Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather (1663-1728) was a famous preacher and writer during the Colonial Period.
- Cotton Mather: BritannicaCotton Mather, (born February 12, 1663, Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony [U.S.]—died February 13, 1728, Boston), American Congregational minister and author, supporter of the old order of the ruling clergy, who became the most celebrated of all New England Puritans. He combined a mystical strain (he believed in the existence of witchcraft) with a modern scientific interest (he supported smallpox inoculation).
- Cotton Mather: New World EncyclopediaCotton Mather (February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728). A.B. 1678 (Harvard College), A.M. 1681; honorary doctorate 1710 (University of Glasgow), was a socially and politically influential Puritan minister, prolific author, and pamphleteer. Mather descended from colonial New England's two most influential families, Mather was the son of the noted Puritan divine Increase Mather (1639 – 1723) and the grandson of John Cotton and Richard Mather, both "Moses-like figures" during the exodus of English Puritans to America...
Research & Reference
- Cotton Mather Papers: Colonial North America at Harvard LibraryView various digitizations of material written by or related to Cotton Mather.
- Cotton Mather’s account of the Salem witch trials, 1693: Gilder Lehrman Institute of American HistoryMost Americans’ knowledge of the seventeenth century comes from heavily mythologized events: the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth, Pocahontas purportedly saving Captain John Smith from execution in early Virginia, and the Salem witch trials of 1692. The myths surrounding what happened in Salem make the true story that much more difficult to uncover...
- Cottonus Matheris (Cotton Mather): METEngraved and published Boston by Peter Pelham (American (born England), London 1697–1751 Boston, Massachusetts)
- The Mathers: University of Virginia LibraryFor four generations, the Puritan dynasty of Richard, Increase, Cotton, and Samuel Mather and their close relatives dominated the religious and intellectual life of colonial New England. The Mathers collected what was by far the best private library in the American Colonies; they also preached and published prolifically. In 1935 Tracy W. McGregor seized the opportunity to acquire the best collection in private hands of books and manuscripts written by or relating to the Mathers...
Streaming Media
- Printers, Painters, and PreachersAmericans developed cultural forms in both music and art that were uniquely American. The most important cultural transition, part of the European Enlightenment, was from a religious to a scientific and secular understanding of the world. Three illustrative figures of this transition are Cotton Mather, Benjamin Franklin, and Jonathan Edwards.
- Who is Cotton MatherThis course explores the history of Boston from the 1600’s to the present day. Learn about the native people who lived on the land we now know as Boston before the Puritans arrived. Discover how the European settlers created a robust system of self government and a democracy so strong that Boston became the birthplace of the Revolutionary War. Trace the city’s role in the American anti-slavery movement and the Civil War. The course will help you understand why Boston remains revolutionary to this day, redefining education, the arts and medicine, through its world-class museums, orchestras, hospitals and schools.
Author's Works & Perspectives
Biblia Americana
Volume 1 (Genesis) of Cotton Mather' Biblia Americana (1693-1728) is particularly valuable because Mather addresses some of the most hotly debated questions of his age: Are the six days of God's creation to be taken literally? Can the geological record of the earth's age be reconciled with biblical chronology? Were there men before Adam? Why are the religions of the ancient Canaanites, Egyptians, and Greeks so similar to the revealed religion of Moses? Did God dictate the Bible to his prophets, and how many (if any) of the books of the Pentateuch did Moses write? Such questions were as relevant during the early Enlightenment as, indeed, they are to many believers today. Edited, introduced, annotated, and indexed by Reiner Smolinski, Mather's commentary on Genesis is as rich in its critical texture as it is surprisingly modern in its answers to many central concerns of the Christian faith.Published in North America by Baker Academic, Grand Rapids
The Life and Times of Cotton Mather
The early American Congregational minister and author Cotton Mather (1663-1728), remembered mainly for his participation in the Salem witch trials, is perhaps the greatest and most misunderstood figure in pre-revolutionary American history. Mather believed his main purpose in life was to do good and he devoted his life to praying, preaching, and writing, eventually publishing more than 400 works.