美国清教思想

The 13 colonies before 1763
2. Detailed study of the three settlements (4)
Christianity
Protestantism
Roman Catholicism
Orthodox Eastern Church
Puritanism
2. Detailed study of the three settlements (3)
The settlers were called “Puritans”, who wished to “purify” the religious practice in the church. When they arrived and saw the virgin forests, the virgin land, and the vast expanse of wilderness, they became aware that God must have sent them there for a definite purpose, and that, as God’s chosen people they were meant to reestablish a commonwealth, based on the teachings of the Bible, build the wilderness into a new Garden of Eden.
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3. Puritanism (3)
Puritans’ way of life
With such doctrines in their minds, Puritans left Europe for America in order to prove that they were God’s chosen people enjoying His blessings on this earth as in Heaven. They felt that they were exiles under the special grace of God to establish a theocracy in the New World. Over the years in the new home land they built a way of life that stressed hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety.
3. Puritanism (1)
Puritans’ ideal
The American Puritans, like their brothers back in England, were idealists, believing that the church should be restored to the “purity” of the first century church as established by Jesus Christ Himself. They made it their chief business to see that man lived and thought and acted in a way which tended to the Glory of God.
The Quakers
The Baptists
Lutherism
Anglican Church
2. Detailed study of the three settlements (5)
Puritans’ dissatisfaction with Anglican Church:
redundancy of the church services and absence of the authority of the Bible; corruption within the Church of England (the official church of the state)
4. The impact of Puritanism upon the succeeding American life (1)
Viewed from the positive side, puritans preach that Americans should be merciful, responsible for their families, and aid the poor. They also teach the following virtues: cleanness, honesty, thrift, abiding by the laws, involvement in social affairs, respect for knowledge, the old and authoritative, piety for God.
3. Puritanism (2)
Puritans’ doctrines
They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin, total depravity and limited atonement (or the salvation of a selected few) through a special infusion of grace from God, all that John Calvin (15091564),the great French theologian who lived in Geneva, had preached.
13 years later, the English settlers established the second settlement--Plymouth. The Puritans rejected by the Anglicans in Britain believed in Calvinism, a branch of Protestantism. The British government regarded its American colony as an ideal dumping ground for the undesirable. And they were also determined to find a place where they could worship in the way they thought true Christians should.
1. Three Great Settlements
Jamestown
the first for exploration and wealth settlement in 1607 the second settlement in 1620 and “Mayflower” Immigration” in 1630 to escape religious persecution and build the wilderness into a Garden of Eden the Immigration was great in number, good mental and material preparation with a very strong religious color, true Puritans
Unit 2 The Seventeenth Century Literature Puritanism in American literature
Teaching objectives:
1. Historical background of three great settlements 2. Puritanism and its impacts on American literature 3.
Plymouth
Massachusetts “the Great
2. Detailed study of the three settlements (1)
The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, symbolizing the beginning of the Northern American Colonial literature.
4. The impact of Puritanism upon the succeeding American life (2)

Viewed from the negative side, some defects are molded into Puritans’ characters: only God’s chosen people be salvated by God. Though such a doctrine is no longer widely observed, its psychological influence still lingers in America. It is reflected in Americans’ pursuit for absolute truth, assumptions of being superior, reasonable rights to interfere with, control, and even decide on the life of the non-chosen people. Besides, Americans often go extremes without acknowledging the various levels between good and evil, without accepting the new and different things.
Early American Settlers
The first permanent English
settlement at Jamestown, Virginia
First Thanksgiving in America
Women in Colonial America
2. Detailed study of the three settlements (2)
After-class reading: