Chapter 10, Seventeenth-Century Nihilism Summary and Analysis

In 1634, William and Anne Hutchinson come to Massachusetts; William is a mild man and Anne a strong woman. The force of her intelligence is apparently great, along with her wit and boldness. Anne is determined to pursue the Gospel in its purity and goes wherever she thinks the Gospel is. She claims John Cotton as her spiritual leader, who himself is highly regarded, even by Winthrop. Cotton, along with Jonathan Edwards, reasserts Calvinist doctrine against encroaching Arminianism.

However, Cotton is moderate, seeing radical Calvinism as taking things too far. He believes that men should strive to be morally good given God's grace. He also recognizes Anne Hutchison's talents and she is eventually brought into the congregation. However, she carries the idea of God's power and human helplessness to a heresy often called Antinomianism.

After salvation, Anne believes...