Antinomian Controversy and the trial of Anne Hutchinson

Timeline

1. 1636–1637Boston · BostonAnne Hutchinson, who arrived in Boston in 1634, expanded her women's exegesis group into large mixed meetings, commenting on weekly sermons and distinguishing ministers of the 'covenant of grace' from those of the 'covenant of works.' Boston teacher John Cotton was at one point theologically close to her, and her brother-in-law John Wheelwright publicly defended the doctrine of grace. After Wheelwright's fast-day sermon in March 1637, the General Court convicted him of sedition and contempt, shifting the controversy from doctrine to colonial order and whether women's public teaching was lawful.
2. 1637Newtown · CambridgeIn May 1637 the General Court moved the election to the more conservative Newtown, where John Winthrop defeated Henry Vane, who supported Hutchinson, to be re-elected governor, and several pro-Hutchinson constables in Boston lost their seats. Vane returned to England that August. At the turn of summer and autumn, ministers from the towns convened a synod at Newtown, listing and condemning dozens of alleged errors, providing a doctrinal list for the subsequent judicial pursuit, as the orthodox party completed its political and theological arrangements.
3. 1637Newtown meetinghouse · CambridgeThe General Court sat at Newtown, with Winthrop serving as both chief judge and prosecutor, charging Hutchinson with slandering ministers, holding meetings 'unfitting her sex,' and disturbing the colony's peace. She answered with scripture and for a time left several officials unable to substantiate the charges. The next day she claimed direct revelations from God and impending punishment on the colony; the court convicted her of contempt and sedition and sentenced her to banishment, first detaining her in Roxbury. Wheelwright was also sentenced to banishment.
4. 1638Boston Church · BostonIn March 1638 the Boston Church held an ecclesiastical trial, presided over by ministers including John Wilson, with John Davenport taking part in the questioning. Cotton in turn distanced himself from the orthodox party. Hutchinson was excommunicated. Her husband and supporters had already gone south, and she subsequently reached Aquidneck Island, taking part in the settlement that became Portsmouth. Massachusetts completed its purge of public dissent through banishment while pushing part of its population toward Rhode Island's experiment in religious toleration.