History of the Church II: Week Six

Protestants head to the New World  Read p. 291  Puritans, a group of people who wanted to “purify” the church of England, have been one of the most misunderstood groups in American history.  After the Victorian Age, most modern writers and free thinkers came to characterize the word Puritan as a person who fears sex and keeps people from having fun.  NY Times writer/editor H.L. Mencken wrote that Puritanism was “the fear that someone, somewhere was having fun”.  Who were these people and why are they important in church history?

Protestants head to the New World  The Puritans were modern-day evangelicals who believed followers of Christ had to have a spiritual conversion. Merely going to church or following the ceremonies did not mean you were part of the “elect” (true body of Christ).  The Puritans wanted to reform the church in England and their journey fell into three phases:  Allowed to worship freely during Queen Elizabeth but could not get the queen to change the Church of England from royal control. ( )  Persecution during the reign James I and Charles I ( )  Tried to change the Church of England during Civil War but failed. ( )

Protestants head to the New World  While some Puritans wanted to stay in England and reform the Church, others wanted to worship without having to wait in England.  These Puritans left and went to Holland but after 10 years their children were adopting ways of their new country.  When Charles I appointed a new archbishop, William Laud, who basically forced all church members to worship using Anglican services, 16,000 members left and went to America to freely worship as they saw fit.  Side Note: In 1609, a group of Puritans studying the Bible for themselves found no place in Scripture where infant baptism was used. They formed a new church called “Baptists” and were baptized after confessing their faith in Jesus Christ.

Protestants head to the New World  Those that choose to stay in England finally decided that the only way to secure religious freedom was to fight for it.  When Charles called Parliament together to raise an army, half of Parliament went to his aid and half went to war against the Crown.  An assembly of Puritan theologians was called to Westminster to draw up a new form of worship. This became known as the Westminster Confession which is still used in Reformed Churches today.  Their leader, Oliver Cromwell, defeated Charles in two different Civil Wars. However, quarreling between themselves prevented the Puritans from making any significant changes in the Anglican church.

Wars over Religion  While the English Civil War was raging, Lutherans and Catholics were fighting the Thirty Years War in Central Europe.  Christianity had not yet came to the realization that different denominations could live together. They didn’t have religious freedom. (Discuss quote from worksheet)  At the Peace of Westphalia, Calvinism was recognized as a Christian faith while Protestantism stayed in northern Europe and Catholicism ruled southern Europe.

Denominational Theory  While all this was going on in Europe, in America an idea took hold where all religions could practice their religions freely.  Out of this came the theory that the true church cannot be identified with any single structure.  No denomination can claim to represent the whole church.  The real architects of this theory were the Independents of the 17 th century church in England.  Read p. 307

Europe after the Reformation