Puritan Autobiographies Puritanism: religious cultureReformation - set of Protestant beliefs whose dominant inspiration was the Genevan theocrat John Calvin. predestination ---- ['double predestination']

damnation (reprobation) to the majority of mankind, before their creationsalvation (election) of the chosen fewabsolute sovereignty of God: all-powerful & perfectly just, while human beings were wholly impotent & corruptanguished introspection whether they were members of the 'elect', the recipients of 'saving faith' or 'saving grace - quest for signs - map of the phases through which the elect should pass'Effectual calling'; 'Justification; 'Sanctification; 'Glorification'

Puritans: Protestant religious group (16th & 17th centuries)rejected the authority of the English Church named < theological doctrine (moral & social code developed later)mans duty of actively serving God responsibility towards his own conscience = ultimate authority in the interpretation of Gods word in the Holy Scriptureseach individual - establish his own unique personal relationship with God & engage in continuous soul-searchingrefused religious hierarchy - congregation should be a democratic fellowship, with each member establishing his or her own relationship with God without benefit of clergy

doctrine of spiritual equality - emphasis on the individual conscience (not external ceremonies)stern morality: integrity, effort, industry, sense of purposeinner, personal experience

simple life, away from temptations; virtue & morality (black & white, sober, decent outfits) strongly ethicalopposed theatre bawdy entertainmentpractical, & moral, problems of daily living

everyday social, domestic & commercial behaviour - high ideals of integrity, of service to the communitytheir work ethics, favoured the growth of individualism - essential role in the rise of capitalismMax Weber - The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

classics of Puritan spirituality -autobiographicalJohn Bunyans Grace Abounding (1666)Richard Norwoods 'Confessions' (1639-40)Richard Baxters Reliquiae Baxterianae (1696)George Foxs Journal (1694)Miltons Samson Agonistes (1672)

John Bunyan (1628 1688)humble beginnings - son of a tinkerbrought up in an atmosphere of strict Puritanism profound sense of sinpoorly educated participated in the Bourgeois Revolutionprimary pursuit: searching his soul for sin - overwhelming sense of guilt - perplexing & disturbing problem - how to know whether one was doomed or of the Elect?

1653 - joined the Baptist Church - sectarian preacher after the Restoration 1660 - religious outlaw - brought to trial - refused to renounce his religious belief 12-year imprisonment

Prison Meditations; The Holy City; Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666)

spiritual autobiography account of Bunyan's physical, mental, & spiritual anguish before he saw the Light & was converted conceived the idea of Pilgrim's Progress - completed in 1672 sermons - Christian Behaviour; I Will Pray with the Spirit; & A Mapp of Salvation & Damnationsketch of the "inward man"conversion process = primary subject-matter of both Grace Abounding & The Pilgrim's Progress

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners 1666 spiritual autobiography & confession - account of a religious crisis - spiritual history of a selfconventional meditation on the authors depraved state before conversion & the intense experiences & visions leading to his rebirth [The Confessions of St Augustine]less an external autobiography than a spiritual record

journey - faith, repentance, justification, forgiveness & sanctification, glorificationpreconceived scheme - Calvinist programme -successive stages of conversionvalleys & peaks of conversion experience oscillation between hope & fear, agonizing despair & exultation

record - obscure Bedfordshire tinker - changed his course from sloth & sin - became an eloquent & fearless man of God lack of personal detail - to universalize the piece richly emotional work - highly charged experiences (Last Judgment & the tortures of Hell) = as clear as the mundane experiences of daily existencethe way by which average Christians, convinced of their own sins, can be led by Gods grace to endure the pain of spiritual crisis

The Pilgrims Progress 1678 allegory - each character & episode embodies an idea within a pre-existing Puritan doctrine of salvationidea of life as a journey - adventures of a devout Christian embarking on a pilgrimage to Heavensolitary hero, Christian progress: City of Destruction Celestial Cityepisodic structure - related to homiletic technique

Christians journey - simultaneously an external and an internal progressquest - both actual and symbolic alternates moments of doubt & confidence the peaks & valleys that form the landscape of PP: the Slough of Despond, the Hill Difficulty, the Valley of Humiliation, Vanity Fair, Doubting Castle, the Celestial City

allegory features encounters with religious adversaries or persecutors: superhuman fiends, devils, giants, wild beasts, hobgoblins & hideous monsters grounded in chivalresque fantasyChristians pilgrimage - beset with obstacles, dilemmas, tests which he has to pass in this journey of knowledge and self-knowledgepilgrimage - 'progress', a mental, moral & spiritual evolutionspatial framework for the stages of salvationBunyan universalized his Puritanism, depicting every earnest Christians search for salvation

Agnes Beaumont:'The Narrative of the Persecution of Agnes Beaumont' 1674vivid snapshot of traumatic passage in a young woman's life; narrative of events leading up to & following the death of her father John Beaumont

domestic persecution for her faith, public trial on a charge of parricide spiritual independence: in the face of paternal persecution or in intimidating circumstances of her trial the puritan's inner resources - most potently displayed

use of interior dialogue proleptic devices - dream of the fallen apple tree (her father's death)cryptic early warnings knit the narrative with anticipation & fulfilment retrospectively: providential control intimated to the believer