This week in Christian history: Puritan leader dies, Criswell ordained, ‘Queen of Methodism’ born

Increase Mather dies — August 23, 1723

This week marks the anniversary of when Increase Mather, prominent Puritan theologian, political figure, and president of Harvard University, passed away.

A native of Dorchester, Massachusetts, Mather had served as a preacher in England before religious intolerance compelled him to return to colonial America.

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He was known for polarizing religious views, reforming the curriculum at Harvard, and supporting the novel practice of small pox inoculation.

“Even more than his illustrious son Cotton, Increase Mather, is representative of American Puritanism in seventeenth-century New England,” stated The Mather Project.

“As a leader of Boston’s ministry, he became the defender of Puritan orthodoxy during its decline; as president of Harvard, he guided the college through its most difficult period; as a political figure, he secured a new charter for Massachusetts when the old had been revoked; and as a voluminous writer, he published in widely diverse disciplines.”