Nature, Grace and John Cotton: The Theological Dimension in the New England Antinomian Controversy

1975 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
William K. B. Stoever
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Massachusetts Bay ◽  
Wrong Side ◽  
Antinomian Controversy ◽  
Anne Hutchinson ◽  
The Hill ◽  
The City ◽  
A Company ◽  
The Church

In 1636 the Puritan Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bay was confronted with a sectarian outburst which rent the religious and civil peace of Boston and temporarily threatened that of the whole colony. Certain of the Boston congregation, led by Anne Hutchinson and abetted by John Cotton, the teacher of the church, charged that the clergy of the Bay, almost entirely, were not true ministers of the gospel but in fact a company of unregenerate “legalists”, preaching a “covenant of works” instead of a “covenant of grace”, and there by hindering the work of redemption. For nearly two years the “Antinomian Controversy” darkened the radiance of the City on the Hill, and echoes of the affair returned in the next decade to plague apologists for the New England Way. Part of the apologists' difficulty was the fact that their star, the illustrious Cotton, had been on the wrong side.

Dissent in New England

2020 ◽  
pp. 244-266
Author(s):  
Francis J. Bremer
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
New England ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
New Order ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Anne Hutchinson ◽  
Religious Establishment ◽  
New England Colonies ◽  
Roger Williams ◽  
The Church

The New England colonies were settled in the early seventeenth century by men and women who could not in conscience subscribe to all aspects of the faith and practice of the Church of England. In creating new societies they struggled with how to define their churches and their relationship with the national Church they dissented from. As their New England Way evolved the orthodox leaders of the new order identified and took action against those who challenged it. Interaction with dissenters such as Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, Baptists, and Quakers helped to further define the colonial religious establishment.

scholarly journals VI. An Account of various Roman Antiquities discovered on the site of the Church of St. Michael, Crooked Lane, and in Eastcheap, in forming the northern Approaches of the new London Bridge; communicated by Alfred John Kempe, Esq. F.S.A. in a Letter to Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S., Secretary

Archaeologia ◽  
1832 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 190-202
Author(s):  
Alfred John Kempe
Keyword(s):  
Transverse Section ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Present Communication ◽  
The Hill ◽  
The City ◽  
New London ◽  
The Church

In forming the northern or City entrance on the new London Bridge, it was thought expedient to construct a Sewer of very large dimensions under the line of approach; for this purpose, on the removal of the church of St. Michael, Crooked Lane (which stood on an immemorially ancient consecrated site), a transverse section was commenced of the eminence which rises from Thames Street towards the heart of the City. This excavation was made as deep as the low-water mark, about fifty feet below the present surface of the crest of the hill. In the course of the above operation, and of preparing for the construction of the northern land arches of the new bridge, three distinct ancient lines of embankment were discovered. These successive bulwarks, by which ground was gained by degrees from the Thames for the wharfs of the port of London, are not however the object of the present communication. Careful notes of these circumstances, as indeed of all other which relate in a constructive point of view to old London Bridge and the adjoining banks of the river, have been, I know, made by the Gentleman who has already contributed some of them to the Archæologia of the Society, and who will, I trust, be induced in the same way to follow up a subject for which he has acquired such good materials, and in connexion with which he has formed such a curious collection of articles of antiquity, particularly of the Roman era.

Anne Hutchinson

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn Westerkamp
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Diverse Group ◽  
Massachusetts Bay ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Antinomian Controversy ◽  
Massachusetts Bay Colony ◽  
Anne Hutchinson ◽  
Free Grace

Anne Hutchinson engaged a diverse group of powerful men as well as the disenfranchised during the mid-1630s in Boston’s so-called Antinomian Controversy, the name given to the theological battle between John Cotton, who emphasized free grace, and other clerics who focused upon preparation for those seeking salvation. Hutchinson followed Cotton’s position, presented his theology in meetings in her home, and inspired her followers, male and female, to reject pastors opposing Cotton’s position. Hutchinson’s followers included leading men who opposed John Winthrop’s leadership of Massachusetts Bay Colony; this dispute also became an arena where Winthrop reasserted his power. Hutchinson represents the Puritans’ drive for spiritual development within, including her claim of revelation. She is best understood within a transatlantic framework illustrating both the tools of patriarchal oppression and, more importantly, the appeal of Puritan spirituality for women.

John Cotton and the Antinomian Controversy, 1636–1638: A Profile of Experiential Individualism in American Puritanism

1990 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-349
Author(s):  
Michael Jinkins
Keyword(s):  
Massachusetts Bay ◽  
Evangelical Christianity ◽  
Personal Saving ◽  
Antinomian Controversy ◽  
Church Life ◽  
Massachusetts Bay Colony ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theological Orientation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Church

There is much going on in the modern religious scene, particularly in America under the name of ‘Evangelical Christianity’, that seems strange to those of us whose Church experience is shaped more emphatically by an Old-World Presbyterian, Anglican or Lutheran theological orientation. The emphasis upon the individual and the individual's personal ‘saving’ experience sounds strange to ears more attuned to social responsibility and the development of the Christian character in the nurture of the Church community. Where does this emphasis on the individual and his or her personal experience come from? And how did it come to be so much a part of American Church life? Both of these questions could introduce ponderous volumes of social, historical and theological research. But, generally speaking, this tendency to reduce the religious life to an experience of salvation can be traced to the era in the history of dogma which gave rise to Reformed Scholasticism. On the American continent, this approach to Christian faith was promoted by the early Puritan settlers in the context of their own theological concern to maintain a particular manifestation of the nature-grace dichotomy which stressed the legal duly of the individual Christian, and to gain a sense of assurance of election, however elusive that sense might be. While it is well beyond the limitations of this brief essay to trace the development of the Puritan theological orientation, this study will examine one incident in the life of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to profile the development of this Puritan inclination toward experiential individualism which, in various forms, still endures.

“Such Monstrous Births”: A Neglected Aspect of the Antinomian Controversy

1985 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Jacobson Schutte
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The Other ◽  
Massachusetts Bay ◽  
Central Figure ◽  
Critical Moment ◽  
Antinomian Controversy ◽  
Colonial New England ◽  
Theological Conflict ◽  
Scholarly Attention

The Antinomian controversy of 1636-1638, the earliest major theological conflict in colonial New England, has attracted much scholarly attention. For many, the central figure in the drama, Anne Hutchinson, is a heroine, a champion of religious freedom against the bigoted theocratic Puritan establishment of Massachusetts Bay captained by the elder John Winthrop, Governor of the colony. Others have interpreted the Puritan prosecution of the Antinomians as perhaps regrettable but absolutely necessary; theological splintering might well have led, as most contemporaries believed it would, to a fatal political weakening of the young colony at a critical moment. One feature of the Antinomian episode, however, has not yet received the attention it deserves: the occurrence of two monstrous births, one in the midst of the controversy (although belatedly discovered) and the other at its denouement.

“So Manifest a Signe from Heaven”: Monstrosity and Heresy in the Antinomian Controversy

2010 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-199
Author(s):  
Karyn Valerius
Keyword(s):  
Massachusetts Bay ◽  
Antinomian Controversy ◽  
Anne Hutchinson

Several months after being banished from Massachusetts Bay for her antinomian beliefs, Anne Hutchinson miscarried. Heralding it as a sign from God, authorities insisted that Hutchinson's “monstrous birth” was indisputable proof of her monstrous views, evidence that inspired fear and awe and would undoubtedly return the wayward to orthdoxy's fold.

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