Leaving a Legacy: Learning from Puritan Women of Faith
april 24th, 2023 • by Jenny-Lyn de Klerk
What if I told you that the only theological treatise we seem to have from a woman in the seventeenth century is from a Puritan woman? If you had accidentally soaked up all the old stereotypes about the Puritans that our society perpetuates—that the Puritans were mean, scary, and sexist—then you might think I was making a bad joke. But it is actually the truth.
Though women at this time could not go to university and were mostly taught skills that were required for running a household rather than academic disciplines, Lucy Hutchinson took a unique path. Even as a mother of eight, Hutchinson spent much of her life reading and studying theology, poetry, and Latin. And one day she decided to sit down and craft a book of systematic theology for her daughter Barbara. Though this is impressive, it shouldn't surprise us too much because even though the Puritans held to conservative gender values (such as headship of the father in the household), they also did groundbreaking work in encouraging Christians to fill their lives with the Word of God.
The Puritans encouraged all believers—old, young, male, female—to study Scripture, apply it to every aspect of their unique circumstances, and keep notes about their religious experiences so that they could go back and read them again to reflect on their sanctification and God’s faithfulness. In addition to this, they also encouraged believers to have intentional and frequent conversations with each other about their Christian walk and to spend a bit of time each day teaching theology to their dependents, such as children and employees. This is seen, for example, in Hutchinson’s own mother carrying her to church as a child and instilling in her a love of theology.
Yet, all of this the same, Hutchinson’s treatise is still quite amazing and unique for its length, detail, and ambition. We could talk about so many specific doctrines as we look more closely at it. However, I’d like us to focus on the big picture instead—the reality that Hutchinson, a woman, first learned theology from her mother and then, when deciding to sit down and craft her greatest theological work, chose to write it specifically for her daughter.
“Her affection for both her daughter and the church prodded her to move forward in providing what she called “spiritual loving care,” despite all her disadvantages and discouragements.”
Leaving a Spiritual Legacy
The reason we know Hutchinson wrote this treatise for her daughter is because she attached a letter to it, and in this letter we get an intimate look into why she wrote her treatise in the first place. Here, Hutchinson openly interacts with reasons that Barbara (and perhaps other readers) may question her for making such a bold statement as to write an entire theology book. She easily could have bought Barbara an affordable, short catechism written by professionally trained theologians, but Hutchinson believed it was her duty as a mother to do all she could to stabilize her daughter’s faith herself, and she could not shirk this duty.
Of course, Hutchinson would have followed in her own mother’s footsteps in orally catechizing her children at home when they were young, but she now takes an opportunity to put this into written form so that Barbara would hang on to it and carry it with her as she grew up and moved out of the house. This was the main reason Hutchinson wrote a book in the first place—so that as Barbara became an independent adult, she would choose to stick close to the faith and love of the universal church rather than being led astray.
Writing Through Great Difficulty
Yet, completing this task of writing a book was not easy. In addition to responding to Barbara’s potential questions, Hutchinson also highlighted her own private struggles, saying that had she received external support, been writing with more self-confidence, and had not been dealing with illness, distractions, failures, and personal weaknesses, her writing would have carried an air of greater authority. At this point in her life, Hutchinson had seen her husband suffer and die in prison and was left to manage the family on her own, eventually being forced to sell their estates and becoming somewhat of a nomad.
Yet, Hutchinson didn’t let these things stop her from writing. Her affection for both her daughter and the church prodded her to move forward in providing what she called “spiritual loving care,” despite all her disadvantages and discouragements (The Works of Lucy Hutchinson, vol. 2, ed. Elizabeth Clarke). Thus, while we know that Hutchinson’s father and Barbara’s father also loved theology and took an interest and role in their children’s education, it is notable that the key story of theology in the Apsley-Hutchinson family is that of Lucy’s mother passing it on to her, and Lucy then passing it down to her daughter. Rather than being a male-only endeavor, teaching and learning theology was a notably female activity in this Christian family.
“It is vital for women to pass on the faith in their families and communities.”
Women: Equipped by God to Pass on the Faith
All in all, the main lesson I think all of us—whether single, married without children, or married with children—can take away from this story is that it is vital for women to pass on the faith in their families and communities, and though there may be many factors working against us in accomplishing this task, we can move forward with faith and labor to the best of our abilities knowing God has equipped us. For Hutchinson, this meant applying her skills of reading, writing, and thinking to author an entire book. But for Hutchinson’s mother, Hutchinson’s daughter, and even Hutchinson herself to an extent (as she did not receive the same kind of training as some Puritan men did), this didn’t mean becoming professional theologians. It simply meant fulfilling their God-given duty and entrusting the fruits of their work to him.
And just like them, what really makes us qualified, and why we cannot fail, is because we are in a special relationship—not only with the person in our spiritual care, but also with God, who blesses “every . . . woman in the world,” even those who “lie under the heaviest outward pressure” (The Works of Lucy Hutchinson, vol. 2).
Jenny-Lyn de Klerk (PhD, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the author of 5 Puritan Women: Portraits of Faith and Love (Crossway, 2023) and has contributed to the Essential Lexham Dictionary of Church History (Lexham, 2022). She works as an editor at Crossway and you can follow her on Twitter @puritanjenny.
MORE FROM JOURNEYWOMEN
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen articles are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select writers each week, articles shared on the Journeywomen website do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the authors or any other resources mentioned.
