FREE ESSAY ON ANNE HUTCHINSON

ANNE HUTCHINSON

Anne Hutchinson challenged the traditional role of women in the Puritan society through
her opposing religious beliefs. Anne Hutchinson was most likely not the first woman to
have her own thoughts. She was simply the first to act on them. 
Anne Hutchinson was born on or about July17, 1591 in Alford, Licolnshire, England. She
was the daughter of Reverend Francis Marbury. Rev. Marbury spoke out that many of the
ordained ministers in the Church of England were unfit to guide people's souls. For this
act of defiance, he was put in jail for one year. Anne read many of her father's books on
theology and religion. Much of Anne's independence and willingness to speak out was due
to her father's example. Anne admired her father for his defiance of traditional church
principles. 
Then in 1612 she married William Hutchinson. Together they had 15 children. 
In 1634 she and her husband moved to Boston. Here Anne began holding informal church
meetings in her home discussing the pastor's services and also preaching her beliefs to
her followers. Threatened by meetings she held in her Boston home, the clergy charged
Hutchinson with hersey. An outspoken female in a male hierarchy, Hutchinson had little
hope that many would speak in her defense, and she was being tried by the General Court.
In 1636 she was charged with hersey and banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony. Several
years later when she moved to New York she was killed in an Indian attack.
Anne challenged the Puritan clergy. She believed that: 1.One can feel one's salvation and
is filled with the spirit of God after conversion. 2.One needn't be learned in the Bible
or in the Puritan writers in order to be saved. 3.The ministers are all under the
covenant of works, except John Cotton, who is under the covenant of grace.4. Inner light
is the guarantee of salvation.5. All responsibility for salvation is placed on Christ.
6.Every person has the ear of God if only he or she would ask for it, and listen to the
answer. 7.Indian slavery is wrong - people of all skin colors are of one blood. 8.Sunday
shouldn't be set aside as the Lord's Day because every day is the Lord's day.
9.Christians will have new bodies when they get to heaven.10.Predestination is
unfounded.11.Prayers should not be memorized, but inspired by love for God, waiting on
Him.12.Holy Spirit dwells within each Christian like a personal union.13.The Law should
be interpreted by each person as their own conscience dictates.14.Child baptism is wrong
because the child doesn't know what is being done to him or her. Her preachings were
unjustly labeled as antinomianism and she was called antinomian or a person that holds
that the moral law is no obligation for those who have true faith againt law. 
Anne Hutchinson was condemned because she did not fit into the prescribed role of women
in her colonial period basically that of having no will or mind of her own. Anne was a
free thinker. She wasn't afraid to speak out against the church. She was clearly a great
leader in the cause of religious toleration in America and the advancement of women in
society.
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Bibliography
Works Cited
Crawford, Deborah. Four Women in a Violent Time. NewYork: Crown Publishers Inc.,
1970.
Rogers, Jay. America's Christian Leaders: Anne Hutchinson. 7 pars. Online. Available
HYPERLINK http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0193_Anne_Hutchinson. html
W.Jenny. Anne Hutchinson 5 pars. Online. Available HYPERLINK
http://www.gms.ocps.k12.fl.us/biopage/h-m/hutchinson.html