Women had a somewhat greater status because of their scarcity. Why did the Puritans adopt the Halfway Covenant in 1662? They wanted to expand church membership by allowing children of church members to join. How did Bacon's Rebellion transform labor systems in Virginia? It influenced planters to abandon indentured servants in favor of slaves.
What was the Puritan Half-Way Covenant Quizlet?
(Show more) Half-Way Covenant, religious-political solution adopted by 17th-century New England Congregationalists, also called Puritans, that allowed the children of baptized but unconverted church members to be baptized and thus become church members and have political rights.
What was the Half-Way Covenant and why was it important?
... (Show more) Half-Way Covenant, religious-political solution adopted by 17th-century New England Congregationalists, also called Puritans, that allowed the children of baptized but unconverted church members to be baptized and thus become church members and have political rights.
What was the Half-Way Covenant of 1657?
It allowed baptized but unconverted parents to present their own children for baptism; however, they were denied the other privileges of church membership. The Half-Way Covenant was endorsed by an assembly of ministers in 1657 and a church synod in 1662.
What did Charles Chauncy say about the Half-Way Covenant?
Charles Chauncy, clergyman and president of Harvard from 1654–1672, was an outspoken opponent of the Half-Way Covenant. As early as 1634, the church in Dorchester, Massachusetts, asked the advice of Boston's First Church concerning a church member's desire to have his grandchild baptized even though neither of his parents were full members.
Why did the Puritans adopt the halfway covenant in 1662?
Why did the Puritans adopt the Halfway Covenant in 1662? They wanted to expand church membership by allowing children of church members to join.
Why was the half-way covenant created and how did it influence a change in Puritan membership?
A Puritan church document; In 1662, the Halfway Covenant allowed partial membership rights to persons not yet converted into the Puritan church; It lessened the difference between the "elect" members of the church from the regular members; Women soon made up a larger portion of Puritan congregations.
Why was the halfway covenant created quizlet?
A Puritan church document; In 1662, the Halfway Covenant allowed partial membership rights to persons not yet converted into the Puritan church; It lessened the difference between the "elect" members of the church from the regular members; Women soon made up a larger portion of Puritan congregations.
Which problem did the halfway covenant address?
What problem did the Half-Way Covenant try to address? the shrinking number of spiritual rebirths in the Puritan community.
What prompted the creation of the halfway covenant in 17th century New England?
The Half-Way Covenant emerged as the response to this dilemma: a synod in 1662 recommended (which was all that synods could do) to all Congregational churches that they allow all second-generation parents who had been baptized but had never been admitted to the church as full members (by virtue of conversion) to ...
What does the creation of the Half-Way covenant formula tell us about changes in Puritanism in New England?
Half-Way Covenant, religious-political solution adopted by 17th-century New England Congregationalists, also called Puritans, that allowed the children of baptized but unconverted church members to be baptized and thus become church members and have political rights.
How did most Puritans view the separation of church and state?
The Puritans in Massachusetts Bay believed in a separation of church and state, but not a separation of the state from God. restricting future freemanship and the right to vote only to Congrega- tional Church members in order to guarantee a “godly” government.
How did Puritans viewed individual and personal freedom?
Puritans viewed individual and personal freedom as: dangerous to social harmony and community stability. In the battles between Parliament and the Stuart kings, English freedom: remained an important and a much-debated concept even after Charles I was beheaded.
What was the half way covenant?
The Half-Way Covenant was a compromise or creative solution used by 17 th century Puritans to include children of fully converted and covenanted church members as citizens of the community.
What did the Puritans believe about salvation?
The elect—those who by God’s grace were saved, for the Puritans believed in salvation by grace and not works —were those who were eligible for membership. To know that one was among the elect required the experience of conversion, or experience of knowing that one was saved. One duty of a minister in such a congregation was to look for signs ...
What Does Covenant Mean?
A covenant is a promise, an agreement, a contract, or a commitment. In Biblical teachings, God made a covenant with the people of Israel—a promise—and that created certain obligations on the part of the people. Christianity extended this idea, that God through Christ was in a covenanted relationship with Christians. To be in covenant with the church in covenant theology was to say that God had accepted the person as a member of the church, and thus included the person in the great covenant with God. And in Puritan covenant theology, this meant that the person had a personal experience of conversion—of commitment to Jesus as the savior—and that the rest of the church community had recognized that experience as valid.
What is Puritan theology?
Puritan theology was grounded in the idea of covenants, based on the theology of the covenants of God with Adam and Abraham, and then the Covenant of Redemption brought by Christ. Thus, the actual membership of the church comprised the people who joined through voluntary compacts or covenants.
What does it mean to be in covenant with the church?
To be in covenant with the church in covenant theology was to say that God had accepted the person as a member of the church, and thus included the person in the great covenant with God. And in Puritan covenant theology, this meant that the person had a personal experience of conversion—of commitment to Jesus as the savior—and that the rest ...
Why is the Congregation given notice of the proposed baptism?
The Congregation is given notice of the proposed baptism so that they can provide testimony if they are vicious (i.e. had a vice) in their lives.
When was baptism in Salem?
Baptism in the Salem Village Church. In 1700 , the Salem Village church records recorded what was then necessary to be baptized as a member of the church, rather than as part of infant baptism (which was also practiced leading to the half-way covenant compromise):
When did the half way covenant start?
In 1657 a ministerial convention suggested that such children should be accepted for baptism and church membership, and in 1662 a synod of the churches accepted the practice, which in the 19th century came to be called the Half-Way Covenant.
Who taught that church membership could be given only to convinced believers?
The practice was abandoned by most churches in the 18th century when Jonathan Edwards and other leaders of the Great Awakening taught that church membership could be given only to convinced believers.
Overview
The Half-Way Covenant was a form of partial church membership adopted by the Congregational churches of colonial New England in the 1660s. The Puritan-controlled Congregational churches required evidence of a personal conversion experience before granting church membership and the right to have one's children baptized. Conversion experiences were less common among second-…
Name
The term Halfway Covenant was a derogatory label applied by opponents of the practice. The term used by supporters at the time was "large Congregationalism".
Background
Beginning in the 1620s and 1630s, colonial New England was settled by Puritans who believed that they were obligated to build a holy society in covenant with God. The covenant was the foundation for Puritan convictions concerning personal salvation, the church, social cohesion and political authority. The first colonists organized themselves into Congregational churches by means of church covenants. According to the Puritan vision, every church member should be a "visible sai…
Proposal
As early as 1634, the church in Dorchester, Massachusetts, asked the advice of Boston's First Church concerning a church member's desire to have his grandchild baptized even though neither of his parents were full members. First Church recommended that this be allowed. The issue was brought up on other occasions from time to time. Thomas Hooker, founder of Connecticut, and Joh…
Adoption
While the conservatives were outvoted in the synod, they continued to publicly protest, and both sides engaged in a pamphlet war. Chauncey, Davenport and Increase Mather wrote against the synod, while Mitchell, John Allen and Richard Mather defended it. Eventually, Increase Mather changed his position and supported the Half-Way Covenant.
Abandonment
The Half-Way Covenant continued to be practiced by three-fourths of New England's churches into the 1700s, but opposition continued from those wanting a return to the strict admission standards as well as those who wanted the removal of all barriers to church membership. Northampton pastor Solomon Stoddard (1643–1729) attacked both the Half-Way practice and the more exclusive admission policy, writing that the doctrine of local church covenants "is wholly unscrip…
Puritan declension theory
Nineteenth-century Congregationalist ministers Leonard Bacon and Henry Martyn Dexter saw the Half-Way Covenant's adoption as the beginning of the decline of New England's churches that continued into the 1800s. Some historians also identify the Half-Way Covenant with Puritan decline or declension. Historian Perry Miller identifies its adoption as the final step in "the transformation of Congregationalism from a religious Utopia to a legalized order" in which assur…
See also
• Covenant succession