Puritanism: Beliefs and Reflections in Literature
Puritanism in Literature
Puritanism, a strict Calvinist form of Protestant Christianity, distinguished itself from mainline Christianity through five principal beliefs. These beliefs formed the Puritans’ path to salvation and created a religion with a strict and rigid morality.
Original Sin and Limited Atonement
For the Puritans, Original Sin brought total depravity to all humanity. Because of Original Sin, all humans are destined to die and suffer eternal damnation. Unlike Catholics and Christians of other denominations, who believed that Christ died for all mankind, Puritans believed that the death of Christ on the cross did not redeem the entire humanity. On the contrary, they maintained that Christ’s sacrifice was limited to only a few previously chosen by God (Limited Atonement). What this means is that Puritans considered that the majority of humans remained as sinful after Christ’s death as they were before it, and only those few who were elected to be redeemed by Christ are just, virtuous, and will be saved.
Predestination
This leads us to the consideration of one of the basic tenets of Puritanism: Predestination. Catholics and other Christians believe that humans possess free will to choose between good and evil. Depending on which of the two they choose, they will receive either salvation in Heaven or punishment in Hell. It is their choice, not God’s. For Puritans, on the other hand, there is nothing a man can do to alter his or her eternal destiny. Either he or she is one of the many destined to suffer eternal damnation because of Original Sin, or else he or she belongs to that small and exclusive group of people previously chosen by God before birth to be redeemed by Christ and saved.
Marriage and Adultery
From the Puritan point of view, men’s acts are not the cause of their future destiny, but the consequence of their predetermined nature. If a person behaves in a virtuous way, complying with the norms of Puritan society, it is because of God’s choice, not because of theirs. One of the basic institutions of Puritan society was Marriage. Women had to be completely submissive to their husbands’ authority, and they were expected to be obedient and completely loyal. As a result, Adultery was considered extremely negative and harshly punished. If a member of Puritan society committed adultery, his or her fellow citizens would consider such adultery a sign that that person was not in actuality one of the chosen, and was therefore harshly punished, humiliated, and ostracized.
The Chosen People
Thus, the Puritans considered themselves the chosen people of God. It is therefore not a surprise that the Old Testament, which narrates the story of the Jews, the chosen people of God, was very meaningful to them. Moreover, because they considered themselves God’s chosen, they had no difficulty in presenting themselves as the perfect model to others, as we can see in John Winthrop’s sermon “The City Upon A Hill”. This attitude led them to be very harsh in their criticism of others, and very mild in their judgment of themselves. It is well-known, for example, that many Puritans were cruel to Native Americans and, yet, this did not prevent them from considering themselves God’s chosen. Because of this reason, Puritans have been seen as hypocritical by several authors and thinkers.
Literary Examples
These notions are reflected in several works of the period.
Anne Bradstreet’s “Verses upon the Burning of Our House”
In Anne Bradstreet’s “Verses upon the Burning of Our House”, her house is burnt, and she loses all her possessions. This is devastating for her, but, as we can read in the poem, she tries to comfort herself by seeing everything that happened as part of God’s plan. The burning of the house and the author’s attitude towards it thus illustrate the idea of predestination in Puritan poetry. Despite our tendency to suffer because of negative events, they are part of God’s plan, and so it is pointless for us to cry or lament.
Mary Rowlandson’s “Narrative of the Captivity”
Predestination can also be seen in “Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Rowlandson”, by Mary Rowlandson. Lancaster, where they live, is attacked and destroyed by a group of Native Americans, and she and her baby are captured. Many of the inhabitants of Lancaster died, while others, like the narrator and her child, survived but were captured. The story reflects on how the destinies of men (life or death) are determined by God. His almighty power preserved only some of them from death, while others did not survive.