Puritan

A Puritan of 16th and 17th-century England was an associate of any number of religious groups advocating for more "purity" of worship and doctrine, as well as personal and group piety. Puritans felt that the English Reformation had not gone far enough, and that the Church of England was tolerant of practices which they associated with the Catholic Church. The word "Puritan" was originally an alternate term for "Cathar" and was a pejorative term u... more

A Puritan of 16th and 17th-century England was an associate of any number of religious groups advocating for more "purity" of worship and doctrine, as well as personal and group piety. Puritans felt that the English Reformation had not gone far enough, and that the Church of England was tolerant of practices which they associated with the Catholic Church. The word "Puritan" was originally an alternate term for "Cathar" and was a pejorative term used to characterize them as extremists similar to the Cathari of France. The term "Puritans" roughly corresponds with Luther's term Schwärmer. Because the Puritans were under the influence of radicals critical of Zwingli in Zurich and Calvin in Geneva, they seldom cooperated with Presbyterians in England. Instead, many advocated for separation from all other Christians, in favor of gathered churches under autonomous Puritan control. Currently, the designation "Puritan" is often expanded to mean any very conservative Protestant, or even more... less