American Literature: The Puritan Period

An introduction to our American Literature course and our first period of study, the Puritans.

[Alex_BF]

Thank you, very useful ! I am trying to have an outline of American literature, and this is a perfect tool! And very pleasent to listen too !

[saracappello]

Not quite right. Students, please correct your teachers. :) The Pilgrims were a kind of Puritan, but not all Puritans were "the Pilgrims", which is a common misconception. The people we call the Pilgrims" were specifically the Plymouth Rock colony, and they were Separatists. They rejected the idea that the Anglican church could be reformed to a sola scriptura standard. Though part of the general Reformed movement, they were a very small and distinct group within Puritanism and their view that they could separate from the hierarchy of the Anglican Church and still be Christians was deemed quite radical to the group generally referred to as "the Puritans".The Puritans were a larger group within the Anglican church, who believed that the church itself could be reformed; their goal was to try to eliminate traditions that had entered the church, and try to "return" the church itself to a more pure form of worship, yet they wanted to retain the Anglican church and its authority. Another significant difference is that the Pilgrims were largely a congregation of farmers and their families, in other words, "regular folk", including their leaders like their beloved pastor, John Robinson. The Pilgrims were a gentle, non-violent people who suffered real, life-and-death persecution for their desire to worship outside of the Anglican church. The Puritans, on the other hand, were an intellectual class, professional clergy within the Anglican church, who yes, wanted to reform the church, but they also carried with them "an unabashed assumption of superiority which was to carry English rule around the world", according to the late Edmund Morgan, an eminent authority on the Puritans and early American history. These distinctions are important to understand, for one, because they influenced the way the two groups handled life in the New World, such as how they handled relations with the Native Tribes. The Pilgrims had a co-operative relationship with the Tribes, whereas the Puritans....not always so much. You can read more in the distinction by Richard Howland Maxwell of the Pilgrim Hall Museum in this article...

[GIAP]

Ok so I'm not trying to be rude but would you guys consider these videos accurate enough to use as a source on a high school project and if not can you please direct me to your sources

[aytekingurbanzade]

You are the best. Wish the video were londer.

[PSUIVERSON]

Guilt/Sinfulness is not the centrality of Calvinism. Grace. Sovereign Grace is the centrality of Calvinism.

[misssavvyliterature]

Thank you for the video! It is interesting. I made a video of my own about it

[TBS_]

This did not help me at all and I am a sophmore in highschool.