin and deserved to be punished. In Puritan theology, God h...
The church’s robust grip on religious expression shattered as medieval society transitioned into a period known as the Reformation. Characterized by the rejection of common ideology, the Reformation sparked religious curiosity. Reformers such as John Calvin and Martin Luther offered interpretations of the Bible in direct opposition to the Catholic Church’s teachings, forcing Europeans to examine and formulate their own beliefs. This style of thinking was foreign to European society because up to this point in history Europeans were passive absorbers of Catholic Church ideology. Hence, it was natural that an era considered the Age of Enlightenment followed the period of rejection and questioning known as the Reformation. The Age of Enlightenment did not merely confine itself to religious expression, but spread throughout natural and social science. Thus, the Age of Enlightenment marked the beginning of academic and religious philosophy and allowed great minds to think free from restriction and condemnation of established institution. As the perception of natural
The Puritans were Englishmen who chose to separate from the Church of England. Puritans believed that the Anglican Church or Church of England resembled the Roman Catholic Church too closely and was in dire need of reform. Furthermore, they were not free to follow their own religious beliefs without punishment. In the sixteenth century the Puritans settled in the New England area with the idea of regaining their principles of the Christi...
During the 16th and 17th century a group of English Protestants known as The Puritans, became known for their religious beliefs and structure way of living one’s life? The group allowed people to express their individuality with the restraint that their expression had to increase the harmony of the group further. By the turn of the eighteenth century saw the shift from relying on religious teachings to relying on one’s intellect. The movement was known as Age of Enlightenment, and it emphasized reason and people governing their lives. The Enlightenment brought forward important figures who maintained their ideas regarding how a person could reach their full potential in life. Two prominent figures of the Age of Enlightenment include Benjamin
Imagine living in fear of everything you never heard of and doesn’t follow your beliefs. Feels bad doesn’t it? Back in the 1600s, people from Europe sailed to Massachusetts in look for land to practice religion. A majority of these pilgrims were Puritans who followed the Bible strictly and feared everything that wasn’t common which led to ridiculous claims for what was happening. Making stories is something that has been happening since people could tell each other stories before science had explained the occurrences. Native Americans had many stories that would explain things that happened everyday and in nature. Puritans had a somewhat similar reason for making these types of stories. They used religious characters in these stories and the main figure, other than their god, would be the devil . Since the Puritans were in fear of the uncommon, it would lead to major reactions and a strict lifestyle. Puritans were scared of anything uncommon and having governments built on theocracies made things worse because the religiously strict lifestyle was forcibly assembled into everyday life.
First, the religious philosophies between these ages of thinking were very radical for their time in history which eventually discarded the old ideas and beliefs of Puritanism into more modern ideas and reasoning of the Enlightenment. Writing was a principle of social philosophy that both ages conflicted with due to the differences of how and what they wrote. In John Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, he wrote and instilled fear to those who were thinking of moving away from Puritan teachings by saying that God will have wrath to those who don’t glorify him which caused some Puritans to revert to the old teachings rather than the new ideas of religion. On the contrary, writings from Enlight...
The conflict between religion and science was one of the major issues of the enlightenment. New theories were being developed (like Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation) which went against the teachings of the c...