The Antinomian controversy--a seventeenth-century theological crisis concerning salvation--was the first great intellectual crisis in the settlement of New England. Transcending the theological questions from which it arose, this symbolic controversy became a conflict between power and freedom of conscience. David D. Hall's thorough documentary history of this episode sheds important light on religion, society, and gender in early American history. This new edition of the 1968 volume, published now for the first time in paperback, includes an expanding bibliography and a new preface, treating in more detail the prime figures of Anne Hutchinson and her chief clerical supporter, John Cotton. Among the documents gathered here are transcripts of Anne Hutchinson's trial, several of Cotton's writings defending the Antinomian position, and John Winthrop's account of the controversy. Hall's increased focus on Hutchinson reveals the harshness and excesses with which the New England ministry tried to discredit her and reaffirms her place of prime importance in the history of American women.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1644 Edition.

"What a combination--John Winthrop, our first source on the early history of New England, and James Savage, the leading name in New England genealogy. "Savage's Edition of Winthrop's Journal," as this work is usually referred to, was inspired by the discovery of a third part (manuscript) of Winthrop's History of New England in the year 1816. Mr. Savage, a distinguished member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the author of the seminal Genealogical Dictionary of New England, was assigned the task of transcribing the newly discovered manuscript and integrating it with the previously published pages of Winthrop's Journal. Applying his customary acumen to the task, Savage completed his transcription and collation of the History of New England in time for an 1825 publication, adding his own learned annotations about the men, women, and events Winthrop referred to, yielding a work perhaps twice as long as the original journal"--Publisher website (January 2009).