What is Puritanism and what did the Puritans believe?
” Answer: The Puritans were a widespread and diverse group of people who took a stand for religious purity in 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries in Europe. Their rise was directly related to the increased knowledge that came to the common people in the Age of Enlightenment. As people learned to read and write, and as the Bible became more accessible to commoners, many began to read the Bible for themselves (a habit that was strongly discouraged in the established Church). Some Puritans were connected with Anabaptist groups in continental Europe, but the majority were connected with the Church of England. The word was first coined in the 1560’s as a derisive term for those who advocated more purity in worship and doctrine. The English Puritans, who are the most familiar to Americans, believed that the English Reformation had not gone far enough, and that the Church of England was still tolerating too many practices that were associated with the Church of Rome (such as hierarchical leadershi
