Conflicts of Law: Reconsidering the Influence of Religion on Law in Massachusetts Bay

The idea that there were different points of view in seventeenth century Massachusetts Bay is not a new one. Several recent studies have undermined Perry Miller's monolithic “Puritan Mind”-demonstrating there were many strands of thought even among the nominally orthodox, and suggesting that we...

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Veröffentlicht in:Numen 1996, Vol.43 (2), p.139-156
1. Verfasser: Dale, Elizabeth
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:The idea that there were different points of view in seventeenth century Massachusetts Bay is not a new one. Several recent studies have undermined Perry Miller's monolithic “Puritan Mind”-demonstrating there were many strands of thought even among the nominally orthodox, and suggesting that we think of the settlers in New England as members of a movement with many ideas, rather than holders of a single point of view. While the idea that there were divisions within the category of Puritan is not a new one, the extent to which that ideological pluralism had a practical impact on the Bay colony's institutions, from its families to its governing system, has not yet been explored. This paper is a preliminary effort to demonstrate how ideological pluralism led to different conceptions of law, and had a practical effect on the legal system developed in the first generation of settlement in Massachusetts Bay.
ISSN:0029-5973
1568-5276
DOI:10.1163/1568527962598304