DOCSLIB.ORG

Cb20 2016 Key16.Key.Pdf

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Cb20 2016 Key16.Key.Pdf Lecture 16: Christianity made reasonable ! “early Enlightenment” ca 1680-1720 as it affects religious thought (independent of scientific developments) ! Some assessments of English intellectual climate: ! Bishop Sprat in 1667: "the influence which Christianity once obtained on men's minds is now prodigiously decayed." ! Thomas Burnet, a bishop's son, in 1719: "I cannot but remind you with joy how the world has changed since the time when, as we know, a word against the clergy passed for rank atheism, and now to speak tolerably of them passes for superstition." ! ! they agree on decline in respect for traditional religion and clergy; they disagree on assessing this change John Thornton Kirkland, Increase Mather, president president of Harvard, of Harvard, 1685-1701 1810-28: a unitarian orthodox Calvinist Cotton Mather, son of Increase (1663-1728) Cotton Mather: God visits punishments and rewards on humans through the workings of nature and special providence End of executions for religious heterodoxy: ! Giordano Bruno - 1600 ! Salem, 1692: 22 people executed for witchcraft but protests against the legal procedures were lodged throughout the process. Increase Mather questioned use of spectral evidence; Cotton Mather mostly defended the trials. 1703 convictions that could be (e.g. excommunications) were reversed; 1722 symbolic compensation paid to families of victims ! End of executions for religious heterodoxy: ! ! 1697 Thomas Aikenhead, a Scottish student, was last person executed in Britain for blasphemy: denied that Bible is sacred, denied the Trinity and the incarnation, supporting eternity of the world. Expressed this publicly and refused to recant; was an orphan (no connections). ! But others expressed similar views privately… ! executions after that include charge of sedition=political rebellion 1680-1720: new ideas articulated more broadly ! Toleration: John Locke (1689) ! ! Some causes: disgust with religious controversy (lots of it among both Prots and Caths in 17th) ! religion as a matter of personal conscience more than community purity ! ! ! Religious controversies ! Jansenists vs Jesuits over grace and over casuistry 1650s ! Arminians/Remonstrants vs. orthodox Calvinists over grace and double predestination 1610s- ! Puritans vs Anglicans in England 1640s Ways of resolving religious disputes: ! decrees by authorities -against a certain position -against disputing on a topic (e.g. grace) ! deciding that some matters are indifferent (adiaphora) John Locke, 1632-1704 religious toleration as key to political stability--liberty to individual conscience But limits: do not tolerate those opposed to civil society, Churches that obey a foreign prince (Catholics) + atheists and those who refuse to take oaths on the Bible (Quakers). 1689 law bars them from public office, but no religious penance. Meanwhile in France in 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes tolerating Protestants an early advocate of toleration Sebastian Castellio (1515-63) ! forced to leave Geneva, died in Basel Travel literature: impact of the New World discoveries ! Montaigne “on Cannibals,” 1588 Locke, Reasonableness of Christianity (1695) ! natural religion: spark of the divine in everyone e.g. reason and moral conscience ! basic morality and religious worship arrived at from reason alone (existence and worship of God, charity, morality) ! Revelation does not add anything significant to what reason teaches BUT Bible is useful to guide and teach people and to elicit obedience to morality =tool for education John Toland, 1670-1722 born Irish and Catholic, converted to Prot ca age 16 and lived in England after outcry over his book Toland, Christianity not Mysterious (1696) ! Bible teaches nothing beyond reason +anticlericalism: Church has developed lies about mysteries in order to enhance its power, prestige and income. Reason teaches belief in God, but no specific dogmas freedom of conscience ! condemned in 1697; fled to continent. 54 refutations published 1696-1760 Richard Simon (1638-1712), Oratorian priest: Critical History of the Old Testament (1682) book condemned and he was ordered to silence ! Isaac La Peyrère (1586-1676), Calvinist converted to Catholicism: Latin book on Pre-Adamites (1655) --he was imprisoned for a few years, but recanted and was released Baruch/Benedict Spinoza, 1632-77 Jew living in Amsterdam excommunicated from Jewish community there in contact with radical Quakers + an ex-Jesuit who was executed in F for sedition ! =unique! lived undisturbed as lens-grinder with informal followers Spinoza, Tractatus theologicopoliticus (1670) ! libertas philosophandi as key to peace and piety analyze Scripture in the same way as nature i.e.nothing supernatural in Bible Bible useful for the unlearned, without mastery of reason Bible as story of a particular people ! study the original languages, the process of canon formation; distrust authority of any church ! pantheism: Deus sive natura; but no personal God ! Spinoza abhorrred atheism but was considered an atheist; Spinozist=atheist in 18th ct Manuscript note adding the name of the author ! the book was banned in Low Countries and on Catholic index Pierre Bayle, 1647-1706 ! French Huguenot (after quick exp of Cath), refugee in Low Countries critical of David and other biblical figures ! while Spinoza is a “virtuous atheist”! Thomas Paine, 1737-1809 broadly circulating deism Thomas Paine, Age of Reason (1793)= a deist creed widely diffused (and widely decried) ! “I believe in one God and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy and endeavouring to make our fellows creatures happy.” “I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, not by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church. All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.” ! Tom Paine was a radical in his time--not always liked even in US, wanted for arrest in England and France. But he was also widely read and died a natural death. ! ! Tom Paine on nature vs Church: ! “The word of God is the creation we behold and it is in this word which no human invention can counterfeit or alter that God speaketh universally to man." ! "Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is none more derogatory to the almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory in itself, than this thing called Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart torpid or produces only atheists and fanatics." Tomorrow’s section is being taped ! please come to the Bok Center for Teaching and Learning ! Science Center 316 regular time.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Autobiography of Increase Mather
    The Autobiography of Increase Mather I-DÎTED BY M. G. HALL j^ STRETCH a point to call this maTiuscript an W autobiography. Actually it i.s a combinatioa of aiito- biograpliy and political tract and journal, in which the most formal part comes first and the rest was added on lo it as occasion offered. But, the whole is certainly auto- biographical and covers Increase Mather's life faithfull}'. It was tlie mainstay of Cotton Mather's famous biograpliy Pareniator, which appeared in 1724, and of Kenneth Mur- dock's Increase Miiîher, whicli was published two liundred and one years later.^ Printing the autobiography Jiere is in no way designed to improve or correct Mather's biog- raphers. They have done well by him. But their premises and purposes were inevitabiy different from liis. I'he present undertaking is to let Increase Matlier also be lieard on tlie subject of himself. Readers who wish to do so are invited to turn witliout more ado to page 277, where tliey may read the rjriginal without interruption. For tjiose who want to look before they leap, let me remind tliem of tlie place Increase Mather occu[!Íes in tlie chronology of his family. Three generations made a dy- nasty extraordhiary in any country; colossal in the frame of ' Cotton Msther, Pami'.at'^r. Mnnoirs if Remarkables in the Life and Death o/ the F.vtr- MemorahU Dr. Increase Múíker (Boston, 1724). Kenneth B. Murdock, Incrfasr Mathfr, the Foremost .Imerican Puritan (Cambridge, 1925)- Since 1925 three books bearing importantly on hicrcase Mather have been published: Thomas J.
    [Show full text]
  • The Wonders of the Invisible World, B
    The Project Gutenberg e-Book of The Wonders of the Invisible World, b... http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28513/28513-h/28513-h.htm [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Page10711112012913814915415916116416516717217417518319220121121221422122523423724325025325525625826026226426626726826927027527627928228328530333879369 TheI. Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wonders of the Invisible World, by Cotton Mather and Increase Mather This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Wonders of the Invisible World Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed in New-England, to which is added A Farther Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches Author: Cotton Mather Increase Mather Release Date: April 6, 2009 [EBook #28513] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD *** Produced by Julie Barkley, S.D., and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's Note: Inconsistent or archaic spelling, punctuation, and capitalization have been retained as printed.
    [Show full text]
  • The Literature of .Witchcraft in New England. by Justin Winsor
    1895.] Literature of Witchcraft in Neio England. 351 THE LITERATURE OF .WITCHCRAFT IN NEW ENGLAND. BY JUSTIN WINSOR. THE sporadic and epidemic manifestations of .witchcraft during the seventeenth century in New England were bnt symptoms of a belief in satanic agencies, world-wide and pervading all ages. As a psychological symptom, it has created a large number of treatises, learned or emotional, some confidently adhering to the belief, others corrective or sternly critical. Lecky, who has touched the subject in his History of Rationalism, gives high praise to the learn- ing and ability of Maury's Histoire de la Magie (Paris, 1860). The retrospections of the Commentaries of Black- stone, the records (1661) of the Tryal of Witches at the Assizes for the County of Suffolk, March, 1664, before Sir Matthew Hale (London, 1682), (which Cotton Mather summarized in his Wonders of the Invisible World), and T. Glanvil's Sadducismus triumphans, or full and plain evidence concerning witches and apparitions (London, 1681,)—a book on which the Mathers feasted—show how thoroughly perverse public opinion was in England in tl^e days when colonial New England looked thither for guid- ance. The commonness of the frenzy is. shown in such books as W. H. D. Adams's Historical sketches of magic and loitehcraft in England and Scotland (London, 1889). Michael Dalton's Country Justice (1619, etc.,) was the authority for the English practice in such trials. Dr. Haven, in his Eeport to the American Antiquarian Society (April 24, 1874), says of Dalton's book : "The tests, the manner of examination, the nature of the evidence, the 25 352 American Antiquarian Soeiety.
    [Show full text]
  • C:T'~V\/T...-' '"'J:..,.'--L.< =>--1
    AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF ~~m~~ A_ Harrelson in History presented on JUly 25, 1977 Title: Arminianism in the Thought of John Cotton and Increase Mather Abstract approved: c:T'~V\/t.....-' '"'j:..,.'--L.< =>--1 A number of historians of the early colonial era of this country have concluded that there was a tendency among Puritan theologians to move from Calvinist theology to Arminian theology. In an effort to decide if this truly is the case, two prominent Puritan theologians were examined in order to determine if they were Calvinistic or Arminian in their theologies. The two test cases were John Cotton (1584-1652) and Increase Mather (1639-1723). In determining the theological stances of these two men the following approach was used. First, the thought of John Calvin in seven areas was ascertained, with heavy reliance on his commentaries and his Institutes of the Christian Religion. Second, by use of his collected writings the thought of Arminius in these same seven areas was determined. Against this background the writings of Cotton and Mather were compared. The results were that John Cotton was found to be an ardent Calvinist who assiduously avoided any Arminian leanings. Increase Mather was found to be still within the Calvinist camp, though with a much more Arminian tendency than Cotton. While Cotton seems more consistent in his theology, Mather seems less so. It is to be stressed however, that neither man was in fact Arminian. ARMINIANISM IN THE THOUGHT OF JOHN COTTON AND INCREASE MATHER A Thesis Presented to the Department of Social Sciences Emporia State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by James A.
    [Show full text]
  • Cotton Mathers's Wonders of the Invisible World: an Authoritative Edition
    Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English 1-12-2005 Cotton Mathers's Wonders of the Invisible World: An Authoritative Edition Paul Melvin Wise Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Recommended Citation Wise, Paul Melvin, "Cotton Mathers's Wonders of the Invisible World: An Authoritative Edition." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2005. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/5 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COTTON MATHER’S WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD: AN AUTHORITATIVE EDITION by PAUL M. WISE Under the direction of Reiner Smolinski ABSTRACT In Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather applies both his views on witchcraft and his millennial calculations to events at Salem in 1692. Although this infamous treatise served as the official chronicle and apologia of the 1692 witch trials, and excerpts from Wonders of the Invisible World are widely anthologized, no annotated critical edition of the entire work has appeared since the nineteenth century. This present edition seeks to remedy this lacuna in modern scholarship, presenting Mather’s seventeenth-century text next to an integrated theory of the natural causes of the Salem witch panic. The likely causes of Salem’s bewitchment, viewed alongside Mather’s implausible explanations, expose his disingenuousness in writing about Salem. Chapter one of my introduction posits the probability that a group of conspirators, led by the Rev.
    [Show full text]
  • Cotton Mather
    PEOPLE MENTIONED OR ALMOST MENTIONED IN CAPE COD: THE REVEREND COTTON MATHER COTTON MATHER CAPE COD: The Harbor of Provincetown —which, as well as the greater part of the Bay, and a wide expanse of ocean, we overlooked from our perch— is deservedly famous. It opens to the south, is free from rocks, and is never frozen over. It is said that the only ice seen in it drifts in sometimes from Barnstable or Plymouth. Dwight remarks that “The storms which prevail on the American coast generally come from the east; and there is no other harbor on a windward shore within two hundred miles.” J.D. Graham, who GRAHAM has made a very minute and thorough survey of this harbor and the adjacent waters, states that “its capacity, depth of water, excellent anchorage, and the complete shelter it affords from all winds, combine to render it one of the most valuable ship harbors on our coast.” It is the harbor of the Cape and of the fishermen of Massachusetts generally. It was known to navigators several years at least before the settlement of Plymouth. In Captain John Smith’s map of New England, dated 1614, it bears the name of JOHN SMITH Milford Haven, and Massachusetts Bay that of Stuard’s Bay. His Highness, Prince Charles, changed the name of Cape Cod to Cape James; but even princes have not always power to change a name for the worse, and as Cotton Mather said, Cape Cod is “a name which I suppose it will never lose till shoals of codfish be seen swimming on its highest hills.” REVEREND COTTON MATHER HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD: COTTON MATHER “I was emptying the Cistern of Nature, and making Water at the Wall.
    [Show full text]
  • The Salem Witch Trials from a Legal Perspective: the Importance of Spectral Evidence Reconsidered
    W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1984 The Salem Witch Trials from a Legal Perspective: The Importance of Spectral Evidence Reconsidered Susan Kay Ocksreider College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the Law Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Ocksreider, Susan Kay, "The Salem Witch Trials from a Legal Perspective: The Importance of Spectral Evidence Reconsidered" (1984). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539625278. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-7p31-h828 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS FROM A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE; THE IMPORTANCE OF SPECTRAL EVIDENCE RECONSIDERED A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History The College of Williams and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Susan K. Ocksreider 1984 ProQuest Number: 10626505 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10626505 Published by ProQuest LLC (2017).
    [Show full text]
  • Huguenot Identity and Protestant Unity in Colonial Massachusetts: the Reverend André Le Mercier and the “Sociable Spirit”
    122 Historical Journal of Massachusetts • Summer 2012 Huguenots Fleeing France, 1696 At least 200,000 Huguenots are believed to have fled France in the years surrounding 1685, ending up in places as far afield as North America, the Dutch Republic, England, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, and South Africa. 123 Huguenot Identity and Protestant Unity in Colonial Massachusetts: The Reverend André Le Mercier and the “Sociable Spirit” PAULA WHEELER CARLO Abstract: Numerous researchers have noted that many Huguenots conformed to Anglicanism several decades after their arrival in North America. The situation differed in colonial Massachusetts, where Huguenots typically forged connections with Congregationalists or Presbyterians. This article explores the activities and writings of André Le Mercier (1692- 1764), the last pastor of the Boston French Church, which closed in 1748. Le Mercier was an ardent supporter of Protestant unity, yet he also strove to preserve a strong sense of Huguenot identity. Nevertheless, support for Protestant unity facilitated Huguenot integration into the English-speaking majority, which fostered the demise of French Reformed churches in New England and thereby weakened Huguenot identity. Paula Wheeler Carlo is a professor of history at Nassau Community College and the author of Huguenot Refugees in Colonial New York: Becoming American in the Hudson Valley (Sussex Academic Press, 2005). * * * * * Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Vol. 40 (1/2), Summer 2012 © Institute for Massachusetts Studies, Westfield State University 124 Historical Journal of Massachusetts • Summer 2012 The Huguenots were French Protestants who followed the teachings of the religious reformer John Calvin (1509-1564).1 They faced persecution and even death during the French Religious Wars in the second half of the sixteenth century.2 The conclusion of these wars produced the Edict of Nantes (1598), which allowed Protestants to freely practice their religion in specified areas of France.
    [Show full text]
  • Name: Period: the History Channel: in Search Of… the Salem
    Name:_____________________________________________________ Period:______________ The History Channel: In Search of… the Salem Witch Trials Video Guide 1. Name one of the countries that massive witch hunts happened in for 300 years prior to the Salem Witch Trials. 2. “Thou shalt not suffer a _______________________ to live.” 3. In 1484 the pope declared witchcraft a heresy. What was the punishment? 4. What is “swimming a witch”? 5. Where was the first witch hunt in Massachusetts? 6. What was the name of Cotton Mather’s book? 7. How many people lived in Salem Village? 8. Name one thing scary about the woods for the villagers. 9. Explain how Puritan were women expected to behave. 10. Circle which group was the most likely to enlist the devil’s service: MEN or WOMEN 11. Name one of the tensions that sparked the Salem Witch Trials. 12. How many documents are there left over from the Salem Witch Trials? Of all of those documents, what type of document was not found? 13. What was the age range of the girls listening to Tituba’s stories? 14. What trait did Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne share? 15. Explain what spectral evidence is. 16. How did Tituba's testimony change the course of events in the trials? 17. What statement of Tituba’s sent a shiver through the crowd? Explain why. 18. What was the difference between those accused and the accusers? (Hint: location and social status.) 19. What does the Court of Oyer and Terminer translate to? 20. What did a confession of witchcraft do in a Puritan society? 21.
    [Show full text]
  • Cotton Mather - Poems
    Classic Poetry Series Cotton Mather - poems - Publication Date: 2012 Publisher: Poemhunter.com - The World's Poetry Archive Cotton Mather(12 February 1663 – 13 February 1728) Cotton Mather, FRS was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author and pamphleteer; he is often remembered for his role in the Salem witch trials. He was the son of Increase Mather, and grandson of both John Cotton and Richard Mather, all also prominent Puritan ministers. <b>Biography</b> Mather was named after his maternal grandfather, John Cotton. He attended Boston Latin School, where his name was posthumously added to its Hall of Fame, and graduated from Harvard in 1678 at age 15. After completing his post- graduate work, he joined his father as assistant pastor of Boston's original North Church. In 1685 Mather assumed full responsibilities as pastor at the Church. Cotton Mather wrote more than 450 books and pamphlets, and his ubiquitous literary works made him one of the most influential religious leaders in America. Mather set the moral tone in the colonies, and sounded the call for second- and third-generation Puritans, whose parents had left England for the New England colonies of North America, to return to the theological roots of Puritanism. The most important of these, Magnalia Christi Americana (1702), comprises seven distinct books, many of which depict biographical and historical narratives to which later American writers, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Elizabeth Drew Stoddard, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, would look in describing the cultural significance of New England for later generations after the American Revolution.
    [Show full text]
  • “Infant Prodigy:” Unpacking Perceptions of the Young Cotton
    University of Hawai‘i at Hilo HOHONU 2017 Vol. 15 The Spectral “Infant Prodigy:” 163), and turned into lines in biographies such as “A terrible stutter, however, forced him to delay entering Unpacking Perceptions of the the ministry” (Walker), which is very exaggerated and Young Cotton Mather possibly entirely false. What is historically known is that Cotton Mather was ordained into the Puritan church in Dakota Helfrich 1685, and his interests were his religion, science, and the ENG 351 “invisible world” (Walker). He never achieved what his father did during his lifetime, however Cotton Mather left The recording begins and it is suddenly the year behind a more visible impression than Increase Mather: 1692. Actor Seth Gabel, cast as Reverend Cotton Mather, his writings are still referenced today in studies of the strides between the replica pews of Salem’s small-town Salem witch trials, Hannah Dustan, and the decline of church with great urgency, his black traveling cloak Puritanism. billowing with each hasty step. “Imagine, a foe you Middlekauf writes that Cotton “clearly can’t see, with the ability to appear as any one of us!” he was physically rejuvenated, as well as emotionally cries in fervor, every Puritan in the hall transfixed, staring delighted, in his work for the Lord. The groaning, on in terror. This is a scene from the recent television fasting, panting, swooning, and the joy and raptures series “Salem.” Cotton Mather looks to be in his early that enlivened his private conduct all testify to… his thirties: thin, with unkempt brown hair, a bushy beard, life of virtuous epicurism” (192).
    [Show full text]
  • Samuel Willard: Savior of the Salem Witches
    Culhane 1 Samuel Willard: Savior of the Salem Witches By Courtney Culhane Prof. Mary Beth Norton HIST/AMST/FGSS 2090 Culhane 2 It is approximately the first week of August, 1692. He cannot place the exact date, only that it had been roughly nine weeks since his capture on May 30th1. Since then he has lost all track of time, even with the extra daytime freedoms that his wealth and social statues allow him. “Such things did not prevent an accusation,” he mused, “as I am yet a prisoner by eventide, shackles or no, denounced as a witch of all things, by mere children! No matter, the appointed hour has almost arrived. I only pray Mary is prepared…Hark, the signal! It must be the minsters.” “Ye be Phillip English?” a coarse but welcome voice inquiries through the bars, through the darkness; its master bears no candle. “Indeed Reverend.” “Then make haste! The guards are paid off, your wife is waiting. Go now! And ‘if they persecute you in one city, flee to another.’”2 * Purportedly aiding Philip English in his flight from a Boston prison is only one instance of the Reverend Samuel Willard’s substantial personal involvement in the 1692-1693 incidents which American historical tradition has collectively adopted as “The Salem Witch Trials.” Although his participation in numerous areas of the trial proceedings has been definitively confirmed, Willard’s anti-trial “activism” and its consequences still leave curious contemporaries with several questions, the answers to which are necessary for a truly complete understanding of 1 Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 (New York: Vintage Books 2003) 238.
    [Show full text]