How did Puritans view family?

How did Puritans view family?

The Puritans, he contends, believed that sanctity ran in families—that godly parents were more likely than ungodly parents to produce godly children.

What was the Puritans social structure?

The most important was the religious hierarchy, with the minister at the top and the church elders below him, followed by the church members; at the bottom were the non-church members. By law everyone had to pay taxes to support the minister, attend church regularly, and conform to Puritan practices and precepts.

What was the role of the family in Puritan society?

taught their children manners, wisdom and authority. were expected to be good family leaders. were expected to treat their families, and workers with respect and kindness. but men often disciplined their wives (with “the rod”) when they sinned against God or disobeyed their husbands, just as they did with their …

How did Puritans organize their settlements?

How did the Puritans organize their settlements? Puritans typically lived in compact villages clustered around a community meeting house where they met to worship and discuss local issues. Puritans established a patriarchal society in which women and children played a subordinate role.

What were Puritan children not allowed to do?

Children were prohibited from freely playing and were put to tasks. Games and toys were special privileges, not a daily expectation. Church attendance was mandatory and children who fell asleep during a service would find themselves awoken with the rap of stick.

How important was education in a Puritan society?

All educational teaching was a type of religious instruction, and the intent clearly was to preserve the Puritan culture and to keep all followers homogenous and disciplined. Early religious leaders strove to influence their followers’ supposedly corruptible souls with sacred teachings directed at their minds.

How did the Puritans view family and government?

The Puritans viewed family government, and therefore family worship, as an obligation of the Christian head of a household.

Why did the Puritans settle in New England?

Perhaps the high point of the Christian family in America was the Puritan commonwealth in New England from 1630-1700. The family was central to Puritan theology and practice. Repeatedly in sermons, and personal letters, the Puritans state that their primary motivation in settling the new world was to provide a future for their children.

What was the result of the Puritan experiment?

But even so, within three generations, the Puritan experiment gave way to an increasing tergiversation. Americans have taken the fruit of Puritan families, while rejecting the root. And now, two centuries later, the fruit is withered and rotten. What went wrong?

How did the Half Way Covenant fail the Puritans?

But within one generation, for all their love and attention to the family, the Puritan experiment failed. By 1662, the Half Way covenant was a tacit admission that they were losing their own children. Covenant theology taught that church members claimed the promises of the covenant on behalf of their children through baptism.