UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Celibacy in the British North American Colonies, c.1600-1750 Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/04n5j94w Author Van Dyne, Devon Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Celibacy in the British North American Colonies, c. 1600-1750 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Devon Elizabeth Van Dyne 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Celibacy in the British North American Colonies, c.1600-1750 by Devon Elizabeth Van Dyne Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Michael Meranze, Chair This dissertation studies singleness in the British North American colonies through the lens of religion. It investigates the fate of celibacy in the Protestant tradition after the Reformation, when critics of the Catholic Church dislodged the requirement of a chaste priesthood and dissolved the monasteries. In instigating these changes, reformers overturned a centuries-old hierarchy that ranked celibacy above marriage. For many Protestant groups, matrimony came to take on special importance; not merely an outlet for concupiscence or a way to increase the church, matrimony became an earthly reflection of the heavenly union between God and his creation, offering spiritually-edifying lessons about the nature of Christ’s love. However, as this dissertation shows, even though celibacy lost its place as an ecclesiastical institution within Protestantism, it still remained a feature of Christian life that Protestants would grapple with for centuries. Despite reformers’ dismissal of celibacy and elevation of marriage, many believers continued to insist that singleness presented a meaningful spiritual vocation. ii Efforts to integrate celibacy back into the Protestant tradition were especially evident in British North America, which served as a refuge for a variety of religious groups from Europe and came to harbor a markedly diverse set of perspectives on the single life. Previous scholarship on early America has emphasized the importance of marriage and the family to the colonial enterprise, but this dissertation shows that colonists in fact carved out various alternatives to normative notions of marriage, family, and procreative sexuality. By studying the different religious groups that mingled on American shores—Puritans, Quakers, Catholics, Anglicans, Pietists, and others—I show how the colonies fostered a thriving conversation about the place of celibacy in the church. That conversation took new form during the Great Awakening, an event that witnessed both a growing interest in celibacy and a backlash against it. Though the reaction against the revivals ultimately helped push celibacy to the margins of American religion, the Awakening nevertheless created a particularly enduring model of singleness, one that opened up yet more space within Protestantism for the celibate practices the Reformation had tried to root out. iii The dissertation of Devon Elizabeth Van Dyne is approved. Christopher J. Looby Craig Bryan Yirush Michael Meranze, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments vi Vita ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1 “Aberrations from the first good estate”: The Place of Celibacy in Puritan Reform 25 Chapter 2 “Sin and iniquity, which ordinarily are the companions…of a solitary life”: Resolving the Problems of Celibacy in Puritan New England 75 Chapter 3 “I have long thought it an Error among all Sorts, that use not Monastick Lives”: Reinventing Celibacy in Catholic and Quaker Colonial America 127 Chapter 4 “O blessed life of loneliness when all creation silence keeps”: European Experiments in the American Colonies 188 Chapter 5 “They lay with the Bible between them”: The Revival of Celibacy During the Great Awakening 256 Conclusion 336 Bibliography 342 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the help and support I received during my years in graduate school. First and foremost, I am extraordinarily grateful for the patience and direction of my adviser, Michael Meranze, who helped turn my ideas into a viable project. Though I never made his job any easier, he never gave up on me. That this dissertation exists is a credit to him, and I cannot thank him enough for all he did to see me through this process. My other committee members—Andrea Goldman, Christopher Looby, and Craig Yirush—were always thoughtful readers of my work and constant sources of encouragement. Their contributions made this dissertation a better document, and I am extremely fortunate to have had them on my committee and very grateful for their help along the way. Other faculty and staff members at UCLA were invaluable in getting me to this point. Joan Waugh has shown me every kindness over the past six years, offering support at each juncture. Ellen DuBois believed in me as a scholar long before I did, and her passion for history and teaching still inspires me. Early in my graduate career, I benefited greatly from classes with Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Brenda Stevenson, and Ruth Bloch, historians who continue to shape my thinking. I owe an enormous debt as well to the History Department’s Graduate Advisers— Hadley Porter, Deborah Dauda, Eboni Shaw, and Lindsay Kovner—for helping me every step of the way. I am also very grateful for the generous financial support I received from UCLA. The History Department provided me with a Five-Year Fellowship and the opportunity to work at the History Writing Center, and Graduate Division supported me with a Graduate Summer Research Mentorship award. Friends and colleagues in Los Angeles offered a welcoming and supportive community during my years in graduate school. I had the good fortune of meeting Julia Kark Callander my vi second day in Los Angeles, and she has remained a loyal and dear friend ever since. For that, I will always be grateful. From my earliest days at UCLA, Jean-Paul deGuzman, Zevi Gutfreund, and Laura Redford befriended me and patiently fielded my many questions. I was lucky to have a wonderful cohort to journey through the 246 series with during my first year in the program, and to have the camaraderie of my History Writing Center colleagues during my last. I am grateful as well to Cassia Roth and Taylor Walle for providing crucial dissertating assistance and comedic relief exactly when I needed it. And I owe a very heartfelt thanks to Kristen Hillaire Glasgow, Caroline Bunnell Harris, Amanda Hollander, Brian Kovalesky, Matt Luckett, Caitlin Parker, Adrienne Posner, Vanessa Raabe, and Eric Saulnier for their friendship and support during my years in Los Angeles. You have all made the process of writing this dissertation vastly more enjoyable. Long before I set foot on the UCLA campus, I benefited from the inspiration and guidance of professors at Pacific Lutheran University. I was lucky enough to stumble into Samuel Torvend’s writing course the first day of my freshman year, and it changed my life. His influence on me is more profound than he will ever know, and he continues to be a scholar and teacher I greatly admire. Megan Benton and Gina Hames mentored and encouraged me during my four years at PLU, for which I remain ever grateful. Beth Kraig showed unfailing kindness and generosity in helping me navigate the shoals of graduate school, and I very much appreciate all of her assistance. Two other Lutes, Jacob and Elisabeth Pynn Himmelman, also deserve a special thank you for their steadfast support over the years. My family has put up with me through the long process of writing this dissertation and has sustained me for many more years than that. I am extremely fortunate to have two older brothers who are always in my corner: Bob (who also offered valuable feedback on a portion of vii this dissertation) and Brad, thank you for your unflagging belief in me. My amazing sisters-in- law continue to inspire me, and my nieces and nephews bring me so much joy: thank you to Lateefa, Vionna, Chanelle, and Isaiah, and to Coral, Hunter, and Eli. My grandmother, Meredith Elsensohn, has long cheered me on during the many years I have been a student, for which I am very grateful. I can finally answer her that, yes, I have at last run out of words to write, except for these: I would not be where I am today without the support and hard work of my parents, Frank and Suzi Van Dyne. I dedicate this dissertation to them, with love and gratitude. viii VITA 2003 B.A., History Pacific Lutheran University Tacoma, Washington 2010 M.A., History University of California, Los Angeles 2009-2011 Teaching Assistant Department of History University of California, Los Angeles 2013 C.Phil., History University of California, Los Angeles 2013-2014 Lead Writing Tutor History Department Writing Center University of California, Los Angeles ix Introduction And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him…And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. — Genesis 2:18-24 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. — 1 Corinthians 7:1 In 1719, Puritan minister Cotton Mather penned A Glorious Espousal, an essay urging readers to take up the offer of marriage that Christ extended to all believing souls.1 Christ, Mather assured them, had not just been speaking of the church in general when he proclaimed, “I Marry my self unto you,” but to “every Individual Believer,” proposing to all who would receive him, “Come with me, my Spouse.