Powerpoint to explain the Protestant Reformation, with focus on English Puritans and Separatists as context for Salem Witchcraft trials.

1. The Protestant Reformation
Puritans and Pilgrims

2. Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Address To The Nobility of the German Nation, 1520
• 25. The universities also require a good, sound reformation. I must say this, let it
vex whom it may. The fact is that whatever the papacy has ordered or instituted is
only designed for the propagation of sin and error. What are the universities, as at
present ordered, but, as the book of Maccabees says, "schools of 'Greek fashion'
and 'heathenish manners" (2 Macc. iv. 12, 13), full of dissolute living, where very
little is taught of the Holy Scriptures of the Christian faith, and the blind heathen
teacher, Aristotle, rules even further than Christ? Now, my advice would be that
the books of Aristotle, the Physics, the Metaphysics, Of the Soul, Ethics, which have
hitherto been considered the best, be altogether abolished, with all others that
profess to treat of nature, though nothing can be learned from them, either of
natural or of spiritual things. Besides, no one has been able to understand his
meaning, and much time has been wasted and many noble souls vexed with
much useless labour, study, and expense. I venture to say that any potter has more
knowledge of natural things than is to be found in these books. My heart is grieved
to see how many of the best Christians this accursed, proud, knavish heathen has
fooled and led astray with his false words. God sent him as a plague for our sins.

3. Protestant Reformation (1517 c.e.-1648 c.e.)
• Catholic church convened Council of Trent 1545-1563. The
council issued condemnations on what it defined as
Protestant heresies and defined Church teachings.
– The Counter reformation

4. So how do Puritans fit in?
• Heaven • Hell
– God – Lucifer
– Angels – Demons
– Saints – Witches
– Christ – Anti-Christ
– Sabbath – Black Sabbath

5. Puritan Divisions
• Reform of Anglican church
• Separatists
– King James I(1603-1625)
• Harry the Puritans out of this land
– Defy religious leadership can lead to political
• Divine right beliefs
• He was no Elizabeth!

6. Separatist Pilgrims break away from
Anglican church
• Holland in 1608
– "Dutchification" of children
• Desire to maintain English heritage
• Separatists want both heritage and religion

7. Opportunity in America
• Virginia company negotiations
– 1620 Mayflower
• 102 passengers

8. Opportunity in America
• Plymouth rock legend?
– 95 year old Thomas
Faunce- 1741
– Evidence of preliminary
surveys
• Impossible due to currents
• Landed outside domain
of Virginia company and
knew it

9. Mayflower Compact
• Communists
– Will of majority for common good

10. Plymouth
• Positive relationship with natives-
Wampanoag
– Weakened by disease and lack of unity
• Leadership of William Bradford
– Godly experiment
– Feared corruption by non-puritans
• Merged with Massachusetts Bay in 1691

11. Puritans of Massachusetts Bay-1629
• Charles I
sanctions
persecutions by
Archbishop
William Laud
– Puritan mass
migration out of
England- Quitters!
– Well populated
and equipped due
to turmoil and
persecution
• Anywhere but
England

12. John Winthrop
• "We shall be as a city upon a hill"
– Communists
– Opposed direct democracy- voting only
by "Elect" men
– Idea of the covenant
• Church=State

13. Roger Williams
• Government does not have
religious authority
– Opposed Indian policies and
treatment
– Banished in 1635
• Rhode Island founder
– Religious tolerance
– Separation of Church and state
– Viewed with contempt by
Massachusetts

14. Anne Hutchinson
• Daughter of a Puritan minister held Sunday
bible study meetings in her home
– Criticized New England ministers for deluding
their congregations into the false assumption
that good deeds would get them into heaven
(Visible Saints).
• Put on trial in 1638
– Argued antinomianism
• Stated the Holy Spirit in the hearts of true
believers relieved them of responsibility to
obey laws of ethics or morality established by
community.
– Claimed direct communication with God
• Threat to religious leadership
– Status as a woman may have contributed
• Banished in 1638- went to Rhode Island until
1642 when her husband died and moved to
New Netherland (now the Bronx)
– She and 10 of her 11 children died in 1643
Indian attack

16. Basic Puritan Beliefs
• God controls ALL aspects of life. All-powerful God. God was also very
active in everyday life. If it was a nice day, God must be happy or
pleased with his children. If storms hit the community or if a child
died of smallpox, it was a sign of God’s anger. Tragedies that could
not be explained were feared. Fear and superstition faced this group
in part because of a lack of scientific knowledge. Salem Witchcraft
trials?
• Government was a theocracy ruled by God's representatives on
Earth.
• Predestination- God, and only God, knows in advance all those who
will go to heaven and those who will go to hell. Visible saints showed
signs of Gods gift of grace.
• Innate depravity- all are stained by Adam's fall. Humans are wicked
by nature.
• The "Elect“, or God's chosen ones, were to be an example to the rest
of the world. Church membership should be restricted to those who
have had a "conversion" experience.
• Irresistible Grace- the richest man cannot buy salvation and the worst
sinner cannot resist God's grace.

17. Puritan and Pilgrim theology
• Puritans believed governors are accountable to God to protect and reward virtue
and to punish wrongdoers. They argued that the only head of the Church in heaven
or earth is Christ.
• The idea of personal Biblical interpretation was shared with Protestants in general.
They believed that man existed for the glory of God; that his first concern in life
was to do God's will and so to receive future happiness.
Puritan reforms were typified by a
minimum of ritual and decoration.
Calvinists generally believed that the
worship in the church ought to be strictly
regulated by what is commanded in the
Bible. Simplicity in worship led to the
exclusion of vestments, images, candles,
etc. They did not celebrate traditional
holidays which they believed to be in
violation of the regulative principle.
Puritans were believers in the demonic forces as were
almost all Christians of this period.