UTOPIAN PROMISE - Annenberg Media

50 UNIT 3, UTOPIAN PROMISE
Testament signs, or “types,” prefigure their fulfillment or “antitype” in
Christ. Applied more broadly, typology enabled Puritans to read biblical
types as forecasting not just the events of the New Testament but
also their own historical situation and experiences. In this way, individual
Puritans could make sense of their own spiritual struggles and
achievements by identifying with biblical personages like Adam,
Noah, or Job. But this broad understanding of typology was not
restricted to individual typing; the Puritans also interpreted their
group identity as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, identifying
their community as the “New Israel.”
weaned affections This Puritan theological doctrine held that
individuals must learn to wean themselves from earthly attachments
and make spiritual matters their priority. Inappropriate earthly attachments
included material possessions such as one’s home, furniture,
clothing, or valuables. The doctrine of weaned affections could also
proscribe things that we do not usually think of as incompatible with
spirituality, such as a love of natural beauty, or a dedication to secular
learning, or even an intense devotion to one’s spouse, children, or
grandchildren. According to orthodox Puritan theology, anything tied
to this world—even relationships with family members—should be
secondary to God.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bercovitch, Sacvan. The Puritan Origins of the American Self. New
Haven: Yale UP, 1975.
———. The American Jeremiad. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1978.
Colacurcio, Michael. Doctrine and Difference: Essays in the Literature
of New England. New York: Routledge, 1997.
Demos, John. A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony.
New York: Oxford UP, 1970.
Levin, David. “William Bradford: The Value of Puritan Historiography.”
Major Writers of Early American Literature, ed. E. H. Emerson.
Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1972.
Miller, Perry. Errand into the Wilderness. Cambridge: Harvard UP,
1956.
Nash, Gary. Philadelphia and the Forging of Historical Memory.
Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 2002.
Schweitzer, Ivy. The Work of Self-Representation: Lyric Poetry in
Colonial New England. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1991.
Slotkin, Richard, and James K. Folsom, eds. So Dreadfull a Judgment:
Puritan Responses to King Philip’s War, 1676–1677. Middletown,
CT: Wesleyan UP, 1978.
Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. Good Wives: Images and Reality in the Lives of
Women in Northern New England, 1650–1750. New York: Knopf,
1980.