The spice of popery: Euroamericans and interfaith conflict and coexistence on the Maine frontier, 1688--1727.
Item
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Title
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The spice of popery: Euroamericans and interfaith conflict and coexistence on the Maine frontier, 1688--1727.
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Identifier
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AAI3232042
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identifier
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3232042
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Creator
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Chmielewski, Laura M.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Carol R. Berkin
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Date
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2006
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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History, United States | History, Canadian | Religion, General
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Abstract
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The title of this dissertation comes from a quote by the Reverend Increase Mather. The minister was concerned that the Andros faction, now deposed, had brought in its wake long-term religious consequences to all parts of New England that could not be easily undone. "The Spice of Popery" was a seasoning that many New Englanders disdained on their palates, and fear that it was creeping in, from religious subversives both within and without the colony---and especially from the surrounding French colonial territories---was common.;One of the most porous of these boundaries of faith was the Province of Maine. Almost completely surrounded by territory claimed by the French, and home to several Catholic missions in close proximity to the English settlements, Maine was a particularly fragile and vulnerable part of New England. This fragility was made apparent during the three earliest wars of empire and beyond, when the province's English settlements were repeatedly targeted by French and Indian forces.;Maine's geographic state, however, had the ironic effect of making the province a remarkable rich region for interfaith contact. Though much of this contact was born of duress, it did have the ironic consequence of bringing Protestants and Catholics into a close circle of encounter, conflict, and coexistence. The rhetorical world of the Christian "other" flourished throughout New England, and strengthened together with the region's collective borders. But few places in the Atlantic World have left such a varied legacy of real interfaith interaction, and long-term consequences of that interaction, as colonial Maine. The results---mixed-faith families, inheritance confusion, blurred lines of religious orthodoxy, and accommodation based on proximity and need---would remain a hallmark of Maine's colonial heritage. In addition, such contact highlights the similarities as well as the differences between Christian groups in the early Atlantic World. Reformation and Counter-Reformation reinterpreted many of the aspects of Christian spiritual life. These seeped into colonial religious life, and are seen most clearly where the two faiths encountered each other's representatives in the flesh.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
