Puritanism
Puritanism
A term referring, in general, to a purification of existing religious forms and practices. More specifically, Puritanism refers to that group of earnest English Protestants who broke with the Roman system more completely in objection to traditional ceremonies formalities and organizations. This moral earnestness at reformation led to the emphasis upon such commendable virtues as self-reliance, thrift, industry and initiative but it led also to unnatural self-denials and overly austere discipline. In this last respect Puritanism has come to mean an ascetic mode of living, an over-sensitive conscience and an undue repression of normal human enjoyments. Milton was Puritanism at its best. New England Puritanism in its most extreme expressions of Spartan discipline and its censorious interference with the behavior of others was Puritanism at its worst. — V.F.