“Doubtfull beginnings”: Confronting Heterodoxy in Early Colonial Virginia, c.1607–1624

Abstract

Efforts among English Protestants to counter heterodox ideas and individuals in early colonial Virginia profoundly shaped the global trajectories of Reformed theology and identity. The authors of colonial sermons, legal documents, and reports channeled the priorities of reformation and evangelism into the religious politics of the Atlantic world, thereby reinforcing theological and structural connections between religion and empire. To do so, they deployed multifarious heterodox personae: atheists, Catholics, and sinners seemed poised to destabilize Christianity, while Indigenous “heathen” people could convert to Christianity and might be saved. Ultimately, these labels reveal more about the volatile origins of global Protestantism than the realities of heterodoxy. They fostered a trans-Atlantic Protestant identity preoccupied with mitigating uncertainty and disorder by intensifying the expansionist dimensions of providence, prophecy, sin, and salvation. This strengthened reciprocity between the Church of England and colonization, nurturing the perception that Virginia was a frontier of global expansion.