The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. [1]

Mar 25, 2025 · Puritanism, a religious reform movement in the late 16th and 17th centuries that was known for the intensity of the religious experience that it fostered. Puritans’ efforts contributed to both civil war in England and the founding of colonies in America. Learn more about Puritanism, its history, and beliefs.

Oct 29, 2009 · The Puritans were members of a religious reform movement known as Puritanism that arose within the Church of England in the late 16th century. They believed the Church of England was too similar...

Aug 10, 2022 · "Puritans" had been a name of ridicule first used during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. These were Christians who wanted the Church of England purified of any liturgy, ceremony, or practices which were not found in Scripture.

Jan 12, 2021 · The Puritans were English Protestant Christians, primarily active in the 16th-18th centuries CE, who claimed the Anglican Church had not distanced itself sufficiently from Catholicism and sought to 'purify' it of Catholic practices.

Puritanism, Movement in the late 16th and 17th century that sought to “purify” the Church of England, leading to civil war in England and to the founding of colonies in North America.

The Puritans were a significant Protestant group that emerged during the English Reformation, shaped by their desire for a more profound and widespread religious reform. They sought to purify the Church of England from remnants of Roman Catholic practices, advocating for a return to what they perceived as the original principles of Christianity ...

The Puritans of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries sought to bring about a more thorough Reformation in England—to purify the English church from any Roman Catholic vestiges—especially in the areas of theology, worship, and personal holiness.

Puritans emphasized the importance of personal religious experience, preaching, and interpretation of the Bible. They believed in the concept of the "Elect," a group chosen by God for salvation, and they viewed themselves as part of this divine selection.

The history of the Puritans can be traced back to the first Vestments Controversy in the reign of Edward VI, the formation of an identifiable Puritan movement in the 1560s and ends in a decline in the mid-18th century.