The Influential Spiritual Writings of Anne Dutton: Eighteenth-Century British Baptist Woman Writer: Letters, Volume 1

by JoAnn Ford Watson, Joann Ford Watson

Overview

Women theologians in the eighteenth century were a rarity. Were there no other reason, this alone would make the literary legacy of the Baptist Anne (Williams) Dutton (1692-1765) significant. In 1731, Anne and her minister husband, Benjamin Dutton, settled in Great Gransden, Huntingdonshire. After Benjamin's death, Anne became known on both sides of the Atlantic primarily through her extensive writings, including tracts, treatises, poems, hymns, and letters. Among her many correspondents were Howel Harris, Selina Hastings, William Seward, Phillip Doddridge, John Wesley, and George Whitefield. Harris believed God had entrusted her "with a Talent of writing for Him." Whitefield, who helped promote and publish Anne's writings, commented upon meeting her that "her conversation is as weighty as her letters." She wrestled with the question of whether it was "biblical" for a woman to be a writer of theological matters. But in a tract entitled "A Letter to such of the Servants of Christ, who may have any scruple about the Lawfulness of Printing any thing written by a Woman" (1743), she stated that she wrote not for herself but "only the glory of God and the good of souls." Dutton's writings impacted evangelical revival in England and America. Not since 1884 have any of her writings been readily available. Now extensive portions of her letters, her tracts and booklets, and her poetry and hymns are once again available.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780865547940
Publisher:	Mercer University Press
Publication date:	07/15/2003
Series:	Baptists Series
Pages:	408
Product dimensions:	6.32(w) x 9.46(h) x 1.58(d)

Table of Contents

	Portrait of Anne Dutton	vi
	Preface	vii
	Anne Dutton Memorial Stone (1887)	ix
	Anne Dutton Memorial Plaque	x
	Introduction	xi
	Bibliography	xlv
	A Letter from Mrs. Anne Dutton. To the Reverend Mr. G. Whitefield	1
	Letters to the Reverend Mr. John Wesley: against Perfection: as Not Attainable in This Life	5
	A Letter to the Reverend Mr. John Wesley. In Vindication of the Doctrines of Absolute, Unconditional Election, Particular Redemption, Special Vocation, and Final Perseverance /etc./	37
	Selections from Letters on Spiritual Subjects Addressed to Relatives and Friends	85
	Transcription of the Text of the 1822 Memorial Stone	403
	Index	405