The Scarlet Letter Context

Puritans

• Puritans

  • Believe people are born wicked

  • Adultery is highly illegal; a woman in the audience said that Esther should be put to death because of her crime of adultery

  • Theocratic community

  • Discouraged individualism

    • Why?

    • Difficulty of circumstances

• People started from scratch

• Suffering hardships

• People have to stick together

• The T.U.L.I.P

  • The five tenets of the calvinist doctrines

Purtian Sects Explained

• Christianity involves a number of different sects

• Puritans are one of the sects we don’t see around anymore but we see similar ones

• Puritans under the Calvinist sects

• First split of Christianity (Great Schism) and second split (protestants and catholics)

• Relevant History

• Death of Henry VIII (1547)

• Protestantism, Separatism, Reform 1570s and on

• Mayflower separatists 1620

• John Winthrop 1629 (2nd governor of massachusetts bay colony)

• English civil war 1642-1660

• Scarlet letter 1642-1649

• Salem Witch Trials 1692-3 (The Crucible)

Puritans

• Puritans didn’t feel like they could worship freely in England (from their perspective)

• Puritans weren’t really popular, a lot of people didn’t like them (rightfully so)

• Calvinism is an umbrella within protestantism within christianity (john calvin)

• Reformed Theology

• believe God communicates knowledge of Self through Word

• People unable to know anything about God except through this communication

• No speculation about anything not in Word

  • Spec - to see or look (spectator, spectacle etc.)

• Puritans are not supposed to look into anything outside of their knowledge set

• Highly educated within certain parameters (don’t look into anything else)

  • Finite people- infinite God

• Predestination:

• Not the same thing as fate

  • The idea that the things that happen in our lives are predesigned and meant to be

  • The “elect” and “reprobate”

• God saves every person upon whom He has mercy

• His efforts are not thwarted by human unrighteousness or inability

  • We can’t get in the way of God’s decision

Justification

•  Gift of God’s Grace given to the Elect

Sanctification

• Holy behavior that results when one is saved

TULIP:

Total Depravity

Unconditional Election

Limited Atonement

Irresistible Grace

Perseverance of the Saints

• Total Depravity

• To be depraved is to be wicked

• Total - absolute/complete/all 

• Each and everyone of us is depraved OR all of us are COMPLETELY depraved

  • Sin affects every part of us

• Idea comes from the original sin

  • Edenic narrative (relating to the garden of eden) 

  • God makes the world →creates adam (gives him dominion/control over everything else → God realizes adam is alone (not good for him) → then eve (out of his rib) →God tells them they have dominion over all things but they cannot eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil →satan comes in the form of a snake (snakes always represent temptation of evil) →satan tempts eve to eat of the tree →gives fruit to adam and tell him to eat it → realize they’re naked (ashamed) → tried to hide from God and are found (he knows they ate the fruit) → they are banished from the garden of eden → we as people have to work to get our food 

• Trying to say that temptation first comes to women (about sexuality) and then to men, that is what society is formed upon 

• Men are created first - implication that men are superior

  • Long history of people trying to get back to the garden/ paradise begins----- led to the goal to make Boston a utopia 

Unconditional Election

• Unconditional - will not change

  • Most love is conditional (yikes)

• God elects the people that he has decided and of that is conditional then that means nothing can change it

• Not predicated on any “ifs”

  • Not our choice and nothing we can do about it

• God has chosen from the eternity those whom be will bring into his light

  • Not based on virtue, merit, or faith, but God’s mercy alone

    • There is no way you can earn it 

• Salvation by faith vs salvation by works

  • Doing good things will get you salvation ( works)

• Puritans - you cannot work your way into God’s graces

  • Good news if you are elect

• Limited Atonement

• Attone- to make something right

  • Like a payment

• The crucifixion was to pay for the original sin by Adam and Eve and all other sins.

  • That action atones for the sin of ALL

• Limited - puritans/calvinists believe that the action (crucifixion)  was sufficient to atone for all sins but not efficacious

  • Jesus should have been enough but does not effectively save everyone

• Atonement is not for everyone (highly controversial)

• Irresistible Grace

• Can’t avoid being elect if you are one of the chosen ones 

• For the Elect, Grace overcomes resistance to obeying call of Gospel

• Outward call can be rejected

• Inward call cannot

• Perseverance of the Saints

• Saints-in Calvinism- refers to the “elect”

• Those whom God has called into communion with Him will not fail

  • If they do, they never had true faith

• If you have failed you are not part of the Elect (not chosen)

• As Hestre stands on the scaffold she believes she is not one of God’s chosen people

  • She can’t work her way back to God’s favor

• If they are saved but not presently walking in the spirit, they will be divinely chastened and will repent