Antinomian Controversy

Antinomian Controversy

Anne Hutchinson at trial and John Winthrop
Date	October 1636 (1636-10) to March 1638 (1638-03)
Location	Massachusetts Bay Colony
Participants	Free Grace Advocates (sometimes called "Antinomians") Anne Hutchinson John Wheelwright John Cotton Governor Henry Vane the Younger Followers of Hutchinson and Wheelwright Magistrates John Winthrop Thomas Dudley John Endecott Others Ministers John Wilson Thomas Shepard Thomas Weld Hugh Peter John Eliot Others
Outcome	Anne Hutchinson banished and excommunicated John Wheelwright disfranchised and banished Supporters disarmed, dismissed, disfranchised, excommunicated, or banished

The Antinomian Controversy, also known as the Free Grace Controversy, was a religious and political conflict in Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. It pitted most of the colony's ministers and magistrates against some adherents of the Free Grace theology of Puritan minister John Cotton. The most notable Free Grace advocates, often called "Antinomians", were the charismatic Anne Hutchinson, her brother-in-law Reverend John Wheelwright, and the young governor of the colony Henry Vane. The controversy was a theological debate concerning the "covenant of grace" and "covenant of works".

Anne Hutchinson has historically been placed at the center of the controversy, a strong-minded woman situated with the Puritan movement who had grown up under the religious guidance of her father Francis Marbury, an Anglican clergyman and school teacher. In England, she embraced the religious views of dynamic Puritan minister John Cotton, who became her mentor; Cotton was forced to leave England and Hutchinson followed him to New England.

In Boston, Hutchinson was influential among the settlement's women and hosted them at her house for discussions on the weekly sermons. Eventually, men were included in these gatherings, such as Henry Vane the Younger, the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. During the meetings, Hutchinson criticized the colony's ministers, accusing them of preaching "a covenant of works" as opposed to "the covenant of grace" espoused by Reverend Cotton. The Colony's orthodox ministers held meetings with Cotton, Wheelwright, and Hutchinson in the fall of 1636. A consensus was not reached, and religious tensions mounted.

To ease the situation, a day of fasting and repentance was called on 19 January 1637. However, Cotton invited Wheelwright to speak at the Boston church during services that day, and his sermon created a furor that deepened the growing divide. In March 1637, Wheelwright was accused by the court of contempt and sedition but was not sentenced. His supporters, mostly from the Boston church, circulated a petition on his behalf.