American Puritanism (I)

Featuring discussions of typology; John Calvin; Arminianism; materialism and idealism; phenomenal vs. noumenal; Puritan "plain style"; the form of the Puritan sermons; the Great Migration; William Bradford; and John Winthrop.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Cyrus Patell
• american literature
• New York University
• NYU
• OpenEd
• Open Ed
• Open
• Education
• american puritanism
• one
• herman melville
• hawthorne

[AmmorMagnusDoctorEst]

Puritanism - the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy :)

[EnglishEthnicPride2]

The English Puritans created a prosperous society in New England. Unforunatelly, they were just to liberal. So, it is no wonder that their descendants let Irish,Italian and Jewish immigrants take over New England.

[Jignasty5]

Having grown up twenty miles away from Plymouth, I have been waiting to hear a lecture that touches on the Puritans' belief system in such depth for some time now.

[MegaAstrodude]

@sacchaw0,

Have you read Max Weber? His work isn't perfect, but it sheds lots of insight on the connection between Puritanism and Capitalism.

[MegaAstrodude]

@sacchaw0,

It really depends on the period of Puritanism. The very early Puritans were quite left-wing(arguably Communist) on the economic spectrum. A man named Robert Keayne was actually arrested simply for making too much money. However, quickly, the Puritan theologians held strict free-market capitalism to be the best because they held man to be too totally depraved to regulate the economy. Samuel Adams, the staunchest capitalist, is often considered the last bona fide Puritan. 

[MegaAstrodude]

@EnglishEthnicPride2,

Also, only southern New England is predominantly Irish, Italian, and sometimes Portuguese. Northern New England and the part of Upstate New York that is an extension of New England is predominantly of Yankee(meaning colonial) ancestry.

[MegaAstrodude]

@EnglishEthnicPride2,

First of all, the Jewish community isn't particularly prominent in New England outside of the part of Connecticut that is really more like New York City than New England. Secondly, the Puritans evolved into several sects and became tolerant as a continuation of their moral mission. The Irish and Italian immigrants did not make New England liberal. Assimilating them into the Unitarian culture made NE liberal.

Many Catholic cops supported the Watch and Ward Society.

[dougarr]

i'm european and Imho puritanism worked bad for europe. ( in the past )

it ruined the whole europe.

[sacchaw0]

@beastboixxx define what you mean by liberal. liberal in the sense of liberty like libertarian, than no. they believed that everything should be for the community and didnt believe in individualism. To relate it to todays politics they resemble todays democrats more than the republican/libertarians.

[sacchaw0]

funny how Reagan quoted John Winthrop. John Winthrop's vision of a "city upon a hill" was a socialist utopia.

[beastboixxx]

@EnglishEthnicPride2

Liberal? hardly. they were more conservative than todays conservatives they repressed everything involving entertainment and the arts and believed that anything involving the arts is viewed as the worship of false idols which is a mortal sin. children couldn't sing non religious songs, dance, play pretend the only thing they could do for fun was read the bible? liberals are open minded. the puritans were not.

[HoldFast1689]

This Harvard Phd is quite misinformed. From basics as pronouncing synod (sin-ed) as "sYnod" to foundational errors as saying the Puritans believed that "no one can be sure he or she is among the elect" (9:17), errors abound.

Dr. Patell is obviously an intelligent man, his presentation however is filled with ignorance regarding Calvinism and Puritanism.