Puritans: Theology and Dissent 1. Intro Stuff: -Not “Pilgrims” -everything you think you know about them is probably a LIE. -These people are WEIRD and NOT FUN!

II. Coming to the New World A. Looking for Somewhere they

could be Puritans– practice their religious and cultural beliefs.

B . New World their Last Chance– C. Probably landed in

“Massachusetts” on Accident. D. Found abandoned Indian village,

with food, housing, buried dead people– thought this was sign of God’s Favor

E. Wanted to Establish a Religious Utopia

or “A City On a Hill.”

III. Puritan Theology

A. Predestination: the Individual is PREDESTINED for either Heaven or Hell.

“God’s Team” or “Satan’s Team”

The Bummer Part:

1. Individuals had no choice in their team. God and Satan decided.

2. Your Eternal Destiny (Heaven or Hell) was decided before you were born.

3. Not much you could do– going to Hell? Bummer!

B. Covenant of Works 1. Church Members & Elders could KINDA

tell which team a person was on by their “works.”

*Deeds: Good deeds =Good Works --Bad Deeds =Bad Works *Stuff: Good Stuff = Good Works Bad Stuff =Bad Works

IV. Puritans and Dissent

A. Roger Williams: Church Elder– Came to Plymouth 1630. Got in trouble 1634-5.

1. Advocated for people to have Religious Freedom and Separation of Church and State.

2. Found Guilty of Sedition and Heresy– Banned from the Community.

3. Founded Providence RI, first place in American where Religious Liberty was GUARANTEED!

What a Stud Bunny!

B. Anne Hutchinson

1. Midwife, Wife and Mother 2. Strong Theological education from

her father. 3. Religious Lay person. 4. Notices, in her mid-wifery work, a flaw in Covenant of Works . . . .6. Begins preaching Covenant of

GRACE in Home Bible Study Group

Bad Anne!

7. 1637, put on Trial for Heresy, despite the fact that she and her ideas were Popular; also, she’d never talked about Grace in Public.

8. Church Elders had trouble making a case.

9. UNTIL, she said she wasn’t afraid of them, she answered only to God, and that God had told her this stuff.

PROBLEM SOLVED!

Anne Hutchinson Banished to R.I.Hutchinson family massacred my Indians in 1643 (one daughter taken captive for 6 years).

More Puritan Obsession with Control: 1. Man prosecuted for adultery.

Witness watched man have sex with woman not his wife THREE TIMES. Man hung.

2. Another man, more adultery. . . .

Man Hung . . . . .

The Pig was Hung too.