On Sunday, November 5, we celebrated All Saints. Reflecting on that Sunday’s sermon, in which the Rev. Dr. Martha Tucker prompted us to consider a holy future with sainthood as possible for all and to think about how God’s presence is revealed in history, we devote this space to some sources on the origins of colonization in New England.

An informative series, Religion and the Legacies of Slavery, was offered last spring by the Harvard Divinity School. These public conversations explored the role of religion in enhancing a commitment to reparative action in our time. A new fall series, offered by the Partnership of Historic Bostons (Boston, MA and Boston, Lincolnshire, England) began recently in online format. The Partnership’s goal is to focus on seventeenth-century, forgotten histories of the two Bostons. We found the first talk accessible and well-documented: Built from Bondage: Slavery and the Colonization of New England, 1620-1700.

Another well-researched and oft-cited work, which builds on noted scholars’ treatments of colonization in our region, while also breaking new ground, is New England Bound by Wendy Warren (New York: Liveright Publishing, 2016).

— Mary Beth Clack, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin

Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church  Nov. 8, 16, 22, 29