Journal: Trinity Journal
Volume: TRINJ 02:1 (Spring 1981)
Article: Feminism, Anne Hutchinson, And The Antinomian Controversy, 1634-1638
Author: Margaret Lamberts Bendroth

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TrinJ 2:1 (Spring 1981) p. 40

Feminism, Anne Hutchinson,
And The Antinomian Controversy, 1634-1638

Margaret Lamberts Bendroth

Johns Hopkins University

In an exclusively divine act, the book of Genesis tells us, God “made man in his own image.” Although no human being could duplicate this act with flesh and blood, the historian is often tempted to usurp the divine prerogative through the historical imagination, recreating the past in his or her own mental image. Creating heroes and villains ex nihilo, he may unconsciously project his biases and misconceptions on those who have long since departed and are unable to rise up in their own defense. To avoid such errors and distortions, the historian must be aware of the temptation to impose himself on the past, and approach his craft with a knowledge of these methodological traps and pitfalls. At very least he must attempt to explore a situation through the eyes of those actually involved.1

The case of Anne Hutchinson, the well-known heretic of 17th-century Boston, offers an instance where awareness of the pitfalls comes in useful. As an outspoken, assertive, theologically aware woman, she appears as one important exception to the pre-woman’s-lib model of the submissive female. Was she indeed a “proto-feminist,” intent on resisting male authority for the sake of womankind? This view is not without its supporters. Or were other issues at stake in her run-in with the religious oligarchy of Boston? This paper will consider both alternatives, and try to offer an explanation which most nearly fits all the facts at hand.

A brief sketch of Mrs. Hutchinson’s involvement in the Antinomian controversy is a good place to begin analysing her true motivation.2 Anne Hutchinson arrived in New England on September 18, 1634 in spiritual pursuit of John

TrinJ 2:1 (Spring 1981) p. 41

Cotton, a noted Puritan clergyman and her pastor in England. Cotton’s distinctive theology stressed grace rather than works in the process of conversion and sanctification as a corrective to trends within Puritanism to the contrary. He meant to restore the balance between God’s sovereignty and human action, a principle he saw endangered by the Puritan emphasis on preparation for grace and good works as the assurance of salvation.3 He had a following in England, of which Anne Hutchinson was a part.

Problems were not long in coming to New England, however. John Cotton was an astute, well-educated theologian. Anne Hutchinson had a bright, analytical mind, but was uneducated in theological subtleties and nuances; and ...

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