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Topic : Definition, origins, and interpretation of the Puritan movement
Starting today, we will take a look at the Puritan movement.
As Aylmer pointed out in his book, A Short History of 17th Century England: 1603-1689, the most important interest in any historical event is reason why it happened in that era.
The most important thing in the study of Puritan is the origin and interpretation of the Puritan movement.
The Puritan movement was not a denominational movement, but a religious reform movement that was took place in England by reformers belonging to various denominations such as the Anglican Church, Presbyterian Church, Congregational Church, and Baptist Church.
The Puritans attempted to establish a Christian family, church, and nation by interpreting the Bible based on the Reformed theology established by Calvin and Zwingli and applying it to everyday life.
Until now, the Puritan movement has been studied in various ways from political, social, religious, or doctrinal aspects.
As a result, the nature of the Puritan movement differs slightly depending on one's perspective.
Those who try to study the Puritan movement from the perspective of a religious reformation study it within the category of religious reform, and those who try to study the puritan movement from the perspective of a revolution study it in the same context as the French Revolution or the American Revolution. Those who attempted to study the Puritans within the category of Islam illuminated the Puritan movement within the context of orthodoxy.
It is not easy to define the nature and definition of the Puritan movement in one word.
However, there is some general agreement.
The Puritan movement, at least at its beginning, was a reform movement in which Calvinists, who were dissatisfied with the Church of England which followed Catholic rites, called for complete reform and purity of the church out of concern t what the Church of England would turn back into Roman Catholicism.
For this reason, the Puritans defined the English Protestant movement as radical.
Their call for pure reform began with the belief that the Bible is the ultimate authority.
For the Puritans, the Bible was the standard to be applied to life, the absolute, infallible word of God, and the standard for reform.
The term Puritanism originally came from a criticism of a life of extremely strict rules.
Therefore, the term Puritan means a blind, pure follower.
The term Puritan was discovered in 1564 during the reign of Elizabeth I of England.
However, the term Puritan in an ideological sense can be found even before that.
In his book, Puritanism in the Tudor Dynasty, Professor Marshall M. Knappen found the ideological prototype of the Puritans in William Tyndale in that he promoted reforms such as translating the Bible without being restricted by the authority of bishops or kings.
It is true that even before the term Puritanism was used, there existed a Christian movement that took Puritan ideals as its goal and model.
However, scholars believe that the historical Puritan movement was a religious reform movement that began in England and Scotland in the 17th century, precisely under the reign of Elizabeth I, by the successors of Bishop Chaucer.
In terms of period, the period from 1570, when Thomas Cartwright called for reform at Cambridge University, to 1643, when the Westminster Conference was held, can be considered the period of the Puritan movement.
During this period, the Puritan spirit, formed through the Puritans' emphasis on pure preaching, the publication of religious books, and religious books and sermons that called for organizational and spiritual renewal of the church, spread rapidly like a revolution.
Under the rule of Edward VI and Queen Mary, England was divided into three groups: Catholics loyal to the Old Catholic Church who believed in the Pope as the messenger of Christ, Protestants who faithfully followed Zwingli and Calvin, and the Church of England which was the majority.
We need to pay attention to Queen Elizabeth's decree of unification during her reign.
Queen Elizabeth, who succeeded Mary I, attempted to find a compromise between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism in order to settle her long-standing conflict.
A satisfactory compromise is the people's wish and one that puts an end to the religious strife facing Britain.
So, they formed the Church of England, following Roman Catholicism in worship style and Calvinism in theology.
The supreme head of the state church was the king.
Queen Elizabeth issued the Act of Supermacy and Uniformity in 1559, imposing a fine of one shilling, equivalent to a week's wages, on anyone who did not attend church on Sundays or holy days.
In 1571, England adopted the 39 Articles of the Church of England, rejecting the merits of works, transubstantiation, the mass, and the innocence of Mary and the Bible alone has the final authority for salvation, with the fall of Adam, human free will was damaged, be justified by faith alone, bread and wine are to be received by all believers during the Holy Communion and pastors clearly stipulated that marriage was a must.
However, since Queen Elizabeth's reforms are considered to be a kind of compromise, puritans were not satisfied with her reform policies and demanded radical reforms from her.
They even rejected the robes worn by priests as the clothes of the Antichrist.
Rather than granting the demands of the Puritans, Queen Elizabeth appeared to cstand to her Roman Catholic side.
Naturally, conflict was bound to arise between her Puritans and her queen.
A representative example is the prophetic meeting.
The Queen commanded the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund Grindal, to ban this informal Bible study group and arrest all those who attend the meeting.
When Grindahl refused to do her queen's bidding, Queen Elizabeth enlisted her successor, Whitgift, to make it happen.
From the beginning, after Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne, she faced challenges from militant Protestant leaders.
In particular, the passionate Protestant leaders who pursued true reform after returning from their exile in Geneva, Zurich, and Frankfurt after witnessing great Protestant reforms in Geneva, Zurich, and Frankfurt were a burden to her.
While they rejected the remnants of the Roman Catholic Church, they emphasized the authority of the Bible rather than the church's interpretation or tradition, and tried to establish a true and spiritual teaching position in each diocese.
Seeking fundamental reform like Geneva
Protestant leaders were not satisfied with Elizabeth's moderate reforms and called for total reform from unbiblical and corrupt forms, following the Geneva model.
Outward formalism was eliminated and inner purity was emphasized.
As part of this, he attacked church decorations, shrouds, white robes, vestments, organs, symbols of the cross, the episcopal system, and church trials, and emphasized sermons, holy Lord's days, and Presbyterian politics.
They opposed traditional elements that remained in the state religion, such as the use of the cross, certain priestly vestments, and the Eucharist at the altar.
They also strongly insisted on observing Lord's day, requesting that only religious ceremonies and charity be performed on this day.
The debauched lives of the clergy were even more unacceptable to them.
The reason they opposed the episcopal system was because it was a church political system that could not be found in the Bible.
The political system of the church that they had a favorable opinion of was Presbyterian politics.
However, they did not insist only on Presbyterian politics, and among the Puritans, there were many who emphasized the independence of individual churches.
Among the independent factions that emphasized individual churches, there were those who insisted only on the baptism of adults, and they came to be called Baptists in history.
As such, the Puritans were not unified in their opinions on church politics and were truly diverse, including Presbyterians, Separatists, and Baptists.
Radical separatists wanted to break with the church and establish their own independent Congregational church.
Separatists who called for complete reform but hated the Puritans established their own churches.
The early separatists were led by Robert Brown (1550-1633) and became known to history as Brownists.
Cartwright and the Presbyterian political system
Among the Puritans, there were quite a few who wanted to pursue reform while remaining in the established church, that is, the Church of England.
However, most Puritans wanted Presbyterianism rather than the Church of England as their form of church government at the time.
This is because I was convinced that Presbyterian church administration was the way to participate in biblical Christianity.
Naturally, there were attempts to establish a Presbyterian system following the model of the Scottish and Geneva churches.
A representative figure was Thomas Cartwright, a professor at Cambridge University.
Cartwright, a prominent Puritan leader and reformer at Cambridge University, was appointed preacher at Cambridge University in 1567.
For him, the Bible was not only the source of theology but also the foundation of church government.
For this reason, Cartwright opposed episcopal politics and preferred Presbyterian politics following Calvin's Genevan church.
Their works were mainly political and theological apologetics written against the defenders of the Episcopal Church.
Each church appointed an elder for training, and insisted that church members choose their pastors, that the archbishop and vice-bishop systems be abolished, and that there be equality in teaching positions.
This is what Presbyterian politics meant.
Under his influence, the Puritans increasingly leaned toward Presbyterianism.
The church ideas contained in his representative work, “Guidelines for Discipline,” became an intellectual legacy for English Puritans.
Cartwright's bold reformist spirit led him to be expelled from his professorship and university and forced to flee to Europe.
James I and the King James Version
In 1603, Queen Elizabeth passed away, and James VI, the son of her cousin Mary Queen of Scots and her second husband, inherited the throne and became James I (James VI & I, 1603-1625).
James I's succession to the throne was smooth because he was a man who could satisfy Queen Elizabeth's requirements for being her successor, namely, being both man and from a royal family.
The fact that the change of government occurred peacefully and that a mature man ascended the throne was in sharp contrast to the chaotic situation in France that occurred with the death of Henry IV in 1610 and the death of Louis XIII in 1643.
An important issue facing James I, who ruled both England and Scotland, and his church leaders was what policy to implement toward Roman Catholics and their other opponents, the Puritans.
While Elizabeth and the bishops dealt with the dangers of Roman Catholicism, she also had many struggles with the Puritans, and during the last years of her reign she succeeded in stopping their power.
James attempted to follow a similar religious policy to Elizabeth.
In Scotland, where Presbyterianism was strong, the episcopal system was revived to create a less strict Presbyterian Church, and in England, the Presbyterian system was abolished and the episcopal system was strengthened.
He rules England in the same way he governed in Scotland.
In addition, because he appointed ministers from Scotland , so he was treated as a foreigner by the British people.
The moral standards of the royal family have also been subject to criticism.
With his reckless extravagance, extravagant clothing, and constant feasts and balls, King James was always embroiled in scandal.
There were even rumors that King James was homosexual.
By modern standards, the 17th-century English government was incompetent, unstable, wasteful, and corrupt.
However, the king preferred an episcopal system.
The person who took the lead in strengthening the episcopal system in England under James I was Archbishop of Canterbury Richard Bankloff.
He supported James' King's position by enacting a series of church laws that stated that the episcopal system was established by God and that a church without such a system was not a true church, and declared 'NO Bishop, No King'.
Among the religious achievements achieved under his reign, the most memorable one is the King James Version.
The King James Version (KJV), a translation of the King James Version of the Bible completed under the reign of King James I, is considered a masterpiece of history.
Among the Bible translations, the King James Version is considered the best and has contributed greatly to the development of the English language.
Another of his achievements was to allow those who did not wish to remain in the Church of England to emigrate abroad.
During this era, the Puritan faith began to spread rapidly in England.
During this era, the Puritan faith began to spread rapidly in England.
It especially thrives in the city of Cambridge.
Sir Walter Midway, under Elizabeth, establishes Emmanuel University to provide education based on the Puritan spirit.
Puritan power spread rapidly there.
The influence of the Puritans was so great that Thomas Fuller confessed in 1655, “I am convinced that the Puritan faith today influences more than half of all university professors.”
Among the Puritans who graduated from Cambridge University, the most influential were William Perkins and Thomas Goodwin.
Thomas Goodwin was a man whose passion for the gospel was so great that in the 19th century, he rode a horse 56km to hear John Rogers preach.
He later had a major impact when he was appointed Dean of Mac Lallin College, Oxford.
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