Anne Hutchinson

A female theologian active in the 17th-century Massachusetts Bay Colony. As a member of the "Free Grace" movement emphasizing God's grace over legalism, she publicly criticized the strict doctrine of Puritan society. The home meetings she hosted evolved into the "Antinomian Controversy," which shook church authority. She was put on trial over women's social roles and the nature of faith, and was ultimately banished from the colony. Afterward, with the help of Roger Williams, she fled to Rhode Island and became a symbol of religious freedom.

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