The puritans who founded the New England colonies as a “biblical commonwealth” were about as Jewish as Anglo Christians could get, with their emphasis on communal enforcement of biblical law, both moral and civil, coupled with their immensely legalistic and ideological mode of scholarship and thinking. As Calvinists, they called themselv…
The puritans who founded the New England colonies as a “biblical commonwealth” were about as Jewish as Anglo Christians could get, with their emphasis on communal enforcement of biblical law, both moral and civil, coupled with their immensely legalistic and ideological mode of scholarship and thinking. As Calvinists, they called themselves the (modern-day) Israelites and quite literally believed they were the chosen few who would be saved, considering everyone else to basically be immoral heathens. The parallels are astounding.
The puritans who founded the New England colonies as a “biblical commonwealth” were about as Jewish as Anglo Christians could get, with their emphasis on communal enforcement of biblical law, both moral and civil, coupled with their immensely legalistic and ideological mode of scholarship and thinking. As Calvinists, they called themselves the (modern-day) Israelites and quite literally believed they were the chosen few who would be saved, considering everyone else to basically be immoral heathens. The parallels are astounding.