“Puritanical!” A negative word for some—meaning prudish, rigid, austere and moralistic. But it was those people known as Puritans who forged a renewal movement within the Church of England that significantly impacted the New World. The Puritans came to the colonies largely in family groups, and unlike many of those who preceded them, they could read and write. Their diaries and letters reflected an intense emphasis on their devotional life. It’s said that Puritanism as an attitude was “remarkabl