Helen Gelinas

Based on continuing research on Cotton Mather’s “Biblia Americana” manuscript, my work focuses on Mather’s theological construction of gender roles in the ‘Biblia.’ With the working title, “Feminine Typology in Cotton Mather’s ‘Biblia Americana’” my project examines numerous aspects of Mather’s developing ecclesiology based on his interpretations of the “feminine” (grammatically, allegorically, historiographically and spiritually) as representative of the “church” in biblical exegesis and of its close association with the Holy Spirit in biblical prophecy and in eschatology. It will also attempt to unravel the theological bases for Mather’s reformist agendas toward the education of women and for his advocacy of quiet but productive female participation in the work of evangelism. I plan to demonstrate that the basis for many of Mather’s exceptions to puritan tradition such as his unconventional approaches to conversion, his liberal and vivid uses of espousal imagery as a vehicle for prophetic preaching, and even his insistence on new forms of music in the church stem in large measure from his typological understanding of the biblical role of the female gender as set forth in the ‘Biblia Americana.’

My thesis will also juxtapose Mather the innovator with Mather the traditionalist rooted in orthodox reformed theology, striving to reconcile his insistence on a literalist interpretation of the Bible (and his strict adherence to Pauline injunctions) with his striking views on female spiritual and intellectual equality. It will also examine the conflicts inherent in Mather’s millennial expectations for an Age of the Spirit, and for the role of women in that age. On the one hand, Mather feared the disorder which his innovative interpretations could arouse as well as all fanaticism and the attendant “enthusiasm” his notions might engender; on the other, he was on the lookout for extraordinary moves of the Spirit which would, he believed, herald the second coming of Christ, some of which according to prophecy, should involve women. Thus his solution to the marriage of the two was a carefully developed gender construct which can be traced to his writings in the ‘Biblia.’

In addition, it will be seen that some of Mather’s emphasis in sermons and other writings on experiential piety emerge both as a counterpoint to the growth of Enlightenment rationalism and from certain forms of “gendered spirituality” even as the reliability of texts was becoming more and more tenuous. Once again, it would be the typology of gender which would in part help him to reconcile millennial promises within the established Reformed tradition in an age during which the authority of texts was increasingly challenged.