뉴잉글랜드 청교도들의 언약 사상과 교회의 사회적 책임론의 상관관계 연구

Some theorists of Puritans have insisted that Puritans in New England have no response and a negative attitude toward their social responsibility. The main purpose of this article is to investigate whether this is true or not, by analysing primary sources of Puritans in the 17th century, and to search for the theological backgrounds of Puritans’ social responsibility and their own methodology. This paper shows various results. First, the Covenant of Theory, the most important element supported by Scriptures, was a backdrop for the theory of social responsibility as a sincere believer. In particular, the early representatives of Puritans in England, such as William Tyndale,John Bale, Thomas Cartwright, and John Preston, acted upon the pioneers of New England, such as John Cotton, John Winthrop, Thomas Hooker, and Thomas Shepard etc. Secondly, Puritans tried to realize Puritan divine community in New England through double covenant theory-the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, known as the Personal Covenant. Thirdly, they also established the thought of church covenant by developing the personal covenant, in particular the covenant of grace. This covenant manifests the fact that all church members accept thescriptures as the true God’s words, and God appoints several officers in church to serve God’s works and to work for social duty. This thought of the covenant of church appeared in the church in New England through leaders such as Henry Jacob, Francis Higginson, John Cotton, John White,Huge Peter, and John Winthrop. This covenant included the necessity of church members to be united in Christ for social responsibility, also the method of the mutual service, the devotional attitude to construct the God’s ideal communal society. Lastly, the Puritans who voyaged to the New World, made a social covenant in their cabin and in New England to create a new social community as a fundamental order. The characteristics of this covenant depict that they should, as a divine community, obey God’s Word, love Him sincerely, take care of their members with Christ’s mind, share joys and sorrows, and work together as united community members. It is not so difficult to find the thought of this social covenant in “the Mayflower Compact and the Magna Carta of Divine Society.”