Introduction: Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643 AD) was a religious dissident known as the central figure in the anti-legalist debate. But she was tried in 1637 by John Winthrop (1588-1649) and other magistrates in the Massachusetts Bay Colony for spreading "erroneous views" about religious beliefs.
The Antinomian Controversy (antinomian in Greek for "breaking the law") challenged the authority of the colonial sheriff, and she was deported despite Hutchinson's defense by quoting the Bible and her reputation for piety.
The Bay Colony was founded by Winthrop on principles that were fully consistent with the Puritan theology to commemorate the covenant made between the colonists and God, who would do God's will and whom God would grant them the blessing of success.
Anne Hutchinson
The dissident Roger Williams (1603-1683) was banished in 1636, and the missionary John Wheelwright (1592-1679, Hutchinson's brother-in-law) preached in 1637 advocating the priority of God's grace over man's work in gaining salvation.
Both men and Hutchinson preached according to the vision of the reformer John Calvin (1509-1564 AD), whose views influenced puritanism in the Massachusetts Bay Colony as well as puritanism in general, but their emphasis was on grace rather than acts that disrupted the status quo.
While acknowledging the supremacy of grace, Winthrop also believed that a person establishes one's identity as a Christian through his or her actions. Winthrop believed that faith without works was worthless, and he supported this view from the book James of the Bible. Williams and Wheelette were exiled for refusing to abide by Winthrop's interpretation of Puritan theology. At the same time, Hutchinson was also banished, but in her case, three different charges were made:
1. She is a woman who exercises power over men;
2. She preaches the doctrine of free grace and denies the importance of works;
3. She claims to be able to discern who is "saved" (the chosen) and who is not.
Hutchinson was found guilty on all three charges and expelled from the colony in 1638 AD after the Second Church Trial. She left with about 60 followers and founded a new colony called Portsmouth near Providence Colony in Roger Williams, Rhode Island.
Later, rumors spread that the Massachusetts Bay Colony would annex the Rhode Island colony, so she left Portsmouth and moved to New Netherland (modern New York), where she was killed in a Native American raid on the settlement in 1643. Today, she is remembered as an advocate of religious freedom and tolerance and as a primitive feminist who was not suppressed by patriarchy.
1. The city on the top of the mountain and the dissident
The two basic concepts that influenced Calvinism were predestination and the electorate. Based on biblical passages, including the book of Jeremiah and the Psalms, Calvin insisted that God had predestined some people (the chosen people) to be saved, while others were damned, and that individuals could not change this.
Calvin's followers were called Puritans for trying to "purify" the Catholic faith and customs of the Anglican Communion. However, the Anglican Church is led by an English monarch, so any criticism of the church is considered treason. The monarchy ordered the civilian authorities to act in the interests of the church, so the Puritans were persecuted, imprisoned, fined, and even executed, causing many congregations to flee England for the Netherlands and eventually establish colonies in New England, North America.
John Winthrop led a group of 700 Puritan colonists to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 AD and articulated the vision of the colony to them in his sermon A Model of Christian Charity, in which he wrote: "For we must consider that we will be a city on a hill with all eyes on us".
John Winthrop
For they will be an exemplary Christian community whose success will glorify God, but whose failure will invite not only God's wrath, but also the world's contempt and contempt for Christianity. Winthrop told them that the colonists had made a covenant with God and that it would only be kept if they all believed, worked together, and acted as one; Dissent would not be tolerated because it threatened unity and thus the Covenant.
Second, the rise of Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson followed her puritan priest, John Cotton (1585–1652), to Boston in 1634, and John Cotton left England to avoid persecution. In England, Cotten and Wheelett encouraged Hutchinson to hold meetings with other women in her home, called assemblies, to discuss scripture.
When she first arrived in Boston, she did not attend the rally that had already been established so as not to undermine the authority of other women, but when she found that she was criticized for being too proud to attend the rally, she began to stand her ground.
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At first, these were nothing more than biblical studies, but Hutchinson, the daughter of a Puritan missionary, knew the Bible very well and, under her father's upbringing, was free to speak her mind without fear.
She began criticizing the sermons of the Massachusetts Bay pastors, pointing out their mistakes by referencing scripture, and further sat in the main chair in her home to deliver her speech, an honor reserved for the men in the house.
She claimed that Cotton and Wheelett were the only priests in the colony to be sanctified and that the others were not even chosen people, and she said she knew this through the spiritual gifts God had given her, which allowed her to discern which people God had chosen as his own and which would be thrown into hell.
Most pastors in the Bay Colony are clearly not God's, she said, because they emphasize the importance of one's actions rather than acknowledging God's primacy of the free grace of forgiving sinners and welcoming them into heaven. She supports her claims by referencing verses such as Ephesians and criticizes any pastor who disagrees with her as unbiblical and not belonging to God.
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Because many of these ministers were magistrates, who upheld the strictness of the law and often imposed harsh punishments, Hutchinson's challenge to their authority was welcomed by many. Her monastery became increasingly popular with both men and women who eventually attended.
By 1636, she had become one of the colony's most popular citizens, and could even claim the new governor, Sir Henry Vane (1613-1662 AD), as one of the attendees at her party. Winthrop and other local judges considered her a threat to the unity of the colonies and their own authority, and held a private meeting with her and Cotton in December 1636 to discuss the situation, but nothing was resolved.
Hutchinson's civil trial
The church sued her, and Winthrop criticized her: "Long tongue, eloquent, better than a man." ”
Her first civil trial was held in November 1637, and Hutchinson was forced to appear and stand in the dock to answer charges against her, and the trial was recorded by many different participants.
Although Hutchinson defended herself by quoting the Bible and her reputation for piety, she was charged in court and sentenced to house arrest until the spring of 1638. The transcript of the trial ends with the following paragraph:
John Winthrop
The court, believing that it was now inevitable that it was necessary to drive her away, unless we were guilty, not only of our own destruction, but also of the gospel, so finally sentenced her to exile, and she devoted herself to the marshal until the court disposed of her.
Hutchinson fully embraced and supported John Cotton, who initially tried to defend her, but at the March 1638 Magistrate's Trial he abandoned Hutchinson and sided with other local judges. Henry Vane traveled to England and was replaced by Winthrop as governor, while Wheelwright, like Williams, had been banished. As a result, Hutchinson had no defender and could only accept a sentence of exile.
Later, Hutchinson moved to Long Island, New York, but was killed in an Indian raid.
Boston erected a statue of her, with the following inscription: "A courageous advocate for civil liberties and religious tolerance." ”
IV. Conclusion
Nothing in Hutchinson's meeting or faith challenged the basic principles of the Puritan faith. Every magistrate who presides over the trial understands that God's grace is freely given to the elect and that no one can act closer to God than a person.
Winthrop was concerned that Hutchinson's preaching against the importance of the work and her criticism of the different ministers threatened colonial unity. Her followers have begun to withdraw from services presided over by pastors she claims are not sanctified, and some refuse to attend these services at all.
It is almost certain that the verdict was rendered before the trial, and Hutchinson's testimony in his defense was a formality. Winthrop succeeded in maintaining the unity of his "city on a hill" by suppressing any opponents, and later, when news of Hutchinson and her family's death in Native American raids reached the colonies, he was pleased that this "American Jezebel" she had been duly punished for disobeying God's commands by exercising authority over men without permission as a woman.
For many outside the Massachusetts Bay Colony, however, Hutchinson was an advocate for religious freedom, and she courageously stood up for her faith against the tyranny of the Boston magistrate.
The colony she established in Portsmouth continued her vision, as did Whale Wright's colonies in New Hampshire and the Providence colony in Williams, among many other places. This view of Hutchinson persists today, and she is often referred to as the "Founding Father" of the cultural values of the United States of America.
Reference books
Drake, Samuel Gardner, A History of Early Discoveries and Pilgrim Landings in America, Naboo Press, 2010.
Hall, David D. The Puritans of the New World, Princeton University Press, 2004.
Frank N. Magill, Digests of Masterpieces of Christian Literature, Harper & Row, Press, 1963.
Mancall, Peter C., The Trial of Thomas Morton, Yale University Press, 2019.
Taylor, Alan & Foner, Eric, American Colonies: Settlement in North America, Penguin Books, 2002.