Historians have produced and worked with a number of definitions of Puritanism, in an unresolved debate on the nature of the
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
movement of the 16th and 17th century. There are some historians who are prepared to reject the term for historical use.
John Spurr argues that changes in the terms of membership of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
, in 1604–6, 1626, 1662, and also 1689, led to re-definitions of the word "Puritan".
Basil Hall, citing
Richard Baxter
Richard Baxter (12 November 1615 – 8 December 1691) was an English Puritan church leader, poet, hymnodist, theologian, and controversialist. Dean Stanley called him "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". After some false starts, he ...
. considers that "Puritan" dropped out of contemporary usage in 1642, with the outbreak of the
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Anglo ...
, being replaced by more accurate religious terminology. Current literature on Puritanism supports two general points: Puritans were identifiable in terms of their general culture, by contemporaries, which changed over time; and they were not identified by theological views alone.
To the 1620s
Historians now generally reject the idea that before the 1620s and the influence of
Arminianism
Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the ''Re ...
in the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
there were significant differences in doctrine between English Puritans in general, and other English Protestants. Puritans were in practice known as "zealous Calvinists" fond of preaching. For this reason a term sometimes preferred is "Hot Protestantism": i.e. one approach to Puritanism is to regard it simply as Protestant belief, intensely held.
Separatist groups
Numerous, generally small, Calvinist dissenting groups and sects are classified as broad-sense Puritans. These separating Puritans fit more comfortably into the history of denominations than do the bulk of Puritans who remained within the Church of England (non-separating Puritans).
Scripture alone
William Ames
William Ames (; Latin: ''Guilielmus Amesius''; 157614 November 1633) was an English Puritan minister, philosopher, and controversialist. He spent much time in the Netherlands, and is noted for his involvement in the controversy between the Cal ...
provided a self-definition of Puritans via three points, in 1610.
Point 3 is ''
sola scriptura
, meaning by scripture alone, is a Christian theological doctrine held by most Protestant Christian denominations, in particular the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, that posits the Bible as the sole infallible source of au ...
''.
It has been argued that Puritans adopted the Calvinist
regulative principle of worship
The regulative principle of worship is a Christian doctrine, held by some Calvinists and Anabaptists, that God commands churches to conduct public services of worship using certain distinct elements affirmatively found in scripture, and conversely ...
. The laxer
normative principle of worship was characteristic of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
.
The Puritans took the side of Calvin and the Zwinglians, against
Philip Melanchthon
Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lu ...
, in this early contentious debate of the Protestant Reformation.
Elizabethan Puritanism
Patrick Collinson
Patrick "Pat" Collinson, (10 August 1929 – 28 September 2011) was an English historian, known as a writer on the Elizabethan era, particularly Elizabethan Puritanism. He was emeritus Regius Professor of Modern History, University of Cambridge ...
states that "puritan" and "
papist
The words Popery (adjective Popish) and Papism (adjective Papist, also used to refer to an individual) are mainly historical pejorative words in the English language for Roman Catholicism, once frequently used by Protestants and Eastern Orthodox ...
" were not "taxonomic definitions" in the Elizabethan period.
Jacobean Puritanism and conforming Puritans
The approach taken by
King James I
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...
led to the absorption of many conforming Puritans into the Church of England of the time.
Collinson has discussed a moderate Puritanism, as contrasted to an extreme Puritanism that demanded
presbyterianism
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
in
church polity
Ecclesiastical polity is the operational and governance structure of a church or of a Christian denomination. It also denotes the ministerial structure of a church and the authority relationships between churches. Polity relates closely to e ...
.
Ferrell argues that conforming Puritanism was at the same time part of a theological consensus, and in terms of church polity a target of the sustained and divisive Jacobean polemical campaign against further reform. These definitions contrast with others, less precise in period, that on the one hand identified Puritans closely with presbyterians, as in
Perry Miller
Perry Gilbert Eddy Miller (February 25, 1905 – December 9, 1963) was an American intellectual historian and a co-founder of the field of American Studies. Miller specialized in the history of early America, and took an active role in a revis ...
, or with the whole gamut of presbyterian and
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
believers.
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
criticised Puritans for their over-strict judgements on
adiaphora
Adiaphoron (; plural: adiaphora; from the Greek (pl. ), meaning "not different or differentiable") is the negation of ''diaphora'', "difference".
In Cynicism, adiaphora represents indifference to the s of life. In Pyrrhonism, it indicates things ...
.
On the other hand, Hill gives examples of conforming Puritans who did not object to set forms of worship. Towards the end of King James's reign
Marco Antonio de Dominis
Marco Antonio de Dominis ( hr, Markantun de Dominis; 1560September 1624) was a Dalmatian ecclesiastic, archbishop of Split and Primate of Dalmatia and all Croatia, adjudged heretic of the Catholic faith, and man of science.
Early life
He wa ...
analysed the views of the Church of England and
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, concluding that, excepting the views of the Puritans, they were at root compatible. He did make a further qualification, about the extreme Calvinism of some of the bishops.
Semi-separatism
The enforcement of a degree of
religious uniformity
Religious uniformity occurs when government is used to promote one state religion, denomination, or philosophy to the exclusion of all other religious beliefs. History
Religious uniformity was common in many modern theocratic and atheistic govern ...
also led to the formation of "semi-separated" clergy. This kind of semi-separatism relied on niches where Puritan clergy could find employment. These niches, however, are not easily classified.
Lay Puritanism
Lay patrons of Puritanism were prominent in the middle years of the reign of Elizabeth I. Godly gentlemen, the so-called Puritan gentry, then became a significant factor in English life and politics.
Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon
Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, KG, KB (c. 153514 December 1595) was an English Puritan nobleman. Educated alongside the future Edward VI, he was briefly imprisoned by Mary I, and later considered by some as a potential successor to E ...
was a renowned member of the godly nobility.
From the 1620s
After about 1620 there arose clear theological points at issue between English Puritans and other English Protestants. The future colonist
Emmanuel Downing wrote to
James Ussher
James Ussher (or Usher; 4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656) was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625 and 1656. He was a prolific scholar and church leader, who today is most famous for his ident ...
in 1620 asking that the king should provide a definition. There were also taxonomies of Puritanism offered.
Joseph Mede
Joseph Mede (1586 in Berden – 1639) was an English scholar with a wide range of interests. He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he became a Fellow from 1613. He is now remembered as a biblical scholar. He was also a naturalist ...
in 1623 divided Puritans into: (a) ecclesiastical Puritans (the originals); (b) moral Puritans; and (c) political Puritans.
Henry Parker in his ''Discourse Concerning Puritans'' (1641) distinguished also the religious dogmatic Puritan.
Doctrinal Puritanism
The native English strand of Arminianism defined Calvinism as "doctrinal Puritanism". This view gained some support from King James I of England.
Thomas Fuller
Thomas Fuller (baptised 19 June 1608 – 16 August 1661) was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his ''Worthies of England'', published in 1662, after his death. He was a prolific author, and ...
reported that De Dominis used "Puritan" to mean "anti-Arminian".
William Laud
William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms, he was arrested by Parliament in 1640 ...
took up the topic of doctrinal Puritanism in 1624. Hill's book ''Society and Puritanism'' is directed towards the concerns of doctrinal Puritans, and their lay appeal.
Puritan casuistry and Puritan legacy
Hall proposes
Puritan casuistry as a "common denominator" of types of Puritan that is of value to historians, and also was inherited by later
nonconformists. More specifically, he points to "cases of conscience", and sermons preached on them. The ''
Cripplegate Lectures'' were one vehicle by which this tradition was passed on. Hall gives also the example of ''The Practice of Piety'', by
Lewis Bayly
Lewis may refer to:
Names
* Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname
Music
* Lewis (musician), Canadian singer
* " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohea ...
, as representative, and influential on
Pietism
Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christian life, including a social concern for the needy and ...
.
[Hall, p. 254.]
New England Puritanism
The cultural form of Puritanism that was a major influence in the development of
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
is admitted by historians to be problematic in its definition. At the time of emigration around 1630 it was no different from English Puritanism in general; by 1650 religious differentiation in New England was quite marked, and the New England branch of Puritanism had also evolved in its distinctive way. In denominational terms New England Puritanism has been identified with early
congregationalism
Congregationalist polity, or congregational polity, often known as congregationalism, is a system of ecclesiastical polity in which every local church (congregation) is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign, or "autonomous". Its first articul ...
. The "New England mind", however, about which
Perry Miller
Perry Gilbert Eddy Miller (February 25, 1905 – December 9, 1963) was an American intellectual historian and a co-founder of the field of American Studies. Miller specialized in the history of early America, and took an active role in a revis ...
wrote in connection with "Puritan culture", has been subject to extensive revisionism, as has earlier work in this field.
Notes
{{reflist
References
*Basil Hall (1990), ''Humanists and Protestants 1500–1900'', chapter ''Puritanism: The Problem of Definition'', pp. 237–54
*
Christopher Hill (1969), ''Society and Puritanism in Pre-Revolutionary England'', Panther History.
Puritanism
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. P ...