Puritan Ideology
Puritans have had some bad press throughout the years. Often they have been ridiculed by Christians and seculars alike for their seemingly legalism and hypocritical attitude, but they also had some of the most interesting beliefs of the early religious groups. "They sought an intellectual, moral, and spiritual "clean-up" of institutionalized Christianity. Their standard of purity was the Bible. The most comprehensive, but concise articulation of their ideology is the Westminster Confession of Faith" (Gatis 1). They had goals to achieve. They wanted to frame their whole lifestyle on the word of God. They also wanted to assert every bit of their ideology by the Bible. Puritans were very reverent to the Bible as inspired by God. Their attitude was in complete submission, to them what the Bible said, God said (Brow 4). They believed that by adherence to this basis would remove them from the chance of heresy. The Holy Scripture was their foundation. Upon this, they built their whole theology, society, and government. Puritan ideology consisted of a staunch belief in Calvin's Institutes, covenant relationships, and a theocracy. Theology is extremely essential to every religion's dogma. The Puritans happened to base
Holy Bible (NKJV). Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville, 1980. The first point of Calvin deals with the total depravity of man, which could also be referred to as basic sinfulness of man. This is one of the easier points of Calvin to accept. In this writer's opinion, the basic sinfulness of man is very evident throughout the Bible. The Westminster Confession states in Chapter 6 that, "from original corruption, by which man is completely averse, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and thoroughly inclined to all evil, and man does proceed all actual transgressions". That is total and complete depravity. Not only does the Bible state that from Adam all men are sinful, but just observing the current culture and human nature throughout history explicates the absolute wickedness of the heart. The Bible also says (Jeremiah 17.6), "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Marshall, Peter and David Manuel. The Light and the Glory. Fleming H. Revell Company: Old Tappan, New Jersey, 1977. Leithart, Peter J. Puritan Coventalism. Contra Mundum. 3 October 1999 Brow, Martin. In Defense of the Puritans. Fire and Ice. 3 October 1999
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1684
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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