Making Heretics is a major new narrative of the famous Massachusetts disputes of the late 1630s misleadingly labeled the "antinomian controversy" by later historians. Drawing on an unprecedented range of sources, Michael Winship fundamentally recasts these interlocked religious and political struggles as a complex ongoing interaction of personaliti

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix ABBREVIATIONS xi Introduction 1 CHAPTER ONE: Assurance of Salvation in the Early Seventeenth Century 12 CHAPTER TWO: Lively Stones: John Cotton and Anne Hutchinson 28 CHAPTER THREE: The Most Glorious Church in the World: Boston, c. 1636 44 CHAPTER FOUR: Practicing Puritanism in a Strange Land: Massachusetts, c. 1636 64 CHAPTER FIVE: Secret Quarrels Turn Public: Summer 1636-January 1637 83 CHAPTER SIX: Convicting John Wheelwright: January-March 1637 106 CHAPTER SEVEN: Abimelech's Faction: March-August 1637 126 CHAPTER EIGHT: Reclaiming Cotton: August-September 1637 149 CHAPTER NINE: The November Trials: October-November 1637 166 CHAPTER TEN: An American Jezebel: November 1637-March 1638 188 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Holding Forth Darkly: March 1638-February 1641 211 CHAPTER TWELVE: Godly Endings 235 NOTES 247 INDEX 313

"A major and refreshingly original study... A remarkable portrait of how Puritanism generated and attempted and finally failed to control divergence from orthodoxy."--Iain S. Maclean, James Madison University, Religious Studies Review "A fresh account of the famous battle between the conservative and moderate leaders of the first generation of New England Puritanism ... and more radical proponents of free grace ... [a] highly readable book."--Amanda Porterfield, University of Wyoming, Catholic Historical Review "Will stand as the most complete and authoritative account for many years to come ... a page turner ... a truly impressive contribution."--Evan Haefeli, Tufts University, Reviews in American History "Moves with clarity and ease through extremely complex theological and political issues, and the narrative reconstruction of the controversy is very convincing ... a must-read."--Mark A. Peterson, University of Iowa, American Historical Review "No one ... will be able to rest comfortable with received generalizations after reading this important volume."--Stephen J. Stein, Indiana University, Journal of American History "Truism after truism falters before his gaze ... carefully grounded in the sources."--David D. Hall, Harvard University, Harvard Theological Review "A fresh account of the famous battle between the conservative and moderate leaders of the first generation of New England Puritanism ... and more radical proponents of free grace... [A] highly readable book."--Amanda Porterfield, University of Wyoming, Catholic Historical Review "Will stand as the most complete and authoritative account for many years to come... [A] page turner... [A] truly impressive contribution."--Evan Haefeli, Tufts University, Reviews in American History "Moves with clarity and ease through extremely complex theological and political issues, and the narrative reconstruction of the controversy is very convincing... [A] must-read."--Mark A, Peterson, University of Iowa, American Historical Review "Truism after truism falters before his gaze... [C]arefully grounded in the sources."--David D. Hall, Harvard University, Harvard Theological Review "Winship has made a notable contribution to the religious history of colonial America."--W. Clark Gilpin, History of Religions "An original and important new study... [A] tightly conceived and compelling contribution to the field."--Konstantin Dierks, Seventeenth-Century News

"Challenging and compelling . . . spirited, skilled, clear-eyed revisionism. This bold probe into politics and personalities frees the 'free grace controversy' from interpretive convention. The episode's dynamic has never been so perceptively addressed. I was stunned by the new take on Thomas Shepard. Winship has a winner . . . a vanguard contribution to early American and Puritan studies. Read this one first!"—Michael McGiffert, Editor Emeritus, William and Mary Quarterly"Making Heretics places the so-called antinomian controversy that wracked Massachusetts in the late 1630s in a broad perspective that reveals new facets of this much-studied event. Michael Winship's knowledge of transatlantic Puritanism and his extensive research into hitherto untapped sources have combined to create a more comprehensive picture than that previously available to us."—Mary Beth Norton, Cornell University"Those who believe that the basic knowable facts of the antinomian controversy already have been established, have not yet read Making Heretics. Built upon the fullest canvass of the evidence yet achieved by any historian, Winship's new book offers the fullest critical reconstruction of early New England's most famed event, correcting or going beyond the standard accounts at many points."—Theodore Dwight Bozeman, University of Iowa"This book is an impressive achievement. Winship writes crisply and lucidly, admirably portraying a world in acute flux. He has an enviable grasp of the range of acceptable disagreement among the godly in normal times and how that range could contract or even explode during a crisis. His research in both printed and manuscript sources is broad and deep. He reads texts with great care and constructs important new chronologies in the process. The result is a compelling story and a fresh synthesis."—John Murrin, Princeton University"It has been almost forty years since the last book-length account of the 'antinomian crisis' appeared. This one will be the definitive work. Based on sound and sophisticated evidence, it offers a new conceptualization and, beyond that, gives us a fresh interpretation of New England Puritanism and Puritan politics."—Frank Lambert, author of Inventing the Great Awakening