Timeline of Puritan Movement
1517– Martin Luther initiates Protestant Reforms [in
Germany]
1534– King Henry VIII having broken with Rome becomes
head of Church of England
1547– Young Edward becomes King; helps reformers
1553– Mary Tudor [Bloody Mary] comes to the throne; wants
to return to Rome
1558– Elizabeth comes to the throne and supports reasonable
Protestantism
1570s– Two parties are clear:
1) rationalistic
understanding of church and state
2) state and church
require "purification"; a return to scriptural basis [ala John Foxe]
1581– Split in puritan movement
Robert
Browne and Robert Harrison found a separatist church
1608– Separatists leave for the Netherlands [group
with leaders like John Smyth, and William Bradford]; these are what came to
be known as the pilgrims.
1620– Pilgrims land in Plymouth
"reformation without tarrying"
-- no compromise
separate from Church of England
They are concerned with individual
righteousness
1628– Puritans establish Massachusetts Bay Colony in
England [land in America in 1630]
They remain English and
work to reform the church within
They are concerned with corporate
righteousness; and example to all
A deep covenant theology [as in 1630
Model of Christian Charity]
1691-- Massachusetts charter shifts to civic rather than religious
grounds: to vote you had to own property, not be a church member.
1735-1745-- Great Awakening: revivalists such as George Whitefield
come to prominence; Jonathan Edwards is caught up in it as well.