biography
pronunciation:
[mather]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1663–1728)
|
| biography:
| Clergyman and writer, born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, the son of Increase Mather. He entered Harvard at age 12, graduated when he was 15, was ordained (1685), and held office at Boston's Second Church for the rest of his life (as his father's colleague until 1723). In 1689 he advocated rebellion against the unpopular Sir Edmund Andros with his political writings. He supported the new Massachusetts charter (1691) and the new royal governor, Sir William Phips, of whom he wrote a biography, Pietas in Patriam (1697). His writings on witchcraft may have increased the mind-set that led to the Salem witch trials (1692), but he believed that fasting and prayer were the proper methods for fighting witchcraft. His political popularity declined after 1692, but his religious leadership remained strong, and he began to sponsor Yale, rather than Harvard, as the centre for Congregational education. He wrote over 450 books during his lifetime. |
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