Chapter Four

Women and Christianity
in the American Colonies

Chapter Summary

One of the major themes you will find in the chapter on "Women and Christianity in the American Colonies" is an indirect subversion of the rule of men and a direct challenge to misogyny. These changes happened in many ways, some of which you should look for in both Her Story and the readings. Women enlarged their sphere of activity within Protestant churches through everything from behind the scenes patronage to, in some groups, active preaching. Recent scholarship has uncovered interesting additional examples of women influencing ministerial appointments and the establishment of new congregations. Puritan attitudes toward marriage cast women in the role not only of subordinate wife but of lover and valued companion. Finally, Puritan leaders by the end of the seventeenth century began to say that women were more inclined to be virtuous and pious than men. This is suggested in subtle but different ways in the writings of Cotton Mather and Benjamin Coleman. In the case of Mather, he was responding to the large numbers of women filling churches; Coleman seems to suggest that submission and fidelity in the marriage relationship prepares women effectively for a relationship with Jesus Christ.

The association of women with sin also continues in colonial Christian culture, and this becomes evident in the trial of Anne Hutchinson. Hutchinson and her family left England in 1634 to follow Puritan preacher John Cotton to Massachusetts Bay. She shortly became the center of controversy and was eventually excommunicated from her Congregational church and expelled from the colony. You can read the details of her life in Her Story. The issue for historians is whether the Puritan authorities were concerned about what she was teaching or the fact that a woman was doing the teaching. An argument can be made for both perspectives. Hutchinson certainly believed truths that were at odds with the Puritan establishment: she questioned the use of good behavior to judge the validity of conversion and claimed that the Holy Spirit continued to guide directly and speak to believers after conversion. But at a time when the colony was threatened by Native Americans and an influx of immigrants, Hutchinson also upset the established order of God. In the selection from the records of her trial (4.2), you should note the concern that she was stepping out of her place, as well as her informed responses. The Hutchinson story also reminds us that colonial Americans harbored a latent fear that women could consort with the devil.

While Puritanism dominates the religious culture of America in the seventeenth century, evangelicalism takes center stage in the eighteenth. After reading Chapter Five in Her Story, you should understand what the First Great Awakening was and some reasons for why evangelicalism was especially open to some news kinds of female participation. The text describing Sarah Edwards's conversion experience, for example, will remind you that a woman's priorities (including obedience to men) could be completely reordered by God. By the end of the seventeenth century women were being encouraged to read and keep diaries and engage in conversation with others to encourage faith. These activities continued to be advocated by evangelical leaders, as Anne Dutton's works and the poetry of Phillis Wheatley demonstrate. Groups of women were organized for the specific purpose of nurturing evangelical faith, and Sarah Osborn's society, formed to encourage personal devotions and bring revival preachers to Newport, is one example. Her letters to Rev. Joseph Fish, however, show that Osborn also engaged in a teaching ministry. Note the rationale she gives for her activities.

The final section of this chapter considers the experiences of Quaker women. As with evangelicalism, it is important to think about why Quakerism was more open to female participation. The selection from Margaret Fell's "Women's Speaking Justified" (4.4) will help you with this, along with the general description of Quaker beliefs in Her Story. The Quakers pioneered feminism in two ways. Women took part in the governance of the community through the regular women's business meetings which paralleled those of men and functioned to approve marriages, monitor behavior, and care for members in need. But Quaker women were also accepted as "ministers" who taught and expounded upon Quaker beliefs. Many of these women joined a travelling ministry, which allowed them to spend long periods of time away from home, edifying Quakers throughout the colonies and abroad. Patience Brayton's journal reveals to us the day-to-day challenges of a travelling missionary.

Additional Readings

• Bendroth, Margaret Lamberts. "Feminism, Anne Hutchinson and the Antinomian Controversy 1634–1638." Trinity Journal ns 2 (1981): 40–48.
• Chilcote, Paul Wesley. John Wesley and the Women Preachers of Early Methodism. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1991.
• Cooper, James F. "Anne Hutchinson and the 'Lay Rebellion' against the Clergy." New England Quarterly 61 (September 1988): 381–397.
• Crabtree, Davida Foy. "Controversy in Context: Anne Marbury Hutchinson against the Massachusetts Bay Colony." Andover Newton Quarterly 11 (September 1970): 27–34.
• Davidson, Phebe. Religious Impulse in Selected Autobiographies of American Women (c. 1630–1893): Uses of the Spirit. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1993.
• Feige, Diana and Feige, Franz. "Love, Marriage and Family in Puritan Society." Dialogue and Alliance 9 (Spring-Summer 1995): 96–114.
• Gundersen, Joan R. "The Non-Institutional Church: The Religious Role of Women in Eighteenth-Century Virginia." Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church 51 (December 1982): 347–57.
• Hambrick-Stowe, Charles E. "The Spiritual Pilgrimage of Sarah Osborn (1714–1796)." Church History 61 (December 1992): 408–21.
• Juster, Susan. Disorderly Women: Sexual Politics and Evangelicalism in Revolutionary New England. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994.
• Kujawa, Sheryl. "The Teacher as Reformer: Sarah Osborn, 1714–1796." Union Seminary Quarterly Review 47 (1993): 89–100.
• Porterfield, Amanda. Female Piety in Puritan New England: The Emergence of Religious Humanism . New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
• Porterfield, Amanda. "Women's Attraction to Puritanism." Church History 60 (June 1991): 196–209.
• Saxton, Martha. "Bearing the Burden? Puritan Wives." History Today 44 (October 1994): 28–33.
• Stoneburner, Carol and Stoneburner, John, eds. The Influence of Quaker Women on American History: Biographical Studies. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1986.
• Taves, Ann, ed. Religion and Domestic Violence in Early New England: The Memoirs of Abigail Abbot Bailey. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.
• Westerkamp, Marilyn J. "Anne Hutchinson, Sectarian Mysticism and the Puritan Order." Church History 59 (December 1990): 482–96.
• Westerkamp, Marilyn J. Women and Religion in Early America, 1600–1850: The Puritan and Evangelical Traditions. New York: Routledge, 1999.
• Wilcox, Catherine M. 2 Quakerism. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1995.

Questions for Reflection

1. Review the circumstances or factors that open the way for women to fuller participation in some Christian communities. Which do you think are the most important and why?
2. Discuss the evolution of thinking apparent so far in Christian history in Europe and the American colonies on the subjects of (1) the character of women and (2) marriage.
3. Compare and contrast Margaret Fell's interpretation of the Bible with what you have learned about contemporary feminist biblical interpretation.
4. Can you find similarities between the experiences of Sarah Osborn and Patience Brayton as they engage in non-traditional ministries?
5. Some Puritan preachers argued that women were more inclined to be pious not because of their female natures but because of life circumstances. Discuss what you think they meant by this.
6. Why has Anne Hutchinson been given so much scholarly attention? Why was she significant?

Related Websites for Chapter Four

• Anne Marbury Hutchinson of Massachusetts: www.geocities.com/Heartland/River/7560/annmarbury.html
• Religion, Women and the Family in Early America: www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/erelwom.htm
• Bibliography: 17th Century Religion: www.plimoth.org/Library/Bibliography/bib-rel.htm
• American Women's History: A Research Guide: www.mtsu.edu/~kmiddlet/history/women/wh-rel.html
• Books on Quaker Women in the Friends Meeting at Cambridge Library: people.bu.edu/jchris/bibl5.html
• The Religious Society of Friends: www.quaker.org/#7
• Friends (Quakers) and Women: www.quakerinfo.com/article1042.html