Cotton Mather’s Magnalia Christi Americana (London: Thomas Parkhurst, 1702) is a monumental ecclesiastical history of 17th-century New England that offers rich insight into how early Americans – particularly the Puritan settlers of Massachusetts – understood themselves as a covenant nation. In Puritan thought, a “covenant” was a solemn contract with God that bound their community to a divine mission. Mather’s sprawling account of New England’s founding and development frames the colonies’ story as a continuation of the biblical covenant tradition, portraying the settlers as God’s new chosen people in the American wilderness. By recounting providential deliverances, pious leaders’ biographies, and the founding of key institutions, Magnalia Christi Americana reinforces a collective religious mission for New England. This Puritan sense of divine election and covenantal identity, as preserved and promoted by Mather, is not only crucial for understan...
Advocate for Integrity