Coming into communion : pastoral dialogues in colonial New England / Laura Henigman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Henigman, Laura, 1960-

Series:

SUNY series in feminist criticism and theory

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women in Christianity--New England--History--18th century.

Women in Christianity.

Church history.

History.

New England--Church history--18th century.

New England.

Physical Description:

xi, 234 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [1999]

Summary:

By exploring the interrelationship between elite and popular religious culture in colonial New England, Coming into Communion shows that laywomen made active significant contributions, through the process of dialogue, to religious language and theology in the early eighteenth century. Case studies examine a variety of women, including the poet Jane Colman Turell, Sarah Edwards (wife of the prominent theologian), and a group of women whose voices are preserved in history because they were accused of killing their newborn babies. Henigman tells the fascinating stories of their inter-changes with their ministers to show that these women subtly revised the language of the clergy, choosing different scripture texts and images to describe a more intimate relationship with God and a holistic sense of community.

Contents:

Chapter 1 To Love and Make a Lie: Narratives of Infanticide 17

Clerical Anxiety and the Execution Sermon 20

"One Word": Sexuality and Separation 24

Competing Communities and the Erasure of Maternity 30

The Pastoral Encounter: Maternity and Community in the Sermons of John Rogers 36

The Passion of Esther Rogers: "Freedom of spirit, and liberty of speech" 44

A Note on the Negro Lad 56

"To Prevent Lives Being Lost": Community Responsibility and the Bastard Neonaticide Act 57

Juries of Women 63

Lessons of Caution for Young Sinners: Silencing a "Child of the Town" 74

"A Witness against Myself": The Challenge of Reconnection through Maternity 79

Chapter 2 On Wedlock and the Birth of Children: the "Pious and Ingenious" Jane Colman Turell 89

Piety or Ingenuity? 92

Piety and Ingenuity: Jane Colman Turell and the Tradition of Women's Religious Poetry 97

"The Voice Leisurely Ascends": Jane Colman Turell and Psalm Paraphrasing 99

Come to the Marriage 111

Benjamin Colman and Marriage: "Union by Vision" 116

"Tho'ts on Matrimony": Jane Turell at Medford 128

Coming into Communion: Jane Colman Turell and the Travailing Woman 134

Aftermath 142

Chapter 3 Flowing and Reflowing: Dialogic Emanations 151

The Danger of Narrative 155

The Body Enspirited 157

Sarah Edwards in Northampton 166.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

079144337X

0791443388

OCLC:

40681939