Changes

==Controversies==

==Controversies==

When [[Harvard University|Harvard's]] first president Henry Dunster abandoned Puritanism in favor of the Baptist faith in 1653, he provoked a controversy that highlighted two distinct approaches to dealing with dissent in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The colony's Puritan leaders, whose own religion was born of dissent from mainstream Church of England, generally worked for reconciliation with members who questioned matters of Puritan theology but responded much more harshly to outright rejection of Puritanism. Dunster's conflict with the colony's magistrates began when he failed to have his infant son baptized, believing, as a newly converted Baptist, that only adults should be baptized. Efforts to restore Dunster to Puritan orthodoxy failed, and his apostasy proved untenable to colony leaders who had entrusted him, in his job as Harvard's president, to uphold the colony's religious mission. Thus, he represented a threat to the stability of society. Dunster exiled himself in 1654 and moved to nearby Plymouth Colony, where he died in 1658.<ref> Timothy L. Wood, "'I Spake the Truth in the Feare of God': the Puritan Management of Dissent During the Henry Dunster Controversy," ''Historical Journal of Massachusetts'' 2005 33(1): 1-19, </ref>

When [[Harvard University|Harvard's]] first president Henry Dunster abandoned Puritanism in favor of the Baptist faith in 1653, he provoked a controversy that highlighted two distinct approaches to dealing with dissent in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The colony's Puritan leaders, whose own religion was born of dissent from mainstream Church of England, generally worked for reconciliation with members who questioned matters of Puritan theology but responded much more harshly to outright rejection of Puritanism. Dunster's conflict with the colony's magistrates began when he failed to have his infant son baptized, believing, as a newly converted Baptist, that only adults should be baptized. Efforts to restore Dunster to Puritan orthodoxy failed, and his apostasy proved untenable to colony leaders who had entrusted him, in his job as Harvard's president, to uphold the colony's religious mission. Thus, he represented a threat to the stability of society. Dunster exiled himself in 1654 and moved to nearby Plymouth Colony, where he died in 1658.<ref>Timothy L. Wood, "'I Spake the Truth in the Feare of God': the Puritan Management of Dissent During the Henry Dunster Controversy," ''Historical Journal of Massachusetts'' 2005 33(1): 1-19,</ref>

==Congregationalists==

==Congregationalists==

* Miller, Perry, and Thomas H. Johnson, eds. ''The Puritans: A Sourcebook of Their Writings'' (2001)

* Miller, Perry, and Thomas H. Johnson, eds. ''The Puritans: A Sourcebook of Their Writings'' (2001)

==external links==

==External links==

* [http://www.questia.com/library/religion/christianity/history/16th-and-17th-centuries/puritans.jsp Online books on Puritans]

* [http://www.questia.com/library/religion/christianity/history/16th-and-17th-centuries/puritans.jsp Online books on Puritans]

* [http://www.questia.com/library/puritan-literature.jsp Online books on Puritan literature]

* [http://www.questia.com/library/puritan-literature.jsp Online books on Puritan literature]

* [http://www.puritanlibrary.com/ Puritan Library]

* [http://www.puritanlibrary.com/ Puritan Library]

====references====

====References====

<references/>

<references/>

[[Category:Christian Denominations]]

[[Category:Christian Denominations]]

[[Category:Colonial America]]

[[Category:Colonial America]]

[[Category:Puritans]]

[[Category:Puritans]]

[[category:Religion and Politics]]

[[Category:Religion and Politics]]