Definitions of Puritanism
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Historians have produced and worked with a number of definitions of Puritanism, in an unresolved debate on the nature of the
To the 1620s
Historians now generally reject the idea that before the 1620s and the influence of Arminianism in the Church of England 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.[4] 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.[5]
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 provided a self-definition of Puritans via three points, in 1610.[6] Point 3 is sola scriptura.
It has been argued that Puritans adopted the Calvinist regulative principle of worship. The laxer normative principle of worship was characteristic of the Church of England.[7] The Puritans took the side of Calvin and the Zwinglians, against Philip Melanchthon, in this early contentious debate of the Protestant Reformation.[8]
Elizabethan Puritanism
Jacobean Puritanism and conforming Puritans
The approach taken by
Semi-separatism
The enforcement of a degree of religious uniformity 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.[17]
Lay Puritanism
Lay patrons of Puritanism were prominent in the middle years of the reign of Elizabeth I.[18] Godly gentlemen, the so-called Puritan gentry, then became a significant factor in English life and politics. Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon was a renowned member of the godly nobility.[19]
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 in 1620 asking that the king should provide a definition.[20] There were also taxonomies of Puritanism offered. Joseph Mede in 1623 divided Puritans into: (a) ecclesiastical Puritans (the originals); (b) moral Puritans; and (c) political Puritans.[21] Henry Parker in his Discourse Concerning Puritans (1641) distinguished also the religious dogmatic Puritan.[22]
Doctrinal Puritanism
The native English strand of Arminianism defined Calvinism as "doctrinal Puritanism". This view gained some support from King James I of England.[23] Thomas Fuller reported that De Dominis used "Puritan" to mean "anti-Arminian".[24] William Laud took up the topic of doctrinal Puritanism in 1624.[25] Hill's book Society and Puritanism is directed towards the concerns of doctrinal Puritans, and their lay appeal.[26]
Puritan casuistry and Puritan legacy
Hall proposes
New England Puritanism
The cultural form of Puritanism that was a major influence in the development of
Notes
- ISBN 978-0-19-532531-7. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-333-60189-1. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Hall, p. 245.
- ^ J. T. Cliffe, The Puritan Gentry: The Great Puritan Families of Early Stuart England, Routledge & Kegan Paul (1984), p. 2.
- ISBN 978-1-85285-093-7. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ISBN 978-90-04-06793-6. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-8054-4099-7. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-334-02208-4. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8636. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 978-0-8387-5334-7. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-271-01443-2. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
- ^ Lori Anne Ferrell, Government by Polemic: James I, the King's Preachers, and the Rhetorics of Conformity, 1603-1625, Stanford University Press (1998), p.9.
- ISBN 978-0-521-89228-5. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
- ISBN 978-1-4094-0856-7. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Hill, p. 19.
- ISBN 978-0-85115-797-9. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-333-60189-1. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-435-31260-2. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-521-43485-0. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Hill, p. 21.
- ISBN 978-0-8028-2057-0. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-521-52131-4. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
- ISBN 978-1-84383-149-5. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Hall, pp. 244–5.
- ISBN 978-0-415-09692-8. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Hill, p. 30.
- ^ Hall, p. 254.
- ISBN 978-0-87451-852-8. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
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.