Rise of Puritanism

Religion in America

Origins of Puritanism

Queen Elizabeth, 1558-1603

◦ 1559-1563: the via media

◦ John Knox in Scotland: Presbyterianism

Pope: Elizabeth a heretic, 1570

◦ Undeclared war with Spain

◦ Spanish Armada defeated, 1588

The “Puritans”

1564: Purify the church of Catholic remnants

Discipline: Creating a church organization

◦ Congregations, presbyteries, a general assembly

◦ Suppressed after 1588

Separatism for the impatient

Conventicle Act of 1593

◦ Crackdown on Puritans & separatists

Piety: developing the religious life

Promoting religious experience with no means to control it

Puritan Theology

Salvation: the centrality of conversion

◦ Depravity; Conviction; Justification; Sanctification; Glorification

Covenant Theology

◦ Covenants with God

◦ Covenant of Works (Moses)

◦ Covenant of Grace (Jesus)

◦ Individual covenant

◦ Church covenant

King James I

First truly Protestant monarch, 1603

◦ Hampton Court conference, 1604

◦ Puritans rebuffed: “No bishops, no king”

Clamps down on Separatists & Puritans

◦ Scrooby Separatists to Holland, 1607;
then Plymouth, 1621

Anti-Calvinism

◦ Synod of Dort, Netherlands, 1619

◦ TULIP: Condemning the Arminian heresy

Charles I, 1625

Catholic wife, Mary

Arminianism the path to church success

◦ Archbishop William Laud, 1633

◦ Very Romish

◦ Complete suppression of Puritan preaching

Censors Calvinist books

Rules without Parliament after 1629

◦ Tyranny + Arminianism = Catholic conspiracy?