Salem witch trials beliefs

The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters What was the worldview of locals at this time? The people of Salem were Puritan Christians. Like Christians throughout the ages, they believed in the existence of Satan, yet unlike many Christians throughout the ages they held that Satan was directly responsible for every bad thing that happened in life.

Historically, Puritans, for the most part, whether in Europe or America, were not so hypersensitive to Satan and demons as those in Salem were. The Puritans were Calvinists. Did their theology somehow encourage these events? It's difficult to make that case. As previously mentioned, not all Puritans, or other expressions of Calvinism i.

The theological errors in Salem at this time cannot easily be blamed on either the Christian or Reformed wordlview. The hysteria begins: Cotton Mather, Satan, and unexplained convulsions How did it all begin? Cotton Mather, a minister at North Church in Boston, Massachusetts, fixated upon spiritual warfare i. Whether this made locals overly sensitive to the devil's work is debatable; nevertheless, rumors of witchcraft were present.

Yet Glover's husband also accused his wife of witchcraft and she was subsequently blamed for casting spells on the children with black magic. Then something strange happened to the Goodwin children.

What happened to the Goodwin children? Four of the six children started having "fits," as they were called, which had many physical symptoms. The children had neck pain, back pain, jerks and movements that may be described as muscle spasms or something similar , and they cried out, sometimes in pain, but at other times the reasons were unknown.

It was also said that the children flapped their arms like they were birds pretending to fly. There were also reports that they attempted to hurt themselves as well as others. Importantly, locals would come to associate these physical abnormalities with witchcraft.

But could the symptoms be explained another way? Many historians today say, yes. What theories are there for what happened to the children and others who showed similar symptoms? While no one can know for sure, explanations range from the onset of psychological abnormalities to the onset physical abnormalities. For example, some believe that locals were psychologically traumatized by having their lives in constant danger from Indian attacks; others believe the physical symptoms are consistent with eating bad rye bread, which may have been laced with a fungus called Claviceps purpurea, from which the hallucinogenic drug LCD is derived.

Still others simply believe the accusations, trials, and executions were motivated by grudges, hate, and other ill-wills, and that these sicknesses were ultimately unrelated to the ensuing trials.

To the Puritans witches are considered sinners and are seen as people who work with the Devil. The influence of the Devil and the concept of witchcraft began in Europe. Though it peaked in , the hysteria has begun in Salem Village. She had been frowned upon earlier by the other membbers for not attending church regularly. The community believed that they should rid the village of these sinners, much like Sara, by accusing them of witchcraft.

Puritans desperately want to protect themselves from the workings of the Devil. Salem was split into two distinct settlements, which was Salem Town and Salem Village. Salem Town was very prosperous because of the commerce, fishing, shipbuilding and other activities involving trading and an urban area. The trials are best summarized as an inexplicable and unforeseen frenzy of accusations, aimed at the social pariahs of the community, that led to multiple deaths in a previously tranquil place.

An intense type of food poisoning known as convulsive ergotism provides a seemingly simple, yet understandably deceptive to the ignorant, explanation. Due to optimum conditions for the disease, the correlation between the bewitched and the expected symptoms, and the religious fanaticism of the time, one can conclude ergotism was an influence on the Salem witch trials.

The Salem Witch Trials grabbed American History by the neck and is not one of our most prideful moments. In Europe as early as the 14th century, beliefs in the supernatural and satanic practice that gave humans the power to harm others spread through New England colonies creating a panic within the very small religious colonies. The Salem Witch trials being the effect of the cause of epidemic with disease and war it was easily forsaken.

Puritan views were very easily freed from normal civilization beliefs because of the ongoing issues, because of the very strict and narrow life of most of the villages. It was very easy for a mass scale such as the trials to take place. Everyone was …show more content… Puritans believed that all sins were to be punished. They believed that god would punish those who sin whether it be your child getting sick or your crops rotting.

Puritans believed the devil was as powerful as god. Danforth and Hathorne often rejected logical facts and refused to head testimonies proving innocence because so many people were accused.

After a while, it became clear to everyone in the town, including the judges, the accusations were false. These judges instead of revealing the truth they clung to their pride and ignored what was happening in front of them.

If word got out that they sent several innocent people to their deaths their reputation would be ruined and they would be out of their jobs. Lastly, the final effect of the Salem Witch Trials was that it affected many individuals personally.

Then, John Procter was convicted of witchcraft and hung. Meanwhile, Abigail was driven out of town and thought to have become a prostitute in Boston.

The lessons learned from the Salem Witch Trials according to Salem Trial Homepage are children can be influenced by anything. We should have been skeptical of those who are accused and the accusers because you never know what the past is between the two people are cause one could want the other ones land so he accused the other of being a witch so he would be killed or one was having an affair with the other ones wife you just never.

Between and , in Salem Village, Massachusetts, the Salem witch trials were taking place. In the event, many were accused of witchcraft and some were even executed. This event had left many curious as to what caused the people to accept witchcraft and treat it as a crime. To explain the trials, Paul Boer and Stephen Nissenbaum wrote the book Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft in which they analyzed and broke down key components of the witch trials.

Both looked to scriptures as final authority and encouraged education through reading, examining and interpreting the Bible. The Pilgrims were the first to seek religious freedom in the New World when they landed and settled in America in Their name cast upon them because of their long journey taken for religious purposes.

The Little ice age was a very religious time for the settlers, who thought they were being punished by God. Puritan control of the church and state led people to believe that men were superior and women were evil beings.