Essay on John Winthrops Puritan and Waldo Emerson Transcendentalism

Utopia is an imaginary state of things in which everything is perfect. America is a vastly nation, and the interest of each citizen is expected to be treated equally. From the Puritan period, the holy bible offered spiritual, moral, legal, and social guidelines. The theory of Puritans like John Winthrop was based on the existence of the clergies. They were devoted to social cohesion and proper compliance. Puritans believed that it was their role to monitor character and rid the societies, which they live in of any evil powers and the responsibility needed citizens to be aware of their closest neighbors actions and attitudes. The premise that earth was a war field for both good and evil dominated puritans; thus, everything that was found on one side or the other means something. The transcendentalism, on the other hand, was developed back in the 1830s in the United States as a protest against the overall state of culture and community. Emerson concepts ascribed to transcendentalism and his ideas were in contrast with Winthrops. Societies throughout history have established formal or informal (Emerson 6).

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In the article A Modell of Christian Charity by John Winthrop, he addresses corresponding elements of all communities in the light of Puritan view. He itemizes on the items in the Utopian community by stating a rationale for his position. Winthrop establishes the need for a caste system that according to him was ordained by God. His rationale for classes in the society is orderly regulation, diversity and dependence and independence as well as a source of authority. From a literary perspective, Winthrop ideas are based on biblical analogies, and he is persuasive with the way he implies consequences of a different character. He perceives diversity in humanity as an intentional objective of God that he wanted to create variety in human beings as it exists in nature and also to create order in the community for the preservation and good of the whole (Winthrop 1). He lists several human shortcomings and the correspondence of God to grace stating that status suggests a particular weakness. Winthrop indicates that the significance of order is to maintain an active connection, arguing that independence is preferable to freedom. Notably, philosophers like Emerson criticized the doctrine of Unitarian that was being taught at Harvard Divinity School. In 1936, Emerson wrote an essay by the name Nature which was the major opener of transcendentalism. It differs largely with the concepts of puritan. In his text, Emerson states that the right path lies in the perfection of a person rather than the reform of a larger society. The person quality of transcendentalism offered a more spiritual than social quality. Emerson (4) rejected the Puritan way of life of the citizens in New England but embraced the romantic atmosphere of William Wordsworth

To Winthrop, the impulse of human beings to self-interest by reasoning the interest of other people is in oneself. He weaves the blanket of the society with examples like each discerns, by the work of the spirit, his image, and resemblance in another and therefore cannot love him as he loves himself. (Winthrop 6). Humanity is connected to God. Thus, dependency is essential for self-fulfillment. His Utopian society is one, which people are admittedly, not socially politically, or economically the same but have an equal spiritual opportunity. Each society is the same concerning being flawed in some way and the need for Gods grace. It is in a second mode in which people operate as spiritual creatures in a natural state. To Emerson (7), Utopian means a higher reality that is laid behind afforded senses and a reality which people could know the truth and eternity. Emerson laments the habit of accepting knowledge and traditions of the past rather than experiencing God and nature in the present. He believes that all the questions that people have concerning the order of the universe, about the relation with God, nature, and man can be solved by the experience of life and by the world that humans live. He insists on the triangle of love that connects the brethren. But great men, the world is injurious. Is there a caste? Is there a fate? (Emerson 5). Winthrop further indicates that in a utopian society; there are two rules; mercy and justice. Mercy is the way through which justice should be administered. Winthrop believed that under God and the nature of laws, not all human beings were created the same. Winthrop (7) vision was genuine, and he sincerely believed in the best interest of all. He understood that people have no choice but to trust in the society. Despite the fact that a man must abide by the rule of law, Winthrop utopian perspective believes that being ruled may be a hard life, and the heart must always give its consent. As a way of appealing to the person, Winthrop intruded rewards the word of God. Furthermore, Christians were to differentiate themselves from people who are not Christians and bind themselves to God with love.

Winthrop (8) indicated that before the fall, a man had everything, and the things were not from the partial view that mercy will help others as earlier mentioned, Love was perceived as a bond of perfection and its work is too perfect activity. In this way, God and church are intertwined in the relationship of love. Therefore, Christians are a part of God, and when the citizens are absent, Gods body is not complete and perfect. The segments of the unified body feel the others joy and pain, which makes it care for one another. However, Emerson (9) believed that inspiration should come from the church. He was against the strict religious doctrines that Winthrop believed. He was not of the idea that Christian churches imposed to humanity and the use of exaggeration at the expense of accuracy as a way of attracting the interest of the public. Why should people find inspirations through churches when they can find it in themselves? Emerson drew his inspirations from nature that created a distinctly different culture of the Americans. He points out the fact that humans have the capacity of natural beauty, which stimulates the human intellect and utilizes nature to understand the divine order of the universe. The dive order of the universe is what he Puritan believes. Winthrop suggests that with Gods special protection and guidance, humanity can form a civil and religious community in a manner that personal conduct will reap from the good of the colony. Besides, transcendentalist longed for a free market utopia, which was unlike the Puritans.

Works Cited

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The transcendentalist. Alex Catalogue, 2001.

Winthrop, John. "A model of Christian charity." Winthrop Papers 2 (1971): 1929-47.