This week in Christian history: Methodist preacher dies, Eritrean Orthodox patriarch under house arrest attends first service

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, July 16, 2023

Anne Hutchinson baptized – July 20, 1591

Puritan leader Anne Hutchinson, shown on trial for heresy in this early 20th century picture. Hutchinson was eventually banished from Massachusetts colony for her beliefs. | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when Anne Hutchinson, famed religious dissenter of Puritan Massachusetts, was baptized shortly after her birth in Alford, Lincolnshire, England.

Hutchinson and her family would later join the Puritan movement, eventually moving to Massachusetts Bay Colony, where she would garner controversy for her religious views.

“She emphasized the individual’s relationship with God, stressing personal revelation over institutionalized observances and absolute reliance on God’s grace rather than on good works as the means to salvation,” noted the Library of Congress.

“Hutchinson’s views challenged religious orthodoxy, while her growing power as a female spiritual leader threatened established gender roles.”

Though she argued that her views were based on the Bible, Massachusetts found her guilty of heresy, with Hutchinson being excommunicated and banished from the colony.