Gender and the Puritan Mission to the Native People of , 1620–1750 Jason Eden

The are not known for their egalitarianism. Indeed, the stodgy and patriarchal Puritans were, in certain respects, more word “Puritan” instead conjures up images of witch-burning, egalitarian than many evangelicals in today’s world. fun-draining, Quaker-persecuting authoritarians who restricted Precontact English and Indian gender norms women to a life of dreary housework and perpetual childrearing. There is some truth to this stereotype. Certainly, the typical Pu- Before investigating developments in gender norms in early New ritan minister viewed women as subordinate beings who needed England, it is worthwhile to examine attitudes toward men and to keep quiet in church and be submissive to their husbands. As women among English colonists and Indians before they met one Benjamin Wadsworth noted in a sermon titled The Well-Ordered another. Clearly, as is the case with all societies, expectations re- Family, “The husband is called the head of the woman. It belongs garding men and women were extremely complex, and there was to the head to rule and govern.”1 The cases of Anne Hutchinson some variation in opinions among both Indians and the English. and Mary Dyer—strong-willed women who suffered banishment Therefore, the following descriptions are generalizations rather or execution for defying the established order—lend further cre- than absolute statements about the attitudes of each and every dence to our stereotypes about the Puritans.2 Native American or English colonist. On the other hand, historians have carefully documented Although several different tribes, including the , how much of our vision of seventeenth-century New England Nipmucs, Narragansetts, and Pequots, lived in New England in Puritans incorrectly associates them with nineteenth-century 1600, scholars agree that, for the most part, their gender norms Victorian-era norms and values. The Puritans were relatively were fundamentally similar. Men and women had specific roles open and flexible when it came to sex, for example. Although and duties in society, and economic functions, in particular, were adultery was a serious crime, church records reveal that forni- segregated by gender. Indians in New England tended to view ag- cation was quite common in New England churches and grace ricultural work, home construction, and clothing manufacturing was readily extended to those who repented of this sin. Minis- as women’s work. For men, hunting, fishing, and making tools ters talked openly about sex in their sermons, dan husbands and were appropriate occupations. Native American women shared wives celebrated the pleasures of their sexual union in private childrearing responsibilities with grandparents and other rela- letters. Furthermore, Puritans drank alcohol often, and in rela- tives. Overall, sexual relationships among Indians were charac- tively large quantities, and were at least ambivalent, and some- terized by a degree of autonomy, with divorce b eing fairly easy for times downright permissive, when it came to the issue of tobacco both men and women to obtain.4 smoking.3 Given the fact that the Puritans differed from Victo- Gender not only affected work roles in Native American soci- rian norms in these areas, is it possible that the English Puritans ety, but also shaped spiritual and religious activity. Native Ameri- of America’s colonial period were actually more egalitarian than cans in New England felt that women possessed great powers, for our stereotypes about them might presume? through birth they seemingly bestowed the gift of life. Indians My analysis of records related to Puritan missionary work valued numerous feminine spiritual figures whom they credited would suggest that the answer to the above question is “yes.” At with bestowing life upon humans, plants, and animals. Native least in regard to Christianized Indians, Puritans in New England Americans accepted women’s dreams as supernaturally inspired, were open to the idea of women taking an active role in church and Europeans accused them of practicing witchcraft, a her- ministry. Furthermore, interacting with Indians seems to have esy commonly affiliated with women. This suggests that women forced missionaries to rethink some of their basic assumptions played important spiritual roles in Native American society, even about God’s intentions for Christian men and women. Admit- if those roles were not always explicitly recorded by European tedly, there were limitations to this. The Puritans expected that observers. Overall, Indian men and women recognized that each only men would hold formal positions of authority in Native gender was physically and spiritually different, but both genders American churches, and they encouraged Indian communities possessed important specific powers and responsibilities.5 to implement English gender norms in other ways as well. Yet, in In terms of actual practices, Native American women could spite of this, it is clear that the supposedly actively participate in and lead religious activities, including ritu- als involving male participants. Indians celebrated, feasted, and Jason EdEn is an assistant Professor in the His- played games during their ceremonies. During such occasions, tory department at saint Cloud state University they also composed spiritual songs, sang out loud, and some- in Minnesota. His wife, naomi, is a gerontologist, times smoked tobacco, which symbolized thanks or prayers ris- and together they are studying the history of age ing to heaven and encouraged hallucinations and forms of spiri- segregation and ageism among north american tual revelation.6 Christians.

4 • Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 24, No. 4 ◆ Autumn 2010 Gender mattered a great deal to the English of the seven- have to take a more active role in reaching out to neighboring teenth century as well, but their sex and gender norms were dif- Indians. Consequently, a few individuals began missionary work ferent from those of New England Indians. Farming was men’s during the mid 1600s. The most famous of the missionaries was work, and it was expected that men would be the leaders of their John Eliot, but others, including Richard Bourne, members of the households. Men in English society also wielded formal religious Mayhew family, members of the Cotton family, and William Le- and political authority, with few exceptions. Mothers, rather than verich, also began preaching to Indians. Eventually, an organiza- grandparents or fathers, were primarily responsible for childrear- tion known as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was ing, and Puritans closely regulated the behavior of women in oth- set up to collect donations, coordinate work, and start a s eminary er spheres of society as well. In addition to childrearing, women to train young Indian men for ministerial careers.12 processed food, made clothing, assisted other women with child- The core strategy employed by the Puritans involved the birth, and sometimes administered medical remedies.7 establishment of “Praying Towns” in which Christian Indians In terms of marriage and sex, the English had clear expecta- would live apart from both English colonists and other Indians. tions. Women were to obey their husbands and love them, while The idea was to create protected enclaves in which Christian In- also having the right to expect a measure of love and respect in dians could learn not only about God, the Bible, and the creeds, return. Men, for their part, were supposed to take care of their but also how to live out their daily lives as the English did. The wives and provide for their material needs. Divorce was nearly missionaries wanted the Indians to farm, dress, and act like the impossible to obtain, especially for women, and only in the most English, and this included following English gender norms. In extreme and clear cases of spousal abuse could a wife leave her order for the Indians to become good Christians, so the thinking husband.8 went, they had to become “civilized.”13 Gender shaped English religious life in numerous ways. To As scholars have recognized, the English colonists barely the Puritans, there was no doubt that the God of the Bible was achieved even limited success in accomplishing their objectives. male. The King James Bible’s referral to God as Father was to be Missionaries often expressed frustration and experienced emo- taken literally, and the fact that Jesus was a male reinforced this tional depression as a result of numerous setbacks. Many Eng- belief. Furthermore, one of the ways Puritans distanced them- lish, especially in the wake of resentments caused by the wars selves from Catholics was by deemphasizing Mary and other of the 1600s, opposed the Christianization of Indians, seeing it feminine figures, doing away with nuns and other female spiritu- as a waste of time and resources. Death by disease and disrup- al offices, and ignoring or deemphasizing positive female biblical tion caused by war also wreaked havoc in the Praying Towns. figures and allegories. To New England Puritans, the most rel- Furthermore, not only did many Indians resist Christianization, evant female images from the Bible were Eve, Bathsheba, Delilah, especially during the 1600s, but, even as more and more Indians and other seductive or fallen women. Partially for this reason, became Christianized by the 1700s, they held on to many of their but also because of how they interpreted 1 Timothy 2:11–12 and traditions.14 As we shall see, much of this persistence related to other verses in the epistles, only men could lead or speak openly the roles of men and women in Indian churches. in church settings and at religious gatherings.9 Gender in Indian churches Puritan missionary work, 1620–1740 The missionaries partially succeeded in convincing the Indians Before considering an analysis of gender norms as they relate to to follow English gender norms. For example, Indian men, not English missionaries, it is necessary to relate some basic back- women, held official positions of leadership in the churches. Only ground information about the missionary enterprises them- young Indian men attended the seminary at Harvard designed to selves. The Puritans organized their churches upon a congrega- train new ministers. Christian Indians at least claimed to serve tional system in which each church community was designed to the Puritans’ male God and, according to English sources, ex- be a self-sustaining, autonomous unit. Individual churches were pressed a willingness to abandon their former traditions.15 supposed to select and pay their own ministers, and they only Although certain gender norms were changing in New Eng- infrequently consulted other congregations regarding doctrinal land Indian communities, evidence also shows that some tradi- matters or ecclesiastical conflicts.10 This approach did little to ad- tional Indian ideas about men’s and women’s proper roles did not dress the needs of neighboring Indians, since, unlike Catholics change. It is abundantly clear that Indian gender norms were not, or even other Protestant denominations, the Puritans lacked a and never became, the same as those of their English neighbors. bureaucratic structure to allocate funds to missionary efforts or This included ideas about who could and could not speak at re- systematically recruit and train missionaries to evangelize Native ligious gatherings and the degree to which women might hold people. Furthermore, the Puritans hoped and expected that the spiritual authority in and outside the home.16 Indians would eagerly pursue and embrace Christianity on their Available records indicate that, at religious meetings in Chris- own, without any need for active proselytization.11 tian Indian communities, both men and women spoke openly and After several decades of fruitlessly waiting for Indians to show asked questions.17 , Jr., a missionary who worked on up on their church doorsteps, the Puritans in New England real- Martha’s Vineyard and near Plymouth during the mid-1600s, re- ized that, if any conversions were to occur, the Puritans would corded some of these questions in his journal. Sometimes, curios-

Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 24, No. 4 ◆ Autumn 2010 • 5 ity seems to have motivated these inquiries, while, in other cases, Although they typically held no official positions of leadership, Indians seem to have been challenging certain Puritan teachings. Indian women taught adults of both genders. Mayhew made A careful analysis of questions posed by American Indians re- many references to such women. Abiah Paaonit “was very Ob- veals their curiosity regarding the place of women within Scrip- servable for her Forwardness to entertain religious Discourses, ture. On March 20, 1666, William Lay asked Cotton “who was the and her ability to manage them to the edification of those with Queen of the south, and what generation it was that she should whom she conversed.”27 Momchquannum instructed others, es- condemn, and whether only the bad ones in that generation?”18 pecially “young Men and Women, whom she frequently admon- This question referred to Matthew ished for their Faults, and excited 12:42, a passage in which Jesus hroughout the 1600s and 1700s, Christian Indian to their D ut y.” 28 For many English contrasted the stubborn religious Twomen not only served as spiritual leaders, but Puritans (and many current evan- leaders of his day with the Queen also as prophets, healers, and visionaries. gelicals), it was improper for wom- of Sheba, who willingly listened to en to speak so openly or to instruct Solomon’s wisdom. On March 5, 1667, Kottoosuck asked about men, but in Christian Indian communities, the active participa- Revelation 17:6, which says, “A n d I saw the woman drunken with tion of women was apparently the norm.29 the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Je- Throughout the 1600s and 1700s, Christian Indian women not sus, and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.”19 In only served as spiritual leaders, but also as prophets, healers, and one case, an Indian man named Towan dared to ask “why was xt visionaries.30 Such individuals often administered both natural [Christ] a man?”20 Such questions indicate that Indians did not and supernatural remedies to the sick. Although Mayhew did quickly forget their traditional value of female icons and spiritual not specifically indicate how Indian healers practiced their arts, it figures. They, unlike their English counterparts, did not simply seems reasonable to conclude that they applied a combination of accept the normative nature of maleness, nor did they see the natural and spiritual remedies, perhaps combining Christian and centrality of male spiritual figures as normative. Whether or not traditional rituals together. As healers, they likely worked on the their inquiries altered Cotton’s views of gender remains a mys- margins of heterodoxy, operating close to the realm of magic and tery, as he never recorded his answers to the Indians’ questions. wonders. This spiritual world was familiar to both Indians and or- If he did answer the Indians’ questions adequately, he almost cer- dinary English colonists, even as educated ministers and elites ex- tainly would have had to look up passages that challenged his pressed doubts and suspicions about such supernatural activity.31 assumptions regarding the patriarchal nature of Christianity.21 In one dramatic instance, Mayhew recorded that the ghost In addition to questioning Cotton regarding female imagery of Elizabeth Pattompan spoke to her father from the grave. She and characters from the Bible, in one instance, Indians inquired warned him to seek Christ and to write down the words she had about a practical issue related to gender.22 This occurred when uttered just before her death. e Sh also prophesied that he would Towan asked Cotton, “Why does not God command as much in soon lose all of his material goods and land. The man consulted his word concerning widows as widowers?”23 Apparently, Towan relatives and friends who advised him to fulfill his daughter’s had discovered that several selections from the Bible focused wishes. Soon afterward, the man lost his property, as his daugh- upon the plight of widows and orphans and the need to extend ter’s spirit had predicted, and he subsequently obeyed her com- charity to them, but few passages mentioned widowers. The Eng- mand to live soberly and seek God. Such instances reflect the lish had little concern for widowers, since men could presumably persistence of certain traditions, most notably the secure their own material needs.24 For Indians, women provid- degree of respect given to women and to dreams. Christian In- ed key economic resources to households, and losing a wife or dians combined these traditional values with biblical theology to mother could pose significant challenges to husbands and chil- create a new and dynamic form of spirituality.32 dren.25 In this case, verses found in the King James Bible, from In other cases, Mayhew described miraculous healings that oc- Towan’s perspective at least, failed to address an important need curred in Christian Indian communities. Japheth Hannit’s moth- within Indian communities. It is fascinating to speculate whether er, who had lost five infants to death, despaired of losing Japheth, or not, in response to this difficult question, John Cotton, Jr., em- her sixth child, in a similar manner. She went out into a field to phasized the general Christian principle of extending charity to weep, “but while she was there musing on the insufficiency of hu- all those in need, male or female. Or, perhaps more likely, he fell man help, she found it powerfully suggested to her mind” that back upon English gender norms and assumed that widowers, there was one God in the universe who could preserve her son’s whether English or Indian, were naturally capable of taking care life.33 She responded to the vision by seeking Christ, and her son of themselves and their families without female aid. lived. Abiah Paaonit, when ill, went outside at night and “was very Like Cotton, , a missionary who worked suddenly refreshed with a light shining upon and about h e r.” May- on Martha’s Vineyard during the early 1700s, recorded cases of hew reported that God responded miraculously to the prayers of outspoken Indian women. According to Mayhew’s accounts of Christian Indian women in several other instances as well.34 his services in both and Connecticut in the early Many Christian Indian men, even after coming under the 1700s, neither English preachers nor Indian men scrutinized or influence of English gender norms, demonstrated egalitarian suppressed the opinions women voiced at religious meetings.26 leanings. They attentively listened to women at meetings and cer-

6 • Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 24, No. 4 ◆ Autumn 2010 emonies without criticizing or prosecuting them in the way that English neighbors. But what about the missionaries themselves? English men criticized and prosecuted English women. Mayhew What did they think of gender issues after interacting with Indi- said that some women advised their husbands. In one instance, ans? Although the evidence suggests that they never became full Elizabeth Uhquat spoke “to her Husband giving him the best supporters of equality, it is clear that contact with Indians pushed counsel she could [sic].”35 Men also respected the healing abilities them to think in new ways about both gender and Christianity. of women and sought out women for healing and prayer when When , son of John Cotton, Jr., decided to be- in need. As the story of Elizabeth Pattompan and those of other come a missionary in the early 1700s, it is unlikely that he thought women suggest, men listened to and obeyed female prophets and much about gender and how it might affect the composition of storytellers as viable spiritual authorities. Although Christianiza- his sermons. But, as the image below illustrates, interacting with tion influenced gender roles among New England Indians, as oth- Indians required Cotton to wrestle with a variety of issues in new er scholars have noted, clearly, Indian men did not adhere to ex- and, from his perspective, unusual ways. Instead of beginning actly the same patriarchal values that English Puritans did.36 Such this particular sermon with a statement of doctrine or a moral accounts lead one to ponder how Indians might have interpreted lesson, as was normally the custom for a Puritan minister, Cotton the Bible in regard to gender without the guidance of Puritans. spent a whole paragraph explaining to his Indian audience how the biblical phrase “sons of men” referred not just to males, but Flexible Puritans? The struggle to translate Christianity to all humankind. The issue of gendered language caused trouble It is clear that many Christian Indians in colonial Massachu- for Cotton later in the sermon as well. Midway through the docu- setts were relatively egalitarian, at least when compared to their ment, he wrote the phrase, “Men’s hearts are fully set in them to do evil from atheism.”37 In his text, he crossed out the word “men’s,” but rewrote it, apparently because he was unable to come up with a better, more in- clusive term. These sections of his sermon indicate that contact with Indians forced missionaries such as Cotton to confront, and perhaps rethink, some of their assumptions regarding gender and language. Like Cotton, Experience Mayhew also pondered gender issues as a result of his encounters with New England Indians. When he documented accounts of vocal and dynamic Christian Indian women receiv- ing visions or demonstrating miraculous powers, Mayhew never condemned the women or men for excessive mysticism or superstition. Instead, he sim- ply wrote, “I shall leave these strange occurrences to the thoughts of others, without spending my own judgment on them.” Such statements reflect the ten- sion Mayhew felt when negotiating new theological boundaries in the presence of Christian Indians.38 While missionaries struggled with whether or not it was theologically sound for Indian women to receive visions or prophecy, there is no evidence to suggest that they ever intervened or tried to stop such activities. That is, on a practical level, the mis-

on the first page of one of Josiah Cotton’s sermon notebooks, the top portion lists locations and dates where and when Cotton delivered lessons to Indian audiences. The bottom portion includes the beginning of the sermon. algonquian words accompany the English version. The bottom reads, “You may observe in the text it is said the hearts of ye [the] sons of men are fully set for evil. It means daughters as well as sons, ye [the] weaker no doubt if ye [the] stronger sex; no man nor mother’s child is exempted from this inclination to do evil, tho in . . . . “ Massachusetts Historical Society, John Davis Papers collection, used by permission.

Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 24, No. 4 ◆ Autumn 2010 • 7 sionaries were more open to egalitarianism among Indians. They language barriers, among others. It seems reasonable to assume never incarcerated or punished Indian women for teaching or that they “picked their battles” when it came to cultural varia- prophesying, as would be the norm when dealing with English tions and focused upon communicating what they saw as the es- women who engaged in such activities. If anything, missionaries, sential tenets and doctrines of Christianity. Everything else was by answering questions posed by Indian women and publicizing peripheral. Apparently, the missionaries recognized that it was their mystical experiences, affirmed the active role women played possible for devout, Bible-based Christianity and egalitarian gen- in Christian Indian communities. Mayhew, when mentioning a der relationships to go hand in hand. Requiring Indians to ad- pious woman named Hannah Nohnosoo, said, “I have myself here strictly to English gender norms would do more harm than divers times heard her talk very religiously.”39 Even though many good to the spread of the gospel, so the missionaries decided to of these instances might not be considered preaching, at least in a allow for some flexibility. In doing so, they established a legacy Puritan sense, even listening to a woman’s opinions at a religious of being “relative egalitarians” in regard to missionary work. As meeting stretched the missionaries’ understanding of proper other authors have noted, this heritage persisted among Ameri- gender roles. can evangelicals throughout the 1800s and 1900s as well.42 Explanations for egalitarianism in early Notes American missions 1. Benjamin Wadsworth, A Well-Ordered Family (, Mass.: Even after prolonged contact with English missionaries, Chris- Bartholomew Green, 1712), 35–36. 2. Alan Taylor, American Colonies: The Settling of North America tian Indians maintained many of their traditions, particularly (New York, N.Y.: Penguin, 2001), 159–203. pertaining to women’s roles as healers, prophets, and teachers. 3. Records of the West Parish Church in Barnstable, Sturgis Li- As scholars have found among a variety of Indian tribes, gender brary, Barnstable, Mass., May 4, 1725; Edmund Morgan, “The Puritans norms remained remarkably persistent, even in the wake of dra- and Sex,” New England Quarterly 15 (December 1942): 591–607; William matic changes in other areas of life.40 Youngs, Jr., God’s Messengers: Religious Leadership in Colonial New Eng- The persistence of traditional gender norms explains many land, 1700–1750 (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976), of the Christian Indians’ views regarding the roles of men and 6–7; James Deetz and Patricia Scott Deetz, The Times of Their Lives: Life, Love, and Death in (New York, N.Y.: W. H. Freeman, women. It should also be said, however, that, as studious Chris- 2000); Mark Edward Lender and James Kirby Martin, Drinking in Amer- tians, the Indians found some support for their views in the Bible. ica, A History (New York, N.Y.: The Free Press, 1982), 2–21; Andrew Barr, Even in non-egalitarian translations, such as the King James, In- Drink: A Social History of America (New York, N.Y.: Carroll and Graf, dians discovered stories about powerful female figures and im- 1999), 1–11, 142–43. ages, particularly in the books of Matthew and Revelation. They 4. Kathleen Bragdon, Native People of Southern New England, 1500– studied diligently, found passages related to gender, and asked 1650 (Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996, 175–78; Larry J. Zimmerman, Native North America (Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, honest and thought-provoking questions. They wondered about 1996), 85; Jean M. O’Brien, “‘Divorced’ from the Land: Resistance and theoretical and mystical elements of Christianity, but also wanted Survival of Indian Women in Eighteenth-Century New E n g l an d ,” in Co- to understand what the Bible said about the treatment of widows lin G. Calloway, ed., After King Philip’s War: Presence and Persistence in and widowers. The fact that their inquiries predated the women’s Indian New England (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, movement of the 1960s and 1970s by some three hundred years 1997), 144–61; Neal Salisbury, Manitou and Providence: Indians, Europe- indicates that interest in what the Bible has to say about gender ans, and the Making of New England, 1500–1643 (New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1982), 30–49. is not specific to any limited time, place, or historical context. It 5. Bragdon, Native People, 169–230; Ann Plane, Colonial Intimacies: is a reflection of the universal importance of proper relationships Indian Marriage in Early New England (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University between the genders and of widespread curiosity about what the Press, 2000) and “‘The Examination of Sarah Ahhaton’: The Politics of Bible teaches regarding men and women. In this case, profound ‘Adultery’ in an Indian Town in Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts,” interest and piety, rather than a particular political agenda, moti- Annual Proceedings of the Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife 16 vated the questions of Christian Indians in colonial New England. (1991): 14–23. 6. Bragdon, Native People, 17, 120, 180–81; 218–27; Karna L. Bjork- As for the missionaries, the reasons for their relatively egali- land, The Indians of Northeastern America (New York, N.Y.: Dodd, tarian stance are less clear. Their tolerance of egalitarianism does Mead, 1969), 119; Neal Salisbury, Manitou and Providence, 30–35. not seem to have been rooted in ignorance or benign neglect 7. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Scripture. Clearly, based upon their life histories, these men of Women in Northern New England, 1650–1750 (New York, N.Y.: Ran- invested significant amounts of time and energy in their work dom House, 1982); Elizabeth Reis, “The Devil, the Body, and the Femi- as missionaries.41 It is not as if they did not care about Indian nine Soul in Puritan New E n g l an d ,” Journal of American History 82 (June 1995): 15–36; Carol F. Karlsen, The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witch- behavior or beliefs. They also certainly were aware of the egali- craft in Colonial New England (New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton, 1987); tarianism in Indian communities, as some of them even publi- Margaret O. Thickstun, Fictions of the Feminine: Puritan Doctrine and the cized the stories in written works. Perhaps the root of their flex- Representation of Women (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1988). ibility lay in the many adversities they encountered: resistance 8. Plane, Colonial Intimacies, 91, 129–30; Ulrich, Good Wives, 110–13. from both English colonists and Indians themselves, high rates 9. David Hall, Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment: Popular Reli- of mortality in Indian communities, disruption from warfare, gious Belief in Early New England (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univer- sity Press, 1990), 34–35; Reis, “The Devil, the Body”; Karlsen, The Devil

8 • Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 24, No. 4 ◆ Autumn 2010 in the Shape of a Woman; Thickstun, Fictions of the Feminine; Ulrich, 2003); Catherine and Richard Kroeger, I Suffer Not a Woman: Rethink- Good Wives. ing 1 Timothy 2:11–15 in Light of Ancient Evidence (Grand Rapids, Mich.: 10. David Hall, The Faithful Shepherd: A History of the New England Baker, 1992). Ministry in the Seventeenth Century (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of 23. Travers, “Notes and Documents,” 80. North Carolina Press, 1972); Francis J. Bremer, Shaping New Englands: 24. Travers, “Notes and Documents,” 77–80; Ulrich, Good Wives, Puritan Clergymen in Seventeenth-Century England and New England 148; Taylor, American Colonies, 171–72. (New York, N.Y.: Twayne, 1994); Samuel Eliot Morison, Harvard College 25. Bragdon, Native People, 169–83; Salisbury, Manitou and Provi- in the Seventeenth Century, vol. 1 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University dence, 30–49; Taylor, American Colonies, 188–92. Press, 1936), 341. 26. Ronda, “Generations of Fait h ,” 369–94; Silverman, Faith and 11. Richard Cogley, John Eliot’s Mission to the Indians before King Boundaries, 49–77; Experience Mayhew, Indian Converts or Some Ac- Philip’s War (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999), 1–21; count of the Lives and Dying Speeches of the Christianized Indians of James P. Ronda, “Generations of Faith: The Christian Indians of Mar- Martha’s Vineyard in New England (London: J. Osborn and T. Longman, tha’s Vineyard,” William and Mary Quarterly 38 (July 1981): 369–94; Dane 1727). Morrison, A Praying People: Massachusett Acculturation and the Failure 27. Mayhew, Indian Converts, 159. of the Puritan Mission, 1600–1690 (New York, N.Y.: Peter Lang, 1995), 28. Mayhew, Indian Converts, 161. 37–45; Francis Jennings, “Goals and Functions of Puritan Missions to the 29. Although women held informal power and were influential in Indians,” Ethnohistory 18 (1971): 197–212; Neal Salisbury, “Red Puritans: shaping ecclesiastical life in colonial Massachusetts, it is clear that they The ‘Praying Indians’ of Massachusetts Bay and John Eliot,” William and were not supposed to preach or speak openly in Puritan congregations. Mary Quarterly 31 (1971): 27–54; Harold Van Lonkhuyzen, “A Reappraisal Ulrich, Good Wives, 219–35; Marilyn Westerkamp, “A n n e Hutchinson, of the Praying Indians: Acculturation, Conversion, and Identity at Natick, Sectarian Mysticism, and the Puritan Order,” Church History 59 (Dec. Massachusetts, 1646–1730,” New England Quarterly 63 (1990): 396–428. 1990): 482–96; David Hall, ed., The Antinomian Controversy, 1636–1638: 12. Cogley, John Eliot’s Mission; Morison, Harvard College, 352–60; A Documentary History (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Morrison, A Praying People; Jennings, “Goals and Functions”; Salisbury, Press, 1968). “Red Puritans”; Lonkhuyzen, “Reappraisal.” 30. Mayhew, Indian Converts, 85, 105, 241. 13. Cogley, John Eliot’s Mission; Ronda, “Generations of Faith”; 31. Richard Godbeer, The Devil’s Dominion: Magic and Religion and O’Brien, ‘“Divorced’ from the L an d ,” 147–57. Early New England (New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 14. O’Brien, ‘“Divorced’ from the Land”; Morrison, A Praying People; 30–32, 61–69; Hall, World of Wonders. Ronda, “Generations of Faith”; David Silverman, Faith and Boundaries: 32. Bragdon, Native People, 177–78, 190–91; Mayhew, Indian Con- Colonists, Christianity, and Community among the Wampanoag Indians verts, 238–42. of Martha’s Vineyard, 1600–1871 (New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University 33. Mayhew, Indian Converts, 45. Press, 2005); Douglas Winiarski, “A Question of Plain Dealing: J osiah 34. Mayhew, Indian Converts, 160. Cotton, Native Christians, and the Quest for Security in Eighteenth- 35. Mayhew, Indian Converts, 201. Century Plymouth C o l ony,” New England Quarterly 77 (Sept. 2004): 36. Travers, “Notes and Documents,” 68–89; Mayhew, Indian Con- 368–413; Daniel Mandell, Behind the Frontier: Indians in Eighteenth- verts, 241. Century Eastern Massachusetts (Lincoln, Nebr.: University of Nebraska 37. Josiah Cotton, Indian Sermon, in John Davis Papers, Massachu- Press, 1996). setts Historical Society. 15. Cogley, John Eliot’s Mission; Morison, Harvard College, 352–60; 38. Mayhew, Indian Converts, 242; Ronda, “Generations of Fait h ,” Plane, Colonial Intimacies; O’Brien, ‘“Divorced’ from the L an d .” 375–86; Hilary Wyss, “Things That Do Accompany Salvation: Colonial- 16. O’Brien, ‘“Divorced’ from the Land”; Ronda, “Generations of ism, Conversion, and Cultural Exchange in Mayhew’s Indian Converts,” Fait h .” Early American Literature 33 (1998): 51–52. 17. Taylor, American Colonies, 199; Silverman, Faith and Boundaries, 39. Mayhew, Indian Converts, 165. 49–53; Len Travers, ed. “Notes and Documents: The Missionary Journal 40. O’Brien, ‘“Divorced’ from the Land”; Plane, Colonial Intima- of John Cotton, Jr., 1666–1678,” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Histori- cies, and “The Examination of Sarah Ahhaton”; Theda Purdue, Cherokee cal Society 109 (1997): 52–59. Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700–1835 (Lincoln, Nebr.: Univer- 18. Travers, “Notes and Documents,” 61. sity of Nebraska Press, 1998); Ramón A. Gutiérrez, When Jesus Came, 19. Travers, “Notes and Documents,” 76. the Corn Mothers Went Away: Marriage, Sexuality, and Power in New 20. Travers, “Notes and Documents,” 77. Mexico, 1500–1846 (Stanford, Calif.: University Press, 1991); Helen C. 21. Cotton’s journal suggests that he took Indian questions seriously. Rountree, Pocahontas’s People: The Powhatan Indians of Virginia Through He studied Scriptures in response to Indian questions, in one instance Four Centuries (Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989). preaching from Matt. 4:10 a month after an Indian named Joseph asked 41. Josiah Cotton, Memoirs, Massachusetts Historical Society; Cog- about the passage. Travers, “Notes and Documents,” 80–81. ley, John Eliot’s Mission; Silverman, Faith and Boundaries; Ronda, “Gen- 22. Travers, “Notes and Documents,” 80. In many cases, such gen- erations of Fait h .” dered language may be more a product of English translators rather than 42. Paul W. Chilcote, “Biblical Equality and the Spirituality of Early a reflection of the original intent of ancient authors. Recently, some bib- Methodist Women,” Priscilla Papers 22 (Spring 2008), 11–16; Kathryn Re- lical scholars and linguists have challenged translations of certain pas- ese Hendershot, “E. Stanley Jones Had a Wife: The Life and Mission of sages, including 1 Tim. 2, which, according to English translations, ap- Mabel Lossing Jones, 1878–1978,” Priscilla Papers 22 (Spring 2008), 23– parently restrict the role of women in churches and prevent them from 26; Janette Hassey, No Time for Silence: Evangelical Women in Public Min- holding leadership positions. In other cases, gender-neutral pronouns istry around the Turn of the Century (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Academie in Greek and Hebrew were translated as generic “he” or “him” in older Books, 1986); Dana Robert, American Women in Mission: A Social His- English translations such as the King James and Geneva Bibles used by tory of Their Thought and Practice (Macon, Ga.: Mercy University Press, Puritans and Indians in southeastern Massachusetts. See Joe E. Trull and 1996); Wade Burleson, “Lessons from the Female Cherokee Seminary,” Audra E. Trull, eds., Putting Women in Their Place: Moving Beyond Gen- Mutuality 14 (Winter 2007), 8–9; Mimi Haddad, “A n Irrepressible Lega- der Stereotypes in Church and Home (Macon, Ga.: Smyth and Helwys, cy: Women in Ministry Leadership,” Mutuality 14 (Winter 2007), 10–12.

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