How did Puritans wish to reform the Church of England?

Answer 1

When Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558, she undid her sister Mary's attempt to re-Catholicise the church of England, and brought back all of the exiled English clerics from the Netherlands and from Geneva. They had all been reading up on their Reformed theology and were ready to push the Church of England in a more Protestant direction.

Many of them were satisfied with the "Elizabethan Settlement," the church that Elizabeth and her advisers came up with. But there were some in England that wanted the church to be further reformed along more radical Reformed lines. They thought that clerical dress in the pulpit was too fancy - they didn't like the robes that the priests wore. For that matter, they didn't like the fact they they were still called priests. They didn't like the retention of a system of "episcopacy," that is, a system of church government that depended upon bishops and a chief bishop in Canterbury. They didn't like the fact that worship was taken out of a book, the "Book of Common Prayer," that was the same for everyone and had some elements in it, including the description of the Lord's Supper, or Eucharist, that they felt were too Catholic, seeming to endorse the doctrine of transubstantiation. They also didn't like the fact that most parist clergy were reading their sermons out of two "books of homilies" that were verbatim sermons to be read from the pulpit. They also would have appreciated a greater emphasis on the doctrine of predestination, something that Archbishop Laud and other high Anglican clerics tended to oppose.

These Reformed thinkers were called "Puritans" as long as they remained nominally loyal to the Church of England. When they separated themselves from the church, they were no longer called "Puritans," but "Separatists." It was the separatists that landed at Plymouth Rock. Puritans ended up in Boston. It is worth noting that the witch trials of Salem were perpetrated by Separatists, and not Puritans.

Later on, Puritans in England would be behind the Civil War and Cromwell's ascent to his position as Lord Protector from 1648-1660. Puritans were able to mold the Church of England in their own image, abolishing the Book of Common Prayer and establishing a presbyterian system of church polity, but this change could not survive Cromwell's death.

Answer 2

Puritans are actually second generation reformers and based their ideas for reformation on the scripture. It was their belief that there should be a return to biblical teachings. This was not new there were movements for centuries that called for this return to basic biblical teachings. Specifically, they felt that salvation should occur through faith alone. This was in opposition to the Church at the time because they believed that the priesthood had special authority. Basically they felt the Church had too much power over the people and wanted to freely practice religion as they saw fit. However, this didn't unfold in the same way when they arrived to the New World, many who disagreed with the Puritan movement were exiled, tortured, or killed. For they believed that these were week links in their communities and would inevitably bring the destruction of the entire community and risk the salvation of everyone...their solution...get rid of them.


So they left [England] for religious freedom, yet were intolerant of the religious freedom of those with whom they disagreed.

Answer 3

They didn't, they considered the Pagan origins to many of it's customs, like Christmas, to be Papal error carry over and that the Church couldn't be reformed, it had to be replaced. That is why they left, to set up communities where there was no one to over-rule their Church and Theocracies could be established. The Salem witch hunts could not have happened in England the way it did in America.. They would not have been able to flog or exile people for missing church, or hang clergymen of other faiths, both of which were common in some colonies.

Answer 4

Puritans needed a fashion of life based heavily in biblical systems. How did people's skill to disagree with this theory, and the exchange in demographics (make up of the inhabitants with regards to age, nationality, religious ideals) decelerate the Puritans progression in the direction of this appropriate.

Answer 5

They had hoped they could convince members of the church to believe in God.

Answer 6

Don't think they did. Just wanted to be able to worship as they wanted.

Answer 7

witch trials and hypocrisy