Why did Henry Dunster Reject Infant Baptism?: Circumcision and the Covenant of Grace in the Seventeenth-Century Transatlantic Reformed Community
In 1653 Henry Dunster, Harvard's first President, refused to baptise his fourth child, initiating a controversy that would end in his resignation from the Harvard presidency in October 1654. This article offers an explanation for Dunster's rejection of infant baptism by re-examining the ca...
| Published in: | The journal of ecclesiastical history |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
2021
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| In: |
The journal of ecclesiastical history
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Dunster, Henry 1609-1659
/ Holyoke, Edward 1586-1660
/ Tombes, John 1603-1676
/ England
/ New England
/ Infant baptism
/ Reformed theology
/ Divine covenant
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| IxTheo Classification: | KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KBF British Isles KBQ North America KDD Protestant Church NBP Sacramentology; sacraments |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In 1653 Henry Dunster, Harvard's first President, refused to baptise his fourth child, initiating a controversy that would end in his resignation from the Harvard presidency in October 1654. This article offers an explanation for Dunster's rejection of infant baptism by re-examining the causes behind the spread of antipaedobaptism across 1640s England and New England, attributing special significance to the Anglophone reception of continental European covenant theology. Supporting this account, it presents an annotated edition of a previously unknown item in Dunster's correspondence, a letter sent to him by a concerned onlooker just months after his heterodoxy became public. |
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| ISSN: | 1469-7637 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of ecclesiastical history
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0022046920002572 |