Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Anne Hutchinson was born in England to a Puritan family. Her keen intellect and radical spiritual views were cultivated by her father, a deacon whose open denunciation of Church of England ministers led to his imprisonment. At 21 she married Will Hutchinson, and together they followed the teachings of John Cotton, a Puritan minister who, like her father, sought to purify the Anglican Church of its residual Catholic elements. In 1634 when Cotton emigrated to New England after being silenced by the Anglican Church, the Hutchinsons and their 11 children joined him in search of an environment more hospitable to their religious practice. Hutchinson and her family quickly became prominent members of Boston society. An accomplished herbalist and midwife, Anne's skills were greatly valued by the women in her new community. She also began holding Bible studies for women in her home, initially interpreting the teachings of John Cotton, but eventually developing an independent theological position that emphasized direct experience of spirituality over conformity with socially prescribed behavior. She was also openly critical of the Puritan ministers and the religious orthodoxy she found in much of the colony. The establishment of religious practice, in her view, was redolent of the Catholicism Puritans sought to escape. She was further critical of the priority accorded to the preservation ... log in or subscribe to read full text