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The shores of America were a magnet for those seeking religious freedom. Anne Hutchinson, educated mother of 13 at the beginning of this story, moves with her entire family to Boston, so that she can remain under the teachings of John Cotton, who now makes his home there. So inspiring are his sermons that she soon finds herself talking about them to groups of women in her home. Those groups grow in size; Anne’s expositions grow outside the bounds of what the local puritan leaders consider proper. They accuse her of antinomianism and familism. Anne accuses them of keeping their people tied to a concept of salvation through works. She declares that only John Cotton has gotten it right in speaking about the ‘covenant of grace’. It becomes a battle of words; Anne is brought to trial. Cotton, caught in the middle, eventually joins the John Winthrop faction. Anne and her family are excommunicated and banished.
That’s the story, a matter of historical record. The author did an excellent job of portraying the real persons involved in the antinomian controversy of the 1630s. In this telling, Anne Hutchinson is written as a remarkably sympathetic character. The people, their motivations and reactions felt real, with the exception of one small happening that seemed out of character for Anne. The setting of the Massachusetts Bay Colony also seemed very real, as did their way of living through the various seasons.
There is one portion that was confusing. My notes show that on page 146 John Cotton has become sick and then dies. Later on he is very much a part of the story again. I couldn’t find much online about the author; was her work abandoned before completion and then picked up by someone else later for publication? I didn’t have time to finish typing up the parts I wanted to keep for reference before returning the book to the library. But, I do recall that she had a very good author’s note at the end of the story. And one of the things discussed is events on the timeline of reality and how she had to adapt the timeframes to include everything in the story. Perhaps that John Cotton portion fell through the cracks whilst working that all out.
Of interest, in her author’s note, Ms. Rushing says: “Writers on this subject have occasionally presented Anne Hutchinson as a feminist. I do not see her that way. Although persons concerned with women’s rights may appropriately find in her an inspiration, I have not seen evidence that she gave significant thought or effort to changing the established view of women. The passion of her life was bringing the truth of God as she understood it to men and women equally.”
A historical fiction reader interested in the Massachusetts Bay Colony or puritanism would enjoy this book. I did! ( )
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To Sally Arteseros, with love and gratitude
Incipit
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Prologue: There was a time when religion was the overpowering concern of all the world, or at least the world as it appeared to the people who first settled on America’s northeast coast.
Ch. 1: On a bright September day in 1634, a ship called the Griffin sailed into Boston harbor, bringing among its passengers a large family named Hutchinson, from a village near old Boston in Lincolnshire, England.
Citazioni
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I have heard those voiceless words, that wordless voice.
He discussed with Henry the famous sermon Winthrop had delivered on board the Arbella. “He begins,” William told Henry, “by saying that God hath so disposed the condition of mankind that some must be rich, some poor. And near the end he says we must abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities. It seems to me that in this wise God’s disposition will be thwarted and we shall all be poor.”
This was not at all what Pastor Wilson said. “Depart from Me, ye cursed,” God roared in Wilson’s thundering voice to all who persisted in sin.
God saves through grace, said Anne, not absence of sin, and if Wilson did not know this it seemed very clear he had not learned God’s truth.
She remembered her own doubts about Jane’s medicines, but looking at her now, her round eyes bright with tears and trust, she knew whatever the little midwife had done was born out of nothing worse than a need for love. If the devil had used her, it was through her ignorance and need, but not with her consent.
- While Anne sat bowed and still. The stated purpose of these men around the table had been to reduce her. It was a term both ministers and magistrates had used, presumably meaning to free her of error and restore her to the true faith as they understood it. But she felt reduced indeed; it seemed to her she must appear shrunken and shriveled, as though her inquisitors had diminished the substance of her body as well as the light of her soul. Yet she struggled against herself to say what they wanted to hear.
None of them was thinking nearly as much about the welfare of her soul as about his ambitions for himself and for the colony as he conceived it. Winthrop had a vision of a city upon a hill: so, doubtless, did they all. And in the shining streets of that city, there was no place for Anne Hutchinson. …
For the sake of something called a church, and forgetting that her covenant was with God instead of men, she had been about to deny herself and Christ. She thanked God silently; and the records show she never spoke another word till the Boston church was done with her.
(In author’s note) Writers on this subject have occasionally presented Anne Hutchinson as a feminist. I do not see her that way. Although persons concerned with women’s rights may appropriately find in her an inspiration, I have not seen evidence that she gave significant thought or effort to changing the established view of women. The passion of her life was bringing the truth of God as she understood it to men and women equally.
Ultime parole
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Then the two women moved on together, out into the sunshine of that cold and cloudless day.
That’s the story, a matter of historical record. The author did an excellent job of portraying the real persons involved in the antinomian controversy of the 1630s. In this telling, Anne Hutchinson is written as a remarkably sympathetic character. The people, their motivations and reactions felt real, with the exception of one small happening that seemed out of character for Anne. The setting of the Massachusetts Bay Colony also seemed very real, as did their way of living through the various seasons.
There is one portion that was confusing. My notes show that on page 146 John Cotton has become sick and then dies. Later on he is very much a part of the story again. I couldn’t find much online about the author; was her work abandoned before completion and then picked up by someone else later for publication? I didn’t have time to finish typing up the parts I wanted to keep for reference before returning the book to the library. But, I do recall that she had a very good author’s note at the end of the story. And one of the things discussed is events on the timeline of reality and how she had to adapt the timeframes to include everything in the story. Perhaps that John Cotton portion fell through the cracks whilst working that all out.
Of interest, in her author’s note, Ms. Rushing says: “Writers on this subject have occasionally presented Anne Hutchinson as a feminist. I do not see her that way. Although persons concerned with women’s rights may appropriately find in her an inspiration, I have not seen evidence that she gave significant thought or effort to changing the established view of women. The passion of her life was bringing the truth of God as she understood it to men and women equally.”
A historical fiction reader interested in the Massachusetts Bay Colony or puritanism would enjoy this book. I did! ( )