Российский журнал истории Церкви (Jan 2023)
Definition of puritanism and its interpretations
Abstract
The article deals with the appearance in the context of the development of the English Reformation in the middle of the 16th century of supporters of the further reformation of the Church of England following the example of the European continental reformed churches and the conceptual understanding of the views and practices characteristic of the supporters of the continuation of the Reformation in the country, by contemporaries and subsequent researchers. It is analyzed how, conceptually, descriptively and conceptually, the views and characteristic features of the activities of the supporters of the continuation of the Reformation were fixed, and it is shown under what circumstances the terminological designations of the supporters of the further Reformation by their opponents began to appear and how these more radical reformers called themselves. The emergence of the concept of "Puritanism" and the theological views, doctrinal and ritual practices characteristic of the Puritans are considered. The difficulties with the definition of the concept of "Puritanism" and discussions among researchers in determining the relationship between Puritans, supporters of the Church of England, and Separatists are shown. A review and analysis of opinions on the question of the interpretation and definition of Puritanism in modern historical science is presented, demonstrating the semantic components and aspects of the concept of "Puritanism" in the entire spectrum of its meanings. The continuing diversity of opinions and the lack of a single generally accepted definition of Puritanism, according to the author, still exists due to the complexity of this phenomenon. For further work in the interpretation of Puritanism, the author considers the contextual-operational approach heuristically productive, which is currently taking shape in the practice of concrete historical research on this problem.
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