美国文学 名词解释前4章.doc

1 What is Puritanism? Puritanism was a religious reform that arose within the Church of England in the late 16th century. Under siege from church and crown, it sent an offshoot in the third and fourth decades of the 17th to the northern English colonies in the new worlda migration that laid the foundation for the religious, intellectual, and social order of New England. Puritanism, however, was not only a historically specific phenomenon coincident with the founding of new England, it was also a way of being in the worlda style of response to lived experiencethat has reverberated through American life ever since. Doctrinally, puritans adhered to the five points of Calvinism as codified at the synod of dort in 1619: 1) Unconditional election: the idea that God had decreed at the synod of damned and who was saved from before the beginning of the world; 2) limited atonement: the idea that Christ died for the elect only; 3) Total depravity: humanity’s utter corruption since the fall; 4) Irresistible grace: regeneration as entirely a work of God, which cannot be re3sisted and to which the sinner contributes nothing; 5) The perseverance of the saints: the elect, despite their backsliding and faintness of heart, cannot fall away from grace. puritanism American Puritanism was practice and belief of Puritans. Puritans were the people who wanted to purify the Church of England and then were persecuted in England. They came to America for various reasons. But because they were a group of serious and religious people, they carried a code of value and a philosophy of life. To them, religion was the most important thing. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin, total depravity and limited atonement for God’s grace. They also believed in hard working, piety and sobriety. In a word, American Puritanism exerted great influences upon American thought and literature. 2Enduring shaping influence on literature 1 dreamed of living under a perfect order worked with c