Chapter 3-Terms

calling

In Protestantism, the belief that saved individuals ave a religious obligation to engage in worldly work.

conversion

Intense religious experience that confirmed an individual's place among the "elect," or the "visible saints." Calvinists who experienced conversion were then expected to lead sanctified lives to demonstrate their salvation.

asylum

A place of refuge and security, especially for the persecuted or unfortunate.

autocratic

Absolute or dictatorial rule.

blue laws

Also known as sumptuous laws, they are designed to restrict personal behavior in accord with a strict code of morality Blue laws were passed across the colonies, particularly in Puritan New England and Quaker Pennsylvania.

commonwealth(s)

An organized civil government or social order united for a shared purpose.

predestination

Calvinist doctrine that God has foreordained some people to be saved and some to be damned. Though their fate was irreversible, Calvinists, particularly those who believed they were destined for salvation, sought to lead sanctified lives in order to demonstrate to others that they were in fact members of the "elect."

ethnic

Concerning diverse peoples or cultures, specifically--in America--those of non-Anglo-Saxon background.

seditious

Concerning resistance to or rebellion against the government.

heresy

Departure from correct of officially defined belief.

visible saints

In Calvinism, those who publicly proclaimed their experience of conversion and were expected to lead godly lives.

elect

In Calvinist doctrine, those people who have been chosen by God for salvation

passive resistance

Nonviolent action in opposition to authority or laws, often in accord with religious or moral beliefs.

naturalization

The granting of citizenship to foreigners or immigrants.

freemen

This was 35 adult men who belonged to the Puritan congregation.

beaver and Bible

What the Puritans? were said to be sustained on. The beaver they could eat as well as use the fur to keep warm and the Bible was used to sustain them spiritually.

Puritan Ethnics

You have to work hard or you will have bad things happen to you and you go to Inferno. Example, if I get sick, it was because I broke a commandment.