| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000)
Fiscal Year 2000: ¥300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 1999: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The year 2000 was the final year of my research project. I presented a paper entitled, "Cotton and Wheelwright in Letters, a Reconciliation after the Antinomian Controversy, " at the 72nd National Convention of the English Literary Society of Japan on May 20. This paper covers unpublished letters by Cotton and Wheelwright in which Cotton persuaded Wheelwright to soften his position to find a compromise with the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Cotton, who deeply believed in God's grace and selection for salvation and rejected false salvation through strict moral law, empathized with Wheelwright. Yet stubborn Wheelwright found compromise to be a disgrace to the purity of his religion. Cotton finally succeeded in persuading him to change his opinion and brought him to the General Court of Massachusetts.
I also discussed the life and beliefs of Wheelwright at a meeting of the Japanese Association of Early Americanists in June. Professor Sargent Bush of the Univ.of Wisconsin has been a great help with my research, especially in reading manuscripts by Cotton. I am planning to start a joint research project on the legacy of Puritanism with him next year.
I published a report called, "John Cotton and Puritanism in America, " as the final element of my project. My 238-page book covers the founding of the North American colonies, the theology of Congregationalism, and the major Puritan clergymen and politicians. With more research and details added, I hope to publish it as a scholarly work. I have already applied for the grant.
My research started in 1998 and continued until March 2001. During these three years I carried out almost all the items I listed in the original project plan. I believe my final report shows the originality of my research on American Puritanism and introduces a number of detailed historical findings.
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