1. Puritan Literature

2. Who were these Puritans?
Puritan is a broad
term referring to a
number of Protestant
groups who sought
to “purify” the Church
of England which
had been closely
connected to
its government.

3. Who were these Puritans?
Puritans wished to return to a simpler form of worship and church organization described in the New Testament.
Puritan women were not encouraged to improve their minds or express their ideas.

4. Leading Puritan Writers
William Bradford
Of Plymouth
Plantation

5. Leading Puritan Writers
Mary Rowlandson
A Narrative of the
Captivity

6. Leading Puritan Writers
William Byrd –
The History of the
Dividing Line

7. Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather preached his first sermon in August of 1680 – he was ordained in 1685 at the age of 22
Besides his involvemet in the Salem Witch Trials during the 1690’s, Mather is remembered as one of the most influential Puritan minister’s.
He published over 400 works, ranging from the subject of witchcraft to smallpox to inoculation.

8. Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) and Edward Taylor (1642-1729): Puritan Poets
Anne Dudley Bradstreet was born in England
Her father worked for Earl of Lincoln which gave Anne access to Earl’s library and received a good education
Bradstreet focused on the realities of her life –her husband, her eight children, and her house.

9. Not knowing, Bradstreet’s brother-in-law had some of her poetry published in London in a volume title The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America
Bradstreet is credited with being the first notable American poet

10. Jonathan Edwards: Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God (1703-1758)
This is a sermon that Jonathan Edwards gave to groups of Puritans in Massachusetts.
It caused a movement known as The Great Awakening, a religious revival that went through the colonies.
However, because of the extremism of the Great Awakening, it was rejected by the end of Edwards’ lifetime

11. Characteristics of Puritan Writing
The Bible provided a model for Puritan writing – each individual life was a journey to salvation.
They saw a direct connection between Biblical events (allusions) and their own lives.

12. Characteristics of Puritan Writing
They used writing to explore the inner and outer lives for signs of the workings of God.
Diaries and histories were the most common types of literature.
They favored a “plain style” similar to that of the Geneva Bible and stressed clear expressions over complicated figures of speech.

13. Puritan beliefs
Several beliefs differentiated Puritans from other Christians. The first was their belief in predestination. Puritans believed that belief in Jesus and participation in the sacraments could not alone effect one's salvation; one cannot choose salvation, for that is the privilege of God alone. All features of salvation are determined by God's sovereignty, including choosing those who will be saved and those who will receive God's irresistible grace. The Puritans distinguished between "justification," or the gift of God's grace given to the elect, and "sanctification," the holy behavior that supposedly resulted when an individual had been saved.