what's the difference between puritans and protestants?

Answer 1

If I may add, there were Puritans in England before the Pilgrims. And the Anglican Church was Calvinistic, not Lutheran. After the schism with the Catholic Church that was effected by Henry VIII, the Protestants in England were divided in different trends, with the Puritans having a stricter approach on religion and wanting to break off completely from Catholicism, while Anglicanism was, at first, a sort of Catholicism without the Pope. It then evolved into Protestantism, but not as strict as that of the Puritans. The Puritans were very strong in the House of Commons, and often opposed the English monarchs: Elizabeth I, but more especially James I and of course Charles I.

Edit: there is a major influence of Calvin on the Anglican Church (Cranmer was a Calvinist, for instance). It may not be Calvinistic in the strict sense, but it certainly is not Lutheran.

Answer 2

Protestant merely means that part of the Western Christian Church which does not acknowledge the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. There are many, many subdivisions within that umbrella term. Puritans were Protestants who followed the teachings of Calvin and sought simplicity in all things from dress to the form of worship and how churhes looked. In England the Puritans were the 'Roundheads' of the Civil War and once they had won they did things like destroy images and stained glass in churches, forbid the observance of Christmas, close theatres etc. They also did not believe in an Episcopal (ie use of Bishops) form of Church Government. Putting it simply, all Puritans are (were) Protestant but not all Protestants are (were) Puritans.

Answer 3

Puritans ( or pilgrims or amish etc etc) are a protestant sect.

The same way as protestant is a subset of christians, puritans are a subset of of protestants.




Oh and Anglican isn't Calvinistic.

Answer 4

the puritans were the pilgrams basically.
they came over to the US before the whole split of the catholic church thing. they were very high strung. church was required and you had to be watched for a year before you were allowed to become a "member of the church." so most people werent. the puritans have died out as a religion.

protestants are all of the denominations that came about after martin luther started the split of the catholic church. the church of england was a major beginner along with lutheranism, it followed with baptist, methodist, church of christ, etc. these churches are obviously less strict than the puritans.