Question How does John Winthrop's "A Model of Christian Charity  represent a vision of a community of purpose and potential? Response John Winthrop's "A Model of Christian Charity" has been portrayed as one of "American literature's most important documents," (Schweninger, 1990, p.46) partly because of how it represents a vision of a community of purpose and potential. The most important way that Winthrop achieves this is through the use of religion, focusing particularly on the role of Puritans. Puritans lived life through the theory that God controlled the social order and the chosen ones and that life was dedicated towards the Lord and Christianity. Author Michael Kammen refers to Puritans as "paper trails  due to them becoming a fixed point of origin and thus, Puritans such as Winthrop, hoped to "kindle a gospel light that would shine forth once more in a New England  (Schweninger, 1990, p.181). This heavy focus on religion became the focal point for other approaches of representing a community of purpose and potential. This essay will therefore not only explore the use of religion and the importance of Puritanism within "A Model of Christian Charity  but will also emphasise the additional methods that Winthrop uses to achieve this impressive representation. One of John Winthrop's main focuses throughout "A Model of Christian Charity  is the use of religion, emphasising heavily the role of Christianity and Puritanism. Throughout the sermon, Winthrop highlights the visionary doctrine that Puritans believe man is incomparable to God and uses this notion to present a community of purpose. Winthrop states "the end is to improve our lives to doe more service to the Lord  (Winthrop, 1630) which argues that the purpose of life is to devote individualism and oneself to Christianity. In support of this, the use of the noun "Covenant  within the statement "thus stands the cause between God and us; we are entered into Covenant with him for this worke  (Winthrop, 1630) further enhances this argument by symbolising how Puritans saw themselves as intertwined with religion and how a closely tied relationship with Christianity would create a strong bond helping lead to a vision of a community full of purpose and potential. As Lee Schweninger similarly suggests that Winthrop epitomizes "a special covenant between the colonists and God, insisting that God has given a special commission "(Schweninger, 1990, p.43), this can therefore argue that if the colonists obliged by the agreement created with God, a community of purpose and potential could be achieved due to the fact that God will bless them with a purposeful life. Furthermore, Winthrop had no faith in democracy; he was convinced that "America was a land where God's vice-regents on earth were appointed to maintain law  (McMichael, 2010). This theory reinforces the notion of the American J