Contr'un
The Fund: A Boston Land Bank of 1681
One sheet survives of this pamphlet, attributed to Rev. John Woodbridge. It describes an early mutual bank scheme known as The Fund at Boston in N. E. It is quite likely that this sheet was […]
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Contr'un
The Incredible Shrinking. . .
William B. GreeneAn observation, based on the collations I’ve been doing of Greene’s borrowings from sources such as William Beck and Edward Kellogg: The mutual bank writings of 1849 and 1850 are full of Greene’s […]
The Very Idea
Anne Hutchinson and the Antinomian Controversy
John Cotton came to Massachusetts from Boston, England. He was a respected minister, although his teachings on the matter of justification and sanctification ran more towards the position that we’re calling “antinomian” than most of […]
The Very Idea
Justification and Sanctification
We need to wrestle with some key concepts in puritan theology, in order to understand the crises which arise in Massachusetts Bay, and give rise to changes in colonial culture. The key question of Christian […]
The Very Idea
Puritan Freedom
Freedom is, on this model, freedom to do good. And good is defined as actions in accordance with God’s will. Unfreedom comes from sin, or from subjection to Satan’s power. Our natures, though fallen, are […]
The Very Idea
John Winthrop, A Modell of Christian Charity (1630)
We’ll have occassion to dwell quite a bit on the less positive aspects of New England puritanism, and Foner presents the puritan model of freedom as the foil for “American freedom” which, he says, “began […]
The Very Idea
On Greatness
GREAT IDEAS: SO WHAT’S THIS ALL ABOUT, ANYWAY? For the duration of the semester, we’re all going to be concerned with “great ideas.” Specifically, in this section, we’ll be looking at, or looking for, “Great […]
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Bolton Hall – sketch for a bibliography
It’s been awhile since i’ve put together any new bibliographies. Since there seems to be interest in non-state Georgism, i guess i’ll keep at my work on Bolton Hall. At this stage, I’m concentrating on […]