Puritanism summary

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Puritanism.

Puritanism, Movement in the late 16th and 17th century that sought to “purify” the Church of England, leading to civil war in England and to the founding of colonies in North America. Many Puritans joined the Parliamentary party during the English Civil War and gained considerable power, but after the Restoration they were once again a dissenting minority. Believing themselves chosen by God to revolutionize history, some Puritans founded settlements in America (see Pilgrims), notably the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Puritans of Massachusetts emphasized the conversion experience, by which the elect experienced the descent of grace. In their theocracy only the elect were allowed to vote and rule, though the privileges of church membership were extended to all baptized and orthodox persons.

John Milton Summary

John Milton was an English poet, pamphleteer, and historian, considered the most significant English author after William Shakespeare. Milton is best known for Paradise Lost, widely regarded as the greatest epic poem in English. Together with Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes, it confirms

William Laud Summary

William Laud was the archbishop of Canterbury (1633–45) and religious adviser to King Charles I of Great Britain. His persecution of Puritans and other religious dissidents resulted in his trial and execution by the House of Commons. Laud was the son of a prominent clothier. From Reading Grammar

Jonathan Edwards Summary

Jonathan Edwards was the greatest theologian and philosopher of British American Puritanism, stimulator of the religious revival known as the “Great Awakening,” and one of the forerunners of the age of Protestant missionary expansion in the 19th century. Edwards’s father, Timothy, was pastor of the

John Bunyan, pencil drawing on vellum by Robert White; in the British Museum

John Bunyan Summary

John Bunyan was a celebrated English minister and preacher, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), the book that was the most characteristic expression of the Puritan religious outlook. His other works include doctrinal and controversial writings; a spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding