Lifelong Learning Lecture Series: Cotton Mather: A Man of Two Worlds
Presented by Dr. P. Bradley Nutting, Emeritus Professor of History, FSU
Cotton Mather (1663-1728) the descendant of grandparents John Cotton and Richard Mather was the last in a line of the Puritan preachers who had dominated the first century of colonial Massachusetts and a harbinger of the 18 th century Enlightenment. He is best known in the popular mind for his role in aiding and abetting the Salem witchcraft hysteria. His writings on diabolic possession, which he believed based on empirical evidence, harkened back to a medieval mindset which was an accepted part of that culture. What is less appreciated is that Mather in that his most significant writings showed an opening in the direction of a modern, rationalist worldview. Mather the witch-hunter was also a fierce proponent of inoculation to prevent smallpox. His essay Bonifacius (1710) which urged the formation of reform organizations to combat social evils would go on to strongly influence fellow Bostonian, the young Ben Franklin. Elected to the Royal Society for his scientific writings Mather was a man truly a man of two worlds and two minds.
Attend in person here at the Main Library Costin room or stream live on YouTube at youtube.com/FraminghamPublicLibrary