The ‘funnel paragraph’ is commonly taught in high school and college first-year English classes. The principle is to start with a broad topic sentence and narrow down the topic sentence-by-sentence until the end of the introductory paragraph. The paragraph should end with the thesis statement for the research project.
By starting with a broad topic sentence, the writer starts with what the reader should already know and moves toward what the reader doesn’t know, but should after reading the paper. The thesis statement connects known and unknown—a bridge to new knowledge.
“Scholars have generally noted the persecution that frequently accompanied the revivals of holiness evangelists in Texas in the late nineteenth century. Evangelists like William B. Godbey were often threatened with rope and ‘six-shooter’ by angry mobs and anonymous notes signed by ‘Judge Lynch’ or ‘Ku Klux.’ However, no one has closely examined the gender composition of these mobs, some of whom threw eggs or dirt clods at the evangelist. Not a single woman is mentioned as taking part in these attacks. According to the eyewitness accounts, these mobs were composed entirely of men, apparently angered over the preaching of sanctification to revival audiences, of which the majority attending were women. This disparity reveals the sexual politics of the early holiness movement in Texas, in which women sought transcendence—or even deliverance—from an oppressive marriage, through the experience of entire sanctification.”
Puritan Beliefs:
The Puritan life in keeping true to the divine law did everything in moderation. While they did dress in their social classes and drank alcoholic beverages, they condemned those who would take these things to excess. Richard Baxter, a highly regarded Puritan is quoted as saying, “Overdoing is the most ordinary way to undoing.” Undoing meaning your condemnation to hell.
One of the factors that set the Puritans apart from other religions at the time, was that they held the Sabbath in true Old Testamentfashion; only reading and learning of the scriptures were permitted. When other religions were playing and gambling on the Sabbath, Puritans were at home quietly gaining a better understanding of God.
The basis for the Puritan’s beliefs was an emphasis on the righteousness and sovereignty of God. God, they said directed all things by exercise of his will and directed all things to an intelligent end.
This predestination of sorts was a mainstay in the Puritan religion. Believing in predestination, they explained that all human beings were pledged by the covenant of works to adhere to the divine law and were justly condemned for failure to adhere to it.