The Passion of Anne Hutchinson

In Marilyn J. Westerkamp's lively new biography of Anne Hutchinson, readers find a charismatic leader whose voice rises with “conviction and vitality, wit and intelligence” (p. 3). Asking how Hutchinson became such a significant leader, Westerkamp points to the power of mystical spirituality within Puritanism. The leveling force of that strain—one that treats all believers as equal before God and as brides of Christ—appealed especially to women, Westerkamp claims, and competed with hierarchical structures of religion. In the oppositions sketched by this book (which are sometimes too binary), an educated ministry maintains its authority by squashing “the ecstasy and power of mystical communion” (p. 7). Within this narrative arc, Westerkamp presents the “Hutchinsonian Controversy” as a “gender conflict”—a claim she fleshes out with several chapters of cultural context (p. 58). Chapters 3 and 4, in particular, offer excellent accounts of the status of women and women's spirituality in early modern English society. They demonstrate both the opportunities for women and the restrictions placed on them. These chapters will be useful to anyone studying women in the early modern period. Chapter 5 helpfully links Hutchinson to a broader tradition of prophesying women and spiritual radicals. “The problem,” Westerkamp argues, “was not that women assumed leadership roles. Conflict ensued because women used authority produced by their spiritual power to challenge when they should have supported, or deferred” (p. 182). This is another good chapter of context, and it helps explain why Hutchinson was widely respected before being denounced

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