William Pynchon,
An Independent Mind (2)

As told earlier, one of the main reasons for fleeing England, was the search for religious freedom. The different 'colonies' were in fact a strange mixture of private enterprise, political entity and religious community. Their structure was basically an oligarchy: only a few men decided how the colony was organised. The ideology of these immigrants was purely calvinistic. This means, among many other things, that success in the world was a blessing of the severe god —and vice versa: if god wanted to bless you, he offered prosperity. Being a good citizen was to be a succesful puritan. The bible was the legal basis.

This formed a serious consequence for the division of power in the colonies. The political rights of the citizens were dependent of the proof wether you were blessed. This was done through a Declaration of their Experience of a Work of Grace. From the very beginning of America political rights were only for a few; those in power made a clear distinction between 'elect' and 'preterite', a tension which lies at the heart of Thomas Pynchon's work.

So, blessing and prosperity were identical (a personal note: is this still the case in the US nowadays?). This caused problems. As long as all went well economically, the authorities could accept without problems the declarations. Thus, their authority was not questioned. On the other hand, from the very moment things did not work out very well, conflicts arose. Many economical (and political) conflicts were disguised as theological ones. From the very beginning of the New World's colonisation, theological disputes arose. Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson (who formed the Rhode Island colony) : famous names in early American history, and others, were banned after such religious diputes. The laws were very severe.

John Winthrop held a firm grasp on the habitants of the Boston-Salem region. His ideas were developed in England; during the passage he held sermons in which he indicated how the colony had to be organised. In other words, Winthrop was the main ideologue and his authority was hardly questioned -he was elected again and again gouvernour the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He wanted the colonisers to obey the bible (or his interpretation of it) very strictly. When the General Court convened in Boston economical, political and religious problems were discussed,

The ideology and organisation of this new society was so rigid there were signs of religious hysteria: Winthrop's colony has some very bizarre firsts on American soil: the first witches and the first book burnt.

During the 1645 General Court, attended by William Pynchon, a process was held against Margaret Jones, who was accused of witchcraft, in retrospect a tragic story and sentenced to death. In 1650, during an economic backlash, Springfield settler Mary Parsons was accused of witchraft by the Boston Congregational Church. William Pynchon, being Springfield's highest authority, has handed over this case to the Boston authorities for he had not the power to order the capital punishment; only the General Court could sentence her to death. And it did. Fortunately enough, Mary Persons died in prison before she was burnt. Once again, the economical background was not very good. One may wonder wether the conflict between Pynchon and Boston was a coincidence.

(This hysteria would come and go, culminating in the 1692 Salem Witch trials. The church tried to 'purify' the colony and to restore the original viewpoints of the first settlers in Massachusetts).

The immigrants had strong convictions; theological viewpoints were constantly disputed; after all, they fled England because of their religious convictions. Ships arriving in Boston not only carried common goods, they also brought new ideas, heavily discussed by those immigrants who were interested in it.

This is the background of a conflict between William Pynchon and Boston: a man with an independent mind, a strong character, not afraid of a conflict (about money, taxes or monopolies), passionate in theological affairs, a man who knew latin, Greek, Hebrew. For the record: he married for the second time, with Frances Sanford, a widow whose son Henry Smith would marry Pynchon's daughter Anne.

But what was this theological conflict about?

A good puritan goes to heaven. But to get there, one has to be free of sin. One of the problems puritans encountered was that Adam and Eve were banned from Paradise because of their sins; christians 'know' the concept of the sin that goes from generation to generation: the hereditary sin. Every human being is guilty of being human. To live is to live in sin. Well, pragmatic as the puritans were, they had to find a solution for the problem how to get rid of the original sin in order to get to heaven. They found one: between the moment of Jesus's death and his resurrection three days later, he got heavily tormented in hell. At that very moment he was punished for all the sins committed by men. Jesus suffered for mankind, the puritans said, and even for the whole of mankind in the future (on condition they were good christians) at the moment of their dying. They thought this was fine logic and theology.

William Pynchon disagreed. He wrote a tract that was published in 1650 in London, The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption, (+) and when it reached the American coast it caused great turmoil in Boston. Pynchon said that Jesus in these three days did not go to hell to suffer for mankind, no: he died because he was obedient to god. Christ did not suffer in hell. The religious authorities in Boston thought this a dangerous conviction, for it made the difference between those who were chosen, and the others unclear. The church banned the tract immediately; it was even burnt and only four copies survived. Even the General Court was very strong in condemning the tract. A day of 'Fasting and Humiliation' was ordered: everybody in the Massachusetts Bay Colony had to pay for Satan's influence in the colony was growing. The tract was proof of it.

A book burnt in the Boston Common (from Mason A. Green, 1888)	The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption Click to read the cover's text

During the General Court of May 1651, the case was discussed among the freemen of the colony. But the authorities dealt with a powerful man, and Pynchon was treated in a rather careful way. First, a commission of three clergymen was appointed by the General Court. These three had to try to have Pynchon recant his convictions. That way, they could give him a second chance. Pynchon indeed did recant some of the minor details, and he was sent back to Springfield with the strong advise to think all things over. The next session of the Court had to take a final decision, 6 months later in October. Meanwhile, John Norton, an Ipswich clergyman, was ordered to write a counter-tract (he was given the large sum of 20 £ to do that). The title: "A Discussion of that Great Point in Divinity, the Suffering of Christ; and the Questions about his Righteousnesse (Active, Passive: and the Imputation thereof. Being an Answer to a Dialogue intituled The Meritorious Price of our Redemption, Iustification, &c".

But Pynchon did not give in and he did not come to Boston in October. He decided to leave the colony, and to go back to England. It is ironic that William Pynchon, once emigrating to enjoy a freedom of religion, went back, 22 years later, to his point of departure for just the same reason. Quite discreetly, he handed over his large business to his son John and left Massachusetts in 1652. John Pynchon would be a bit more pragmatic than his father and would stay out of these dangerous discussions for the rest of his life.

William Pynchon bought a small estate in Wraysbury, near Windsor where he lived in all peace with one his daughters, Anne. He kept on studying theology and even published a study involving the same ideas. He died ten years later, on 10 October 1662.

In his own way, Thomas Pynchon tells this story in Gravity's Rainbow. Just go to the pages 554-556 in your own copy.