Puritanism Vs Transcendentalism

Synthesis Essay: The change of Puritanism to Transcendentalism Beginning in the late sixteenth century, Puritanism quickly came to a halt after the Salem witch trials in 1692. Puritanism, founded by John Calvin, was a religious reform movement that arose within the Church of England which primarily focused on divinity without committing sin. A little over a century later, Transcendentalism initiated due to the reaction that society perceived on Puritan radicalism. In contrast to puritanism, Transcendentalism taught that divinity pervades all nature and mortality. Through texts written by both Puritan and Transcendentalist authors including Anne Bradstreet, Jonathan Edwards, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau, one can see why
In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, he emphasizes that religious seriousness could determine someone’s life. In general, John Edwards uses angry imagery in his texts to essentially scare people straight. One text that demonstrates Edward’s views on religion is seen through the statement “O Sinner! Consider the fearful Danger you are in…You hang by a slender Thread, with the Flames of divine Wrath flashing about it… nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one Moment” (Edwards pg.10). In this excerpt John Edwards implies to the secular society that death may come upon you at any moment in which you are hanging by a “Slender Thread” and you can only be saved by your faith to G-d. Not only death but the flames of hell can swallow you if you are a sinner. Edwards main concern in his passage was to imply that if one does not sin “God [may] spare you one moment” which just may be enough for a full life time. In order to accomplish this goal, Edwards believes a simple man must change his ways and become a man of devotion to G-d. In his eyes, if one does not change he will not be “spared” and will suffer due to his