They were called “puritan” because they wanted to “purify” the English church of alleged Roman Catholic and pagan influences. And for I guess what must’ve been a few hundred years at least, the Puritans had alot of political and religious power in England. The last historical note I at least heard of them was that they moved out of England to the new world in America.
My question is simply this: whatever happened to the Puritans? Where are they now, if any place? And I guess if some of them moved to America, then one of my questions is two-part: whatever happened to them in England, and whatever happened to them in America?
The Puritan movement, after finally getting a chance to go whole-hog, rather imploded. It took roughly four or five generations but it took ever more draconian measures to keep up the (infeasible) social mores that eventually it all came to a crumble with the Salem Witch Trials (1692) and by the 1800s, Puritanism was history.
For a sense of things:
Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American writer who wrote voluminously about the Puritans was born in 1804. His great-great-great grandfather came over from Europe as a Puritan. His grandfather was one of the judges at the Salem witch trials. Nathaniel wrote about them merely as a dark history of scary stories.
You might read his short stories to get an idea of what life would have been like amongst the Puritans.
As a last note, though, many seem to believe that the greater amount of religiosity and conservatism in the US (as compared to Europe) is due to our Puritan foundation. I’m not sure I’d agree, but there it is.
There aren’t any true Puritans around but they evolved into Congregational Churches whose architecture still defines much of New England including where I live. Those churches are still active and very prominent in much of New England. I have never stepped foot inside of one but they are pretty and often date back hundreds of years. However, I don’t know much about their current theology and I don’t think I have ever met a member oddly enough. The buildings are very well sustained though so somebody has to be taking care of them and there are always cars parked outside of the prominent ones.
I believe the OP is asking about English Puritans. They were, of course, very much caught up in the events of the English Civil War. They were vigorously opposed by Charles I, and within a few years of his execution, they began to impose their views on the Church of England. They were thwarted by Oliver Cromwell’s religious tolerance (as far as Protestants were concerned, anyway), but even more by their inability to agree on doctrine - they were, in fact, already squabbling at the Westminster Assembly of 1643.
This all came to an end with the Stuart Restoration of 1660 - Charles II forced the Puritans out of the CoE, and they founded their own congregations and came to be called Dissenters or Nonconformists. Following a period of persecution (and debate, and a troubled relationship between the CoE and the Catholic James II), the Dissenters received some tolerance following the Glorious Revolution and the accession of William III and Mary II in 1689.
In general, modern non-establishment denominations are called “Free Churches,” and include Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Quakers, Methodists, Unitarians, etc. In Scotland, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland is the official church, so that Scottish Episcopalians and English Presbyterians are all considered nonconformists.
Not only Protestants. Say what you want about Oliver Cromwell - and if you’re Irish, you can say a lot - his role in restoring the Jewish community in England can’t be overlooked. Not only did he allow Jews to return after 350 years of banishment, he actively invited Dutch Jews to move to London, helped protect them from persecution, and personally befriended the Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam. There were sound economic reasons for this support, obviously, but it wouldn’t have been possible without his inherent tolerance.
re: Congregationalists and United Church of Christ, my husband’s father was a minister in one, and the minister who married us was minister in the other, and they were both very liberal people. Not anything you’d imagine from “Puritan.”
The original Puritan-founded New England churches tended towards Congregationalism which then through odd historical development tended toward liberal Christianity such as the original Unitarians & Universalists, as well as the United Church of Christ, and later the liberal spiritual UUA (as distinct from the original Units & Univs, who were distinctively Biblical/Christian, tho of a liberal bent).
Puritan? They are the largest processor and marketer of canned witches’ stews and familiars’ meats in Canada. I think Unilever Canada’s Lipton division sold them to International Home Foods, Inc., which in turn was bought by ConAgra, Inc.
In the midst of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, it was the Catholics or the hard-line anti-Catholic Puritans. Once the stridency of the religious conflicts was tempered, less militant Protestant movements could gain adherents.
In the US, the Puritans were a larval form of Republicans, into which they metamorphosed after a certain period of time. However, they retained their original belief, which can be paraphrased as:
“Somewhere out there, someone is having fun … and it is our duty to stop them.”
