The Puritan Dilema

The Puritan Dilemma by Edmund Morgan clearly portrays the story of how John Winthrop dealt with the dilemma of being a puritan . John Winthrop 's story reflects the eternal conflict that goes on in the mind of every Puritan on how a man is supposed to be in the world but not of the world . That is the question Winthrop answers with his actions in building a church

What began as a religious belief and an effort for purifying the corrupt church achieved political and social dimensions in England and America

There

is an eternal conflict in the very philosophy of Puritanism . It requires man to refrain from sin , though it is impossible for any man It demands man to reform the world in the image of God 's holy kingdom but , at the same time , asserts that evil in this world in inevitable and irreplaceable . It forbids man from enjoying his life fully and prescribes rigorous penances even for small violations . It asks man to live a life of discipline without any sure promise for salvation as the lives of men are already predetermined by God

Puritans believed that belief in Jesus and participation in the sacraments could not alone effect one 's salvation one cannot choose salvation , for that is the privilege of God alone (Donna M . Campbell

The question that haunts the mind of many is -if the future and fate of man is already predetermined , what sense does it make to lead an austere life without...