Reckoning with the Puritans

How can you be in a class about the Salem Witch Trials and not talk about the Puritans? Come on, it's unavoidable. Not only were Puritan ministers and officials involved in the trials themselves & not only were the townsfolk those who believed in Puritan doctrine, but can we talk about the elephant in the room: the Puritan beliefs and way of life just seem freaking whack! Let's be honest, no one reads the literature associated with the Salem Witch Trials and is captivated by the Puritans. No! Sure, some of that reaction can be attributed to the context (the killing of innocent people), but I hypothesize that much of that response can be attributed to an outrage or discomfort with the Puritans just in general. We've got to be real: the worldview of the Puritans stands in absolute contrast to the beliefs and lives of modern-day American society. I think some of us struggle so much with the Puritans because we don't even have a category in our brains for them!

OK. End stream-of-conscious writing. I'm not trying to be disrespectful to the Puritans. In fact, the intention of this blog is not to just slander the Puritans. In fact, part of this blog is to wrestle with my inner struggle with the Puritans. The introductory paragraph to this blog, nonetheless, strikes a cord with the visceral reaction most people have to the Puritans, even myself. In this blog, I want to explore that visceral reaction a little bit more, starting with my unraveling my personal position.

Like most people, I was first exposed to the Puritans through early American history classes about New England. And, like most people, those early American history classes about New England almost always included some excerpt or blurb about the Salem Witch Trials. In that way, the connection between Puritanism and the Salem Witch Trials has been established since youth. In fact, I would wager that is something that most people would resonant with. I'm sure there is a small sect of the population that heard of Puritanism through religious upbringings, but even still, I feel like you don't teach young children Puritan theology at home before they hear about this really crazy thing called the Salem Witch Trials in class. For that reason, I am cautioned in my reactions to Puritanism. For myself (and I'm assuming for most), the association between Puritanism and the Salem Witch Trials is inseparable, groomed since the 4th or 5th grade.

In light of that reality, should we be a little bit more careful with how we handle Puritanism? Is our disgust for the Salem Witch Trials attributed to Puritanism too quickly, even if Puritanism was a causal component of the Salem Witch Trials? Are we too hasty in attributing a 1:1 correlation between the backward, atrocious nature of the Salem Witch Trials to Puritanism as well? I'm not entirely sure.

On one hand, we are all reading the same excerpts and literature from the Salem Witch Trials. We are all reading the remarks of the Puritan ministers. How they lived and believed and spoke is not a secret. It's not something that is up for a whole lot of debate, especially in the context of Salem. For that reason, I think an anti-Puritan reaction can be somewhat justified. Yet, at the same time, we are still only seeing a small sliver of Puritanism. We are only seeing Puritanism in the village of Salem in the year of the Salem Witch Trials. We are only seeing Puritanism in response to the claims of witchcraft and devilry.

The only other exposure I've had to Puritanism is through a couple influential Puritan pastors or theologians. In Reformed Christian circles, no one is quoting Reverend Samuel Parris as an thought-leader in the Puritan tradition, so I don't think it is fair to see him as the representative head of that theological system (though, I assume he isn't being quoted not just because of his weak theology but, you know, the role in the Trials). John Owen, for example, is a popular Puritan theologian whose work I respect greatly (I'm not saying I agree with everything he ever wrote or said... that distinction is important and should be common understanding anytime someone is referenced, though I sadly don't think discourse follows that rule of thumb today).

I think my overall point is that even Christians viscerally react dismissively toward the Puritans (due to the associations with the Salem Witch Trials) and completely miss out on some real wisdom in their theology and understanding of God. Again, I'm not justifying everything or close to everything the Puritans believed in. I'm simply saying that I think the baby might be too quickly thrown out with the bath water.