Puritanism is a form of Protestantism that developed in the 16th century. Protestantism, like Catholicism, is a form of Christianity, and it was the dominant religion in England since 1536 when King Henry VIII founded the Protestant Church of England. The early Puritans were discontented with the state of religious affairs in England and the direction in which the Church of England seemed to be headed. They strongly disapproved of London life, with all of its plays, theatre, art, and literature (remember the Renaissance was in full effect) because they believe all of these activities lead to spiritual corruption and moral decay. The Puritans believed their interpretation of the word of God is the absolute truth, and the pursuit of Grace and the worship of God is to be pursued each and every minute of every day, not just on Sundays. To them, the fact that England was ruled by a monarchy, or a king, was upsetting because a king, or any political leader in charge of the state, was too often influenced by politics, corruption, or state affairs instead of adhering strictly to the moral guidelines set out in the New Testament. Without a proper spiritual and moral authority, the people would retrogress into a natural state of sin and disorder in a sort of spiritual recidivism. A more suitable form of government for a Puritan would be a Theocracy, in which a Puritan authority would establish, rule, and enforce the laws. When exploration of the New World in North America commenced, the Puritans saw a way to separate from the Church of England and the English monarchy and establish themselves in a new land. Because of what they considered to be persecutions and tribulations, the Puritans quickly identified themselves with the Israelites, who were the chosen people of God in the Old Testament, and they began to look at the New World as the future center of Christianity where they would build a new "City on a Hill." The allusion is a Biblical reference to the reconstruction of Jerusalem by the Israelites from a wasteland into the spiritual center of the Benei Israel, the descendants of Israel; the Puritans felt a divine mission to reconstruct Christianity from its European "wasteland" in the New World.
