The Puritans

Intro to The Crucible

“Puritans came to the new world seeking religious

freedom.”

• Not really.

• Most people who came to the new world did so out of desperation, not a notion of moving to paradise or an easier life.

Religious Freedom -- Freedom from what?

• Persecution from church officials

• Persecution from state officials

• Corruption in church practices and politics

Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, 1517

• salvation based on faith alone--it is directly between the individual and God, it did not require the help of priests or church ritual (indulgences)

• the Bible, not the church, is the ultimate authority, and people should interpret the Bible for themselves

• all humans are equal in the eyes of God, priests/cardinals etc. are not special, there is no ordained hierarchy

The Protestant Reformation

• Beginning of secular Christianity

• Martin Luther, John Calvin, et. al.

The Protestant Reformation• Religious conflict spreads throughout Europe, giving Puritans

hope and then dashing that hope

• Henry VIII breaks from Rome and founds the Anglican Church

• Puritans claimed that Henry’s break was not enough

• Edward allows reformers to begin to reshape the church

• “Bloody Mary” returns England to Catholicism

• Elizabeth I returns England to Protestantism, but not to reform(she also crushes the Irish rebellion -- and because she returned Britain to Protestantism, religion is added to the English/Irish conflict)

Why come to America?• Many Puritans accepted a chance to move to the new

colonies rather than fight Mary/Elizabeth, and remain a part of the chaos in Europe

• America was not a paradise or an easy place to live

• No one who had a good life in Europe came to the new world

The Puritan Mission

• Believed God gave them the opportunity to move to the new world

• Left for the new world “. . . on a mission from God”

• “City on a Hill”

-- all of this creates tremendous pressure for the Puritans to live under

-- if their society fails, they are failing God

Puritan Beliefs

• The Devil wants to ruin God’s successes

• Since the Devil hasn’t been found in Europe, he must live in . . . the New World

• The Devil uses witches and witchcraft to do his work

• Puritans strongly believed in witchcraft as a way to explain the supernatural

-- the Puritans were a paranoid society, always looking over their shoulder for evidence of the Devil’s work (witchcraft)