Making Heretics: Militant Protestantism and Free Grace in Massachusetts, 1636-1641

Making Heretics is a groundbreaking narrative that fundamentally recasts the famous Massachusetts disputes of the late 1630s as a complex ongoing interaction of personalities and personal agendas, rather than a simplistic "antinomian controversy." This book offers a striking portrayal of Thomas Shepard as an angry heresy-hunting militant, while also highlighting the contributions of previously neglected figures like Sir Henry Vane and John Wheelwright.

With a focus on the rich contexts of ministerial quarrels, negotiations over fine but bitterly contested theological points, and the shadowy worlds of orthodox and unorthodox lay piety, Making Heretics provides an object study in the ways that puritanism generated, managed, and failed to manage diversity.

This book will appeal to scholars of American religious history, early American studies, and colonial history, as well as anyone interested in the complexities of Puritanism and its impact on the development of American society.