Grappling with the mixed legacy of our forebears in the faith is essential if we’re to engage honestly and constructively in conversations about America’s troubled history.
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For many generations, historians tended to emphasize the Puritans’ piety, faithfulness, and zeal for liberty—and how these virtues shaped the American experiment—while ignoring atrocities they committed. This valorization shapes how many Christians remember the Puritans today.
More recently, the trend has been to demonize the Puritans, as if their Christianity was mere hypocrisy, a cloak designed to hide their lust for Native land or an ideology to justify their brutal exploitation. Many Americans want their history to play like a Marvel movie: with heroes and villains. Activists and politicians often reduce history to a morality tale to suit their agendas.
