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Characteristics of Puritan Literature

Characteristics of Puritan Literature. Use with Puritan Characteristics Chart worksheet. Adapted from Vancover Island West School District Powerpoint Greenville Public Schools, Greenville, SC. Characteristics of the L iterature. Strenuous and Serious

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Characteristics of Puritan Literature

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  1. Characteristics of Puritan Literature Use with Puritan Characteristics Chart worksheet. Adapted from Vancover Island West School District Powerpoint Greenville Public Schools, Greenville, SC

  2. Characteristics of the Literature • Strenuous and Serious • because life was an unrelenting moral struggle • Serious and Sober • Did not want to show light-mindedness or worldliness. • Rational and Orderly • because God’s creation was logical and harmonious, all verbal representation should exhibit the same traits • Realistic • Attempted in writing to present life exactly as they saw it.

  3. Plain Style • Very distinct and orderly • Used scriptural analogies • Used incidents from daily life and allusions from the Bible • Primary Dramatic Element was the struggle between Christ and Satan • Puritans believed themselves to be God’s predestined champions.

  4. How the power worked • Ministers had “unofficial” authority, but profound importance • Only male members of the church could vote • Outsiders were not welcome – if they wanted to stay they had to convert to Puritanism • Puritans were very nosy, always checking to be sure their neighbors were being “good” Puritans

  5. 7 tenets of 17th Century Puritanism(These go on the worksheet) • Absolute Sovereignty of God: God rules all things. • Predestination: everything has been decided by God beforehand • Providence: God directly intervenes in this world • Natural Depravity: Since Adam’s fall, all people are born in sin and deserve damnation • Doctrine of the Elect: Through God’s mercy a few are saved by God’s grace alone, not by own efforts. • Evil is Within: Man needs to reform himself, not institutions • God is revealed in the Bible

  6. Other Puritan Beliefs • God is everywhere and in everything • They came to the New World to purify the church from within • They were on a divine mission; they were the “city upon the hill”—articulated by John Winthrop in his sermon called Abella Covenant in 1630 • " ... for we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; ..."

  7. Emphasis on moral behavior • Danger of wilderness and nature • Looked UP to God, not OUT in the world • Faith was their rock. Human intellect was valued. • Believed a Spartan (simple) existence led them closer to God • Denied free will (because they believed in predestination)

  8. Promoted education and reading • Must be able to read in order to read the Bible • Against anything the Bible is against: technology, democracy, pride, sleeping during sermons, divorce • Created first college, first bookstore, first newspaper

  9. Misconceptions:Puritans… • …were not somber or sad. • …wore colored clothes. • …had games like horse racing and ninepin bowling. • …had celebrations, partook of “strong waters.” • …were not opposed to pleasure but saw its regulation as part of a well-ordered society.

  10. Now what • Take all this information, especially the “tenets” and use it to complete the worksheet “Puritan Characteristics.” Use copies of both texts to help you find your citations.

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