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Persecution of Anne Hutchinson

Stephanie Ocko, in her article "Anne Hutchinson: 'A Verye Dangerous Woman,'" writes about the persecution of a leading female religious leader who died some 350 years ago. The reader might wonder whether the issues in Ocko's article are relevant, but in Charlene Spretnak's "The Christian Right's 'Holy War' Against Feminism," we quickly understand that the persecution of Hutchinson is indeed exceedingly relevant. The fearful hatred of any strong women by many male leaders---political, religious or otherwise---is as alive today as it was over three centuries ago. Although it is clear that Ocko is on Hutchinson's side in her dispute with her persecutors, she is fairly objective in presenting the facts of the story until the end, when she refers to the "ridiculous charges" against Hutchinson (Ocko 27). The charges against Hutchinson are, in fact, so preposterous that the words of her persecutors are enough to indict them as foolish men terrified of a strong female leader with a good argument based on love and with loyal followers.

Basically, Hutchinson argued that the saved in Christianity were those elevated not by works but by grace:

Those who would be saved, she said, were those in whom the Holy Spirit lived; this was signalled by a personal love of Christ and an inner light. The ministers of Boston, she said, preached too much that people could be saved only by "works," that is, by following the Scriptures and the Ten Commandments (Ocko 25).

There are legitimate arguments that can be set forth on both sides of the works vs. grace debate, but that debate does not seem to be at the heart of the issue, at least in the terms set forth by Ocko. The persecutors of Hutchinson have little to say about the substance of the argument that Christians are saved not through works but through grace. They have much to say, on the other hand, about the fact that the person setting forth this argument is a woman. If we are to take Ocko's ac...

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Persecution of Anne Hutchinson. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:00, March 19, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1700607.html