Pilgrims and Puritans:
Calvinism comes to 17th Century America
“From the Reformation to the Constitution”
Bill Petro
your friendly neighborhood historian
05/02/2010
www.billpetro.com/v7pc
1
Objectives
By the end of this session you should be able to
• Trace the growth of religion in America
• Examine differences between Pilgrims & Puritans
• Detail distinctives of American Puritanism
• Outline the decline of New England theology
05/02/2010
2
Reformation Traditions
Luther - Melanchthon
1517
Lutheran
1532
Calvin - Beza
French-Swiss
Zwingli - Bullinger
1519
German-Swiss
1525
Grebel – Manz - Simonsz
Swiss Brethren
1536
Henry VIII - Cranmer
English
05/02/2010
Lutheranism
Episcopal
}
Reformed
Presbyterian
Scottish Presbyterian
Dutch Reformed
Anabaptist
Congregational
Mennonites
English Separatists
English Baptists
Anglican
Episcopal
Church of England
3
American Church History
Colonial
National
1787
Calvinism
Theocentrism
05/02/2010
Modern
1865
Arminianism
Liberalism
Biblistic Rationalism Subjectivism
Existentialism
Anthropocentrism
Liberalism
4
05/02/2010
5
Pilgrims
• England → Holland →
England → America
• 1620: Plymouth to
Plymouth Rock
• 102 passengers
• Mayflower Compact
• Plymouth Colony:
1st permanent New
England settlement
05/02/2010
6
Plymouth Rock
05/02/2010
7
05/02/2010
8
05/02/2010
9
First Thanksgiving
• 1621
• Gov Wm. Bradford
proclaimed:
“a day of thanksgiving and
prayer”
• More: billpetro.com/holidayhistory
05/02/2010
11
Puritans
• Non-separating Congregationalists
– Each congregation independent
• Church of England: true church
• Repentant church membership
• England might imitate their “New England.”
05/02/2010
12
Puritan Grievances
• Marian Exiles returned under Elizabeth
• James I: a sympathetic Protestant?
• Charles I married Henrietta Maria, Catholic princess
• Catholic lords given important posts
• Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud’s
“Roman practices”
05/02/2010
13
John Winthrop
• 1630-1649
• Governor of
Massachusetts Bay
Company
• Founder of Boston
• Sermon: “Model of
Christian Charity”
– “City upon a Hill”
05/02/2010
14
Colonies:
1650
05/02/2010
15
05/02/2010
16
Pilgrims vs. Puritans
Few
Many
Early (1620)
Later (1629-30)
Poor class
Upper middle class
Uneducated
Educated
Separatists from state church
Loyal
Settled in Plymouth
Salem, Boston
Wm. Bradford, Wm. Brewster
John Endicott, Miles Standish,
17
John Winthrop
05/02/2010
Puritan: Myths vs. Reality
“Haunting fear that someone, Books, music, beer, rum,
somewhere may be happy”
swam, skated, bowled
Wore black
Blue, violet, green, yellow
Narrow minded
+100: Oxford & Cambridge
“Dumme Doggs”
Established Harvard after 6 years
Women sheltered
Literate, well read, managed household
Song-less
A capella, in unison
Minority
1776: 75% of Puritan roots
05/02/2010
18
The New
England
Primer
(1683)
05/02/2010
19
Education in Puritan New England
Private Education
Reading, Writing
Grammar School
Grammar, Rhetoric, Arithmetic
Latin, Greek, Hebrew
College
Arts: Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic,
Geometry, Astronomy
Philosophies: Metaphysics, Ethics, Natural Science
Also: Greek, Hebrew, Ancient History
05/02/2010
20
“Plain” Puritan Sermons
• Text
• Doctrine
• Uses
• Applications
05/02/2010
22
New England Bible Commonwealths
• Sought guidance of Scripture for all
aspects of citizen’s lives
• Scripture authority in criminal statutes
05/02/2010
23
The English Bible in the 16th Century
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Wycliffe
Gutenberg
Tyndale
Coverdale
Matthew
Taverner
Great
Geneva
Bishops’
Rheims-Douai (NT)
King James
05/02/2010
1380
1450
1525
1535
1537
1539
1539
1560
1568
1582
1611
Less than
100 years:
9 translations
24
Geneva Bible
• 1560 in Geneva
• Leader: William Whittingham,
sister of John Calvin
• Used by the Pilgrims & Puritans
in New England
• 1560 – 1630: 200 editions
• Bible of Shakespeare, Bunyan,
Cromwell’s Army
05/02/2010
25
KJV Bible
• Committee of English
scholars between 1607-1611
• "Authorized Version”
• 1st carried by John Winthrop
to Massachusetts in 1630
• Supplanted Geneva Bible
05/02/2010
27
Puritan Ecclesiastical Theory
Church Privileges:
•Communion
•Church Offices
Grace
Covenant
Church
Covenant
Political Privileges:
•Spiritual
•Invisible
05/02/2010
•Physical
•Visible
•Elections
•Civic Offices
28
Decline of New England Theology
• 1643: 11% church membership
– Preaching of the “Jeremiad”
• 1657: Half-Way Covenant
– Secularized state
• 1677: Stoddardeanism: Very open Communion
– Secularized church
• 1691: Massachusetts a Royal Colony
– No religious bans
• 1692: Salem Witch Trials
05/02/2010
29
05/02/2010
30
Salem Witch Trials
05/02/2010
31
1-Word Summary
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Catholic Church
Luther
Zwingli
Anabaptists
Calvin
Arminius
“Calvinism”
Knox
Henry VIII
Pilgrims
Puritans
05/02/2010
Merit
Justification
Sovereignty
Believer’s Baptism
Omnipotence
Ability
TULIP
Thundering
Married
Separatists
Saints
32