What Role Did Puritans Play In Shaping American Culture

From the pre-Columbian times to the Civil War, America has changed greatly over time, especially from a cultural standpoint. Cosmology, the Puritans and the Great Awakening all played key roles in shaping the American religious culture from portraying the physical things around them as their God and the Big Bang Theory creating the universe to having one God in heaven creating it.
Cosmology was very popular in the pre-Columbian era. Jose de Acost was the one who came up with the theory that the settlers came from Asia across Beringia as early as 30,000 BCF, which may have been significant to cosmology’s origins (PP A Continent of Villages, Slide 12). In the beginning, the Pawnee believed in cosmology deeply. While the Pawnee’s believed in it, the Europeans
labeled them as myths or legends(PP A Continent of Villages, Slide 13) . The Pawnee believed in “thought as the basis for reality and recreation”. The environment was their God, and it told them what to do like harvest, plant, etc. because of thought and visions.
The way the Pawnee used their land, resources, lodges, and social relations reflected their cosmology (PP A Continent of Villages, Slide 16).
If we fast forward about a century into the 16th century Puritanism was especially prominent in the New England colony. Puritans requested a more exhaustive transformation of the Church and tried to the more radical types of Protestantism that existed on the landmass, most vital of which was Calvinism. Puritans practiced a significant impact on both governmental issues and culture of the seventeenth century and the yearning of Puritans to force their vision on the Church was an essential figure the early phases of the Civil War, however such ideas applied less of an impact on British legislative issues before the century's over. Be that as it may, from multiple points of view Puritanism was likewise some portion of a more extensive social upheaval: different current scholars have associated the development of Puritanism to general chronicled developments, for example, capitalist independence, the transformation of conduct, and even the multiplication of the bible(Puritanism in the seventeenth century). Not too long after, The Great Awakening had begun,
which was a period of religious revival. It was mainly between Calvinism and Evangelicalism. One of the most important leaders of the Great Awakening was Jonathan Edwards. In Massachusetts, Edwards would deliver his sermons toward the young. His sermons were so attaching that by 1734 the whole town would be engaged in a religious revival; however, by 1750, he got expelled from his church and began doing his revivals with the American indians (The Great Awakening).Although it was between Calvinism and Evangelism, it’s impact was greater than that. All three examples had significant changes; however, the Great Awakening had the most impact in today’s world because it had many permanent changes in America’s society. It was the first portrayal of American unity in the colonies, which contributed to the growth of the American identity. It likewise created a developed awareness of wrongdoing inside the current social request and stirred a confidence that Americans remained inside reach of Christ's Second Coming, which many people still believe in today. This unity also may have contributed to the abolitionist movement later on playing a subtle role in the Civil War.
Because of puritanism and the Great Awakening, you see many different types of churches in the world. You can see a small church with fifty followers, or you can find one with millions of followers. Many pastors would just believe in a different religion and start a new church because these events provided them with a sense of freedom, which is the reason why they came to the colonies in the first place. These new religions people were coming up with or the ones that were becoming popular were more central to believing in Jesus Christ or one God up above.
There were many different similarities and differences from today’s (basically the same as the one around the time of the Civil War) culture and the past. Back then, they shifted from believing in different origins of the universe, while today’s believes more in God creating the universe. Although they do believe in different gods, they still believe in one God. Joh=nathan Edwards was the main individual in starting the Great Awakening in the colonies. If it weren’t for him, many things would be different in today’s American culture.