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101-691: In 1647, a Puritan reverend by the name of John Eliot created the Hassanmesit "praying town." Through the creation and usage of this town, the Nipmuc people were forcefully converted to Christianity. In 1727, a Nipmuc woman, Sarah Robins took possession of the land that is currently referred to as the Hassanamisco Reservation. In the mid-1600s intermarriages between the Nipmuc people and African Americans became common, whether it be because of bonding over shared marginalization, or because of

202-672: A Christian to come to God through Christ without human mediation. He also maintained that this principle recognizes Christ as prophet , priest, and king and that his priesthood is shared with his people. Protestants who adhere to the Nicene Creed believe in three persons ( God the Father , God the Son , and the God the Holy Spirit ) as one God. Movements that emerged around the time of

303-628: A North American governmental unit. Written in the late 1640s, and published in England in 1659, it proposed a new model of civil government based on the system Eliot instituted among the converted Indians, which was based in turn on the government Moses instituted among the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 18). Eliot asserted that "Christ is the only right Heir of the Crown of England," and called for an elected theocracy in England and throughout

404-752: A United States attorney for the District of Connecticut. He is related to the Bacon family. Eliot died in 1690, aged 85, his last words being "welcome joy!" His descendants became one branch of a Boston Brahmin family. The historic cemetery in Roxbury, Massachusetts, was named Eliot Burying Ground . Natick remembers him with a monument on the grounds of the Bacon Free Library. The John Eliot Elementary School in Needham, Massachusetts , founded in 1956,

505-636: A boy. He attended Jesus College, Cambridge . After college, he became assistant to Thomas Hooker at a private school in Little Baddow , Essex. After Hooker was forced to flee to the Netherlands, Eliot emigrated to Boston , Massachusetts, arranging passage as chaplain on the ship Lyon and arriving on 3 November 1631. Eliot became minister and "teaching elder" at the First Church in Roxbury . From 1637 to 1638 Eliot participated in both

606-650: A certain part of Protestantism rather than to Protestantism as a whole. The English word traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States . Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran , preferring the term evangelical , which was derived from euangelion , a Greek word meaning "good news", i.e. " gospel ". The followers of John Calvin , Huldrych Zwingli , and other theologians linked to

707-567: A handful of Protestant denominational families; Adventists , Anabaptists , Anglicans/Episcopalians , Baptists , Calvinist/Reformed , Lutherans , Methodists , Moravians , Plymouth Brethren , Presbyterians , and Quakers . Nondenominational , charismatic and independent churches are also on the rise, having recently expanded rapidly throughout much of the world, and constitute a significant part of Protestantism. These various movements, collectively labeled "popular Protestantism" by scholars such as Peter L. Berger , have been called one of

808-591: A less critical reading of the Bible developed in the United States—leading to a " fundamentalist " reading of Scripture. Christian fundamentalists read the Bible as the "inerrant, infallible " Word of God, as do the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran churches, but interpret it in a literalist fashion without using the historical-critical method . Methodists and Anglicans differ from Lutherans and

909-456: A portion of Hopkinton that is now in the Town of Ashland (Makunkokoag), Canton (Punkapoag), and Mendon-Uxbridge (Wacentug). The " Praying Towns " were recorded by seventeenth-century settlers including Daniel Gookin . In 1662, Eliot witnessed the signing of the deed for Mendon with Nipmuck Indians for "Squinshepauk Plantation". Eliot's better intentions can be seen in his involvement in

1010-472: A priest with possessions, such as a pope, was in such grave sin), may have translated the Bible into vernacular English , and preached anticlerical and biblically centred reforms. His rejection of a real divine presence in the elements of the Eucharist foreshadowed Huldrych Zwingli's similar ideas in the 16th century. Wycliffe's admirers came to be known as " Lollards ". Beginning in the first decade of

1111-731: A reaction against abuses in the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church, which purported to offer the remission of the temporal punishment of sins to their purchasers. The term, however, derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical . In the 16th century , Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark–Norway , Sweden , Finland , Livonia , and Iceland . Calvinist churches spread in Germany, Hungary ,

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1212-782: A revolt erupted. Hussites defeated five continuous crusades proclaimed against them by the Pope . Later theological disputes caused a split within the Hussite movement. Utraquists maintained that both the bread and the wine should be administered to the people during the Eucharist. Another major faction were the Taborites , who opposed the Utraquists in the Battle of Lipany during the Hussite Wars . There were two separate parties among

1313-480: A vast amount of land and were spread throughout what is now eastern to central Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut . The people hunted, gathered, and planted food. The women of the tribe were in charge of farming, producing, and preparing food for their families and were the ones who passed down cultural knowledge from generation to generation. Since the wetus that they lived in could be moved, they were seen as "wanderers." They took great care of

1414-413: Is Jovinian , who lived in the fourth century AD. He attacked monasticism , ascetism and believed that a saved believer can never be overcome by Satan. In the 9th century, the theologian Gottschalk of Orbais was condemned for heresy by the Catholic Church. Gottschalk believed that the salvation of Jesus was limited and that his redemption was only for the elect. The theology of Gottschalk anticipated

1515-751: Is diverse, being divided into various denominations on the basis of theology and ecclesiology , not forming a single structure as with the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy . Protestants adhere to the concept of an invisible church , in contrast to the Catholic, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East , and the Ancient Church of

1616-492: Is killed shortly after the birth of their first child by French soldiers invading the Thirteen Colonies . A group of time travelers bring a book about the world they come from that allows Eliot to read about how much of his works were undone by his fellow colonists, he then sets out to alter his missionary efforts in a manner that will prevent Native American converts from being vulnerable to the treachery they faced in

1717-418: Is known to be Dudley/Webster Nipmuc and Narragansett. The Hassanamisco Nipmuc have noted that the 1861 Earle Report was biased against their ancestors because they were mixed-race. The Hassanamisco Nipmuc Nation failed to meet criterion 83.7(a), which requires that "the petitioner has been identified as an American Indian entity on a substantially continuous basis since 1900." The final determination found that

1818-697: Is named after him. Puritan "remembrancer" Cotton Mather called his missionary career the epitome of the ideals of New England Puritanism. William Carey considered Eliot alongside the Apostle Paul and David Brainerd (1718–1747) as "canonized heroes" and "enkindlers" in his groundbreaking An Enquiry Into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathen (1792). In 1689, he donated 75 acres (30 ha) of land to support

1919-465: Is not sufficient in scope to establish a community under 83.7(b) during any time period." During the federal acknowledgement process, the Branch of Acknowledgment and Research also determined that the historic Hassanamisco tribal entity ceased to exist in the 18th century, writing, "There is sufficient evidence that the historical Hassanamisco Band retained community from colonial times until the period of

2020-918: Is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran, Calvinist, and United (Lutheran and Reformed) Protestant traditions in Europe, and those with strong ties to them. Above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area , such as the Protestant Church in Germany . Thus, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, while the German evangelikal , refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism . The English word evangelical usually refers to evangelical Protestant churches, and therefore to

2121-610: Is the central building of the Hassanamisco Reservation and is currently being restored by members of the tribe. Approximately 150 years ago the building was named after the Cisco family, but it had been standing long before it had received its name, having been built in 1801. It is thought that the Cisco Homestead is the oldest timber-framed building that is still used by Native Americans to this day. John Eliot (missionary) John Eliot ( c.  1604 – 21 May 1690)

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2222-447: Is the guiding principle of the work of Luther and the later reformers. Because sola scriptura placed the Bible as the only source of teaching, sola fide epitomizes the main thrust of the teaching the reformers wanted to get back to, namely the direct, close, personal connection between Christ and the believer, hence the reformers' contention that their work was Christocentric. The other solas, as statements, emerged later, but

2323-724: Is the site of Eliot’s first sermons to the Natives, which took place in Waban’s wigwam among what would be later called the Nonantum Indian community starting on October 28, 1646. A nineteenth-century monument commemorates the event on Eliot Memorial Road, Newton. The town of Eliot, Maine which was in Massachusetts during its incorporation was named after John Eliot. Eliot appears in the alternate history 1632 Series anthology collection 1637: The Coast of Chaos. His wife

2424-467: Is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone: just as it is the heat alone of the sun which warms the earth, and yet in the sun it is not alone." Lutheran and Reformed Christians differ from Methodists in their understanding of this doctrine. The universal priesthood of believers implies the right and duty of the Christian laity not only to read the Bible in

2525-657: The Bay Psalm Book , the first book published in the British North American colonies (1640). From 1649 to 1674, Samuel Danforth assisted Eliot in his Roxbury ministry. There are many connections between the towns of Roxbury and Dorchester and John Eliot. After working for a short time as pastor in Boston as the temporary replacement for John Wilson at Boston's first church society, John Eliot settled in Roxbury with other Puritans from Essex, England. He

2626-705: The Catholic Church . On 31 October 1517, known as All Hallows' Eve , Martin Luther allegedly nailed his Ninety-five Theses , also known as the Disputation on the Power of Indulgences, on the door of the All Saints' Church in Wittenberg , Germany, detailing doctrinal and practical abuses of the Catholic Church, especially the selling of indulgences . The theses debated and criticized many aspects of

2727-547: The Holy Spirit and personal closeness to God. The belief that believers are justified , or pardoned for sin, solely on condition of faith in Christ rather than a combination of faith and good works . For Protestants, good works are a necessary consequence rather than cause of justification. However, while justification is by faith alone, there is the position that faith is not nuda fides . John Calvin explained that "it

2828-688: The Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier . The term protestant , though initially purely political in nature, later acquired a broader sense, referring to a member of any Western church which subscribed to the main Protestant principles. A Protestant is an adherent of any of those Christian bodies that separated from the Church of Rome during the Reformation, or of any group descended from them. During

2929-663: The Netherlands , Scotland , Switzerland , France , Poland , and Lithuania by Protestant Reformers such as John Calvin , Huldrych Zwingli and John Knox . The political separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church under King Henry VIII began Anglicanism , bringing England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement, under the leadership of reformer Thomas Cranmer , whose work forged Anglican doctrine and identity. Protestantism

3030-521: The Protestant Reformation and summarize the reformers' basic differences in theological beliefs in opposition to the teaching of the Catholic Church of the day. The Latin word sola means "alone", "only", or "single". The use of the phrases as summaries of teaching emerged over time during the Reformation, based on the overarching Lutheran and Reformed principle of sola scriptura (by scripture alone). This idea contains

3131-464: The Reformed tradition also began to use that term. To distinguish the two evangelical groups, others began to refer to the two groups as Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed . The word also pertains in the same way to some other mainline groups, for example Evangelical Methodist . As time passed by, the word evangelical was dropped. Lutherans themselves began to use the term Lutheran in

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3232-943: The Unitas Fratrum —"Unity of the Brethren"—which was renewed under the leadership of Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf in Herrnhut , Saxony , in 1722 after its almost total destruction in the Thirty Years' War and the Counterreformation ("Catholic Reformation") . Today, it is usually referred to in English as the Moravian Church and in German as the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine . In the 15th century, three German theologians anticipated

3333-673: The West Indies . In 1980, the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Nation petitioned for federal acknowledgment. On June 18, 2004, the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs issued a negative final determination due to the group's failure to meet four of the seven mandatory criteria for federal acknowledgment, including criterion 83.7(e) "descent from a historic Indian tribe." The Branch of Acknowledgment and Research, Bureau of Indian Affairs determined that only 2% of

3434-410: The vernacular , but also to take part in the government and all the public affairs of the Church. It is opposed to the hierarchical system which puts the essence and authority of the Church in an exclusive priesthood, and which makes ordained priests the necessary mediators between God and the people. It is distinguished from the concept of the priesthood of all believers, which did not grant individuals

3535-512: The 15th century, Jan Hus —a Catholic priest, Czech reformist and professor—influenced by John Wycliffe's writings, founded the Hussite movement. He strongly advocated his reformist Bohemian religious denomination. He was excommunicated and burned at the stake in Constance , Bishopric of Constance , in 1415 by secular authorities for unrepentant and persistent heresy. After his execution,

3636-660: The 1720s to the 1740s, the Colony of Massachusetts put unassailable pressure on the Hassanamesit Nipmuc to sell their land and enter the market economy. However, this was often a tactic used on Native Americans so that they would get trapped into debt and then the settlers could claim their land as payment. The Hassanmesit Nipmuc fell victim to this practice and lost some communal land. Their land continued to be sold in pieces until 1857 when Moses Printer sold his land to Harry Arnold. The remaining 3 1/2 acres were retained by

3737-475: The Algonquian Indians in planned towns, thereby encouraging them to recreate a Christian society. At one point, there were 14 towns of so-called " Praying Indians ", the best documented being at Natick, Massachusetts . Other praying Indian towns included: Littleton (Nashoba), Lowell (Wamesit, initially incorporated as part of Chelmsford ), Grafton (Hassanamessit), Marlborough (Okommakamesit),

3838-646: The American Revolution, as a majority of its population lived on the reservation in Grafton, Massachusetts. From the American Revolution until the mid-19th century, there is limited written evidence concerning continuing social ties among the Hassanamisco proprietary families. From the mid-19th century to the present, most of the evidence in the record pertains only to the Cisco extended family, and demonstrates only occasional social interaction between

3939-607: The Bible as the highest source of authority for the church. The early churches of the Reformation believed in a critical, yet serious, reading of scripture and holding the Bible as a source of authority higher than that of church tradition . The many abuses that had occurred in the Western Church before the Protestant Reformation led the Reformers to reject much of its tradition. In the early 20th century,

4040-489: The Catholic Church. By 1215, the Waldensians were declared heretical and subject to persecution. Despite that, the movement continues to exist to this day in Italy, as a part of the wider Reformed tradition . In the 1370s, Oxford theologian and priest John Wycliffe —later dubbed the "Morning Star of Reformation"—started his activity as an English reformer. He rejected papal authority over secular power (in that any person in mortal sin lost their authority and should be resisted:

4141-419: The Church and the papacy, including the practice of purgatory , particular judgment , and the authority of the pope. Luther would later write works against the Catholic devotion to Virgin Mary , the intercession of and devotion to the saints, mandatory clerical celibacy, monasticism, the authority of the pope, the ecclesiastical law, censure and excommunication , the role of secular rulers in religious matters,

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4242-582: The Ciscos and the descendants of the other Hassanamisco proprietary families." A title search for their reservation in Grafton, Massachusetts, revealed that the reservation was the private property of the Cisco family, and not held in trust as communal Nipmuc land. This - along with the lack of political influence or authority shown by the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Nation from 1978 onwards - caused them to fail criterion 83.7(c), which requires that "The petitioner has maintained political influence or authority over its members as an autonomous entity from historical times until

4343-433: The Dorchester church, he was given land by Dorchester for use in his missionary efforts. And in 1649 he gave half of a donation he received from a man in London to the schoolmaster of Dorchester. The chief barrier to preaching to the American Indians was language. Gestures and pidgin English were used for trade but could not be used to convey a sermon. John Eliot began to study the Massachusett or Wampanoag language , which

4444-405: The East , which all understand themselves as the one and only original church—the " one true church "—founded by Jesus Christ (though certain Protestant denominations, including historic Lutheranism, hold to this position). Some denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of church membership , while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of

4545-645: The Eliot School in what was then Roxbury's Jamaica Plain district and now is a historic Boston neighborhood. Two other Puritans had donated land on which to build the school in 1676, but boarding students especially required support. Eliot's donation required the school (renamed in his honor) to accept both Black and Native American students without prejudice, which was very unusual at the time. The school continues near its original location today, with continued admissions of all ethnicities, but now includes lifelong learning. The city seal of Newton, MA depicts Eliot preaching to an indigenous audience. Present-day Newton

4646-470: The English words in the opposite column. The 1709 Massachusett Bible text book is also referred to as the Massachusett Psalter . This 1709 edition is based on the Geneva Bible, like the Eliot Indian Bible . John Eliot married Hanna Mumford in September 1632, the first entry in the "Marages of the Inhabitants of Roxbury" record. They had six children, five sons and one daughter. Their daughter Hannah Eliot married Habbakuk Glover . Their son, John Eliot, Jr.,

4747-429: The Hassanamisco Nipmuc Nation was not identified externally as an American Indian entity on a substantially continuous basis between 1900 - 1970. The Branch of Acknowledgment and Research wrote, "The evidence submitted for the [Proposed Finding] and [Final Determination] does not include substantially continuous external identifications of a Hassanamisco Nipmuc entity broader than the Hassanamisco proprietary descendants for

4848-417: The Hassanamisco Reservation to find the remains of Sarah Boston's farmstead. Sarah Boston was the great-granddaughter of Sarah Robins. This site was the original land through which Sarah Robins started the tradition of female inheritance. Through this excavation, it was learned that the farmstead relied on the breeding and cultivation of animals for meat. It was also learned how she and others prepared food, what

4949-424: The Hussites: moderate and radical movements. Other smaller regional Hussite branches in Bohemia included Adamites , Orebites , Orphans , and Praguers. The Hussite Wars concluded with the victory of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund , his Catholic allies and moderate Hussites and the defeat of the radical Hussites. Tensions arose as the Thirty Years' War reached Bohemia in 1620. Both moderate and radical Hussitism

5050-483: The Indians an understanding of Christianity but also an understanding of written language. They did not have an equivalent written "alphabet" of their own and relied mainly on spoken language and pictorial language. An important part of Eliot's ministry focused on the conversion of Massachusett and other Algonquian Indians. Accordingly, Eliot translated the Bible into the Massachusett language and published it in 1663 as Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God . It

5151-404: The Massachusett Indian language. The first time Eliot attempted to preach to Indians (led by Cutshamekin ) in 1646 at Dorchester Mills , he failed and said that they, "gave no heed unto it, but were weary and despised what I said." The second time he preached to the Indians was at the wigwam of Waban near Watertown Mill which was later called Nonantum, now Newton, MA. John Eliot was not

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5252-438: The Native inhabitants were not allowed to practice any of their traditions. To enforce this way of living, the " Praying Indians " of the towns were given eight rules they needed to follow. If they did not, were forced to pay a fine, killed or sold into slavery. These rules included restrictions of what one's hair might look like; men were told they could not have long hair and women were required to have their hair pulled back. This

5353-416: The Nipmuc Cisco family, and are currently known as the Hassanamisco Reservation. Sarah Robins was a member of one of the original seven Nipmuc families. Sarah took possession of the land in 1727 and began a tradition of female land inheritance that lasted for hundreds of years. The female members of the Cisco family took control over the land in the late nineteenth century. These women became the caretakers of

5454-455: The Protestant Reformation, but are not a part of Protestantism (e.g. Unitarianism ), reject the Trinity . This often serves as a reason for exclusion of the Unitarian Universalism , Oneness Pentecostalism , and other movements from Protestantism by various observers. Unitarianism continues to have a presence mainly in Transylvania , England, and the United States. The Five solae are five Latin phrases (or slogans) that emerged during

5555-418: The Protestant reformation. Ratramnus also defended the theology of Gottschalk and denied the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist; his writings also influenced the later Protestant reformation. Claudius of Turin in the 9th century also held Protestant ideas, such as faith alone and rejection of the supremacy of Peter. In the late 1130s, Arnold of Brescia , an Italian canon regular became one of

5656-407: The Reformation and put heavy stress of holiness and piety, Starting in 1475, an Italian Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola was calling for a Christian renewal. Later on, Martin Luther himself read some of the friar's writings and praised him as a martyr and forerunner whose ideas on faith and grace anticipated Luther's own doctrine of justification by faith alone. Some of Hus' followers founded

5757-480: The Reformation, the term protestant was hardly used outside of German politics. People who were involved in the religious movement used the word evangelical ( German : evangelisch ). For further details, see the section below. Gradually, protestant became a general term, meaning any adherent of the Reformation in the German-speaking area. It was ultimately somewhat taken up by Lutherans, even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or evangelical as

5858-595: The Reformed on this doctrine as they teach prima scriptura , which holds that Scripture is the primary source for Christian doctrine, but that "tradition, experience, and reason" can nurture the Christian religion as long as they are in harmony with the Bible ( Protestant canon ). "Biblical Christianity" focused on a deep study of the Bible is characteristic of most Protestants as opposed to "Church Christianity", focused on performing rituals and good works, represented by Catholic and Orthodox traditions. However, Quakers , Pentecostalists and Spiritual Christians emphasize

5959-407: The [Dudley/Webster] Nipmuc families between the 1730's and the 1920's -- a period of nearly two centuries. From the 1920's through the 1970's, the evidence in the record showed occasional social interaction between Hassanamisco descendants and [Dudley Webster] descendants, most frequently in the context of pan-Indian or intertribal activities...On the basis of precedent, this type of limited interaction

6060-403: The basic theological beliefs of mainstream Protestantism. Protestants follow the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation , a movement that began in the 16th century with the goal of reforming the Catholic Church from perceived errors, abuses, and discrepancies . The Reformation began in the Holy Roman Empire in 1517, when Martin Luther published his Ninety-five Theses as

6161-492: The beginning of King Phillip's war because the residents were forced to relocate to other towns. Metacom , also known as King Phillip, recruited many different Native American tribes in New England to fight with him in his conflict with the colonists. Thousands of Native Americans were killed in this war, including members of the Nipmuc tribe. During the war, the Nipmuc, along with several other tribes, attacked Brookfield and set fire to Springfield, Massachusetts. In August 1675,

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6262-404: The body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ. They disagreed with one another concerning the presence of Christ and his body and blood in Holy Communion. Protestants reject the Catholic doctrine of papal supremacy , and have variant views on the number of sacraments , the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist , and matters of ecclesiastical polity and apostolic succession . Many of

6363-549: The church as a body works), they had a different understanding of the process in which truths in scripture were applied to life of believers, compared to the Catholics' idea that certain people within the church, or ideas that were old enough, had a special status in giving understanding of the text. The second main principle, sola fide (by faith alone), states that faith in Christ is sufficient alone for eternal salvation and justification. Though argued from scripture, and hence logically consequent to sola scriptura , this

6464-470: The civil and church trials of Anne Hutchinson during the Antinomian Controversy . Eliot disapproved of Hutchinson's views and actions, and was one of the two ministers representing Roxbury in the proceedings which led to her excommunication and exile. In 1645, Eliot founded the Roxbury Latin School . He and fellow ministers Thomas Weld (also of Roxbury), Thomas Mayhew of Martha's Vineyard , and Richard Mather of Dorchester , are credited with editing

6565-411: The contemporary world's most dynamic religious movements. As of 2024 , Protestantism has a total of approximately 625 million followers. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities , who issued a protest (or dissent) against the edict of the Diet of Speyer (1529) , were the first individuals to be called Protestants. The edict reversed concessions made to

6666-652: The dwindling numbers of available Native American men. There are nearly 600 members of the Nipmuc tribe living in Massachusetts today. The Hassanamisco Reservation and Cisco Homestead in Grafton, Massachusetts are owned and used by the Nipmuc people. In 2011, the reservation and homestead were placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1980, the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band petitioned for federal recognition . They received preliminary approval before being ultimately denied. The Nipmuc people, also referred to as "freshwater people," were divided into many villages which were connected through alliances and trade. They once had

6767-428: The excommunication of Luther and condemnation of the Reformation by the Pope, the work and writings of John Calvin were influential in establishing a loose consensus among various groups in Switzerland, Scotland, Hungary, Germany and elsewhere. After the expulsion of its Bishop in 1526, and the unsuccessful attempts of the Bern reformer William Farel , Calvin was asked to use the organizational skill he had gathered as

6868-413: The first Puritan missionary to try to convert the Indians to Christianity but he was the first to produce printed publications for the Algonquian Indians in their own language. This was important because the settlements of " praying Indians " could be provided with other preachers and teachers to continue the work John Eliot started. By translating sermons to the Massachusett language, John Eliot brought

6969-429: The first theologians to attempt to reform the Catholic Church. After his death, his teachings on apostolic poverty gained currency among Arnoldists , and later more widely among Waldensians and the Spiritual Franciscans , though no written word of his has survived the official condemnation. In the early 1170s, Peter Waldo founded the Waldensians. He advocated an interpretation of the Gospel that led to conflicts with

7070-434: The four main doctrines on the Bible: that its teaching is needed for salvation (necessity); that all the doctrine necessary for salvation comes from the Bible alone (sufficiency); that everything taught in the Bible is correct (inerrancy); and that, by the Holy Spirit overcoming sin, believers may read and understand truth from the Bible itself, though understanding is difficult, so the means used to guide individual believers to

7171-434: The group's membership descended from the historic Hassanamisco at the time of the final determination, 54% of the group's membership was found to descend from the Dudley/Webster Nipmuc , and 45% of the group's membership was found to descend from a "Miscellaneous Indian" on the 1861 Earle Report. The tribal affiliation of this "Miscellaneous Indian", who received the label "miscellaneous" because of her dual tribal affiliations,

7272-414: The individual ideas that were taken up by various reformers had historical pre-cursors; however, calling them proto-reformers is controversial, as often their theology also had components that are not associated with later Protestants, or that were asserted by some Protestants but denied by others, or that were only superficially similar. One of the earliest persons to be praised as a Protestant forerunner

7373-932: The land on which they lived. Not much is known about the Nipmuc people before the invasion of European settlers . The earliest encounter known was in 1621, when the Native Americans were friendly with the settlers. In the mid-1600s, Hassanemesit was one of more than a dozen Praying Towns established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England as permanent, European-style settlements for Christianized " praying Indians " in an effort to commit genocide and convert Eastern Algonquians to Christianity . In November, 1675, during King Philip's War ,

7474-473: The land, working to ensure its preservation. After 1857, Sarah Arnold Cisco's land became the last original piece of Nipmuc land dating back to before the 1600s, after her uncle John Hector sold his land so he could live with other natives and take advantage of opportunities in Worcester. Sarah Cisco decided that she would stay on her land and fight for it. In the early 2000s, there was excavation work done at

7575-594: The legal case, The Town of Dedham v. The Indians of Natick, which concerned a boundary dispute. Besides answering Dedham's complaint point by point, Eliot stated that the colony's purpose was to benefit the Algonquian people. Praying Indian towns were also established by other missionaries, including the Presbyterian Samson Occom , himself of Mohegan descent. All praying Indian towns suffered disruption during King Philip's War (1675), and for

7676-489: The members of Hassanamesit praying town, along with four other towns, were held prisoner and banned from leaving the settlement under threat of imprisonment or death. In October of the same year, non-combatant Nipmuc were confined to Deer Island, in Boston harbor, for the winter, where more than half died from exposure and starvation. At the end of the war, the Nipmuc tribal members who had joined King Phillip that did not manage to escape were either killed or sold into slavery in

7777-554: The middle of the 16th century, in order to distinguish themselves from other groups such as the Philippists and Calvinists . The German word reformatorisch , which roughly translates to English as "reformational" or "reforming", is used as an alternative for evangelisch in German, and is different from English reformed ( German : reformiert ), which refers to churches shaped by ideas of John Calvin , Huldrych Zwingli , and other Reformed theologians. Derived from

7878-414: The most part lost their special status as Indian self-governing communities in the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, in some cases being paid to move to Wisconsin and other areas further West. Eliot also wrote The Christian Commonwealth: or, The Civil Policy Of The Rising Kingdom of Jesus Christ , considered the first book on politics written by an American, as well as the first book to be banned by

7979-459: The old timeline. Eliot Tracts Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes justification of sinners through faith alone , the teaching that salvation comes by unmerited divine grace , the priesthood of all believers , and the Bible as the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice. The five solae summarize

8080-562: The only acceptable names for individuals who professed faith in Christ. French and Swiss Protestants instead preferred the word reformed ( French : réformé ), which became a popular, neutral, and alternative name for Calvinists. The word evangelical ( German : evangelisch ), which refers to the gospel , was widely used for those involved in the religious movement in the German-speaking area beginning in 1517. Evangelical

8181-425: The period 1900-1970. An external identification of the narrower Hassanamisco entity is not the same as an external identification of the current petitioner, which is substantially different from the entity that was being identified, the Hassanamisco descendants constituting 11 of the petitioner's 526 members." The Hassanamisco Nipmuc Nation failed to meet criterion 83.7(b), which requires that "A predominant portion of

8282-492: The petitioning group comprises a distinct community and has existed as a community from historical times until the present." The Branch of Acknowledgement and Research determined that the members of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Nation had no extended social or political interaction with each other prior to 1978. They wrote, "The evidence in the record shows no written social interaction between the Hassanamisco Nipmuc and

8383-598: The praying Indians of Hassanemesit were presented with an ultimatum by surrounding Nipmuc that they had to join their coalition with the colonists, and the town was depopulated for the duration of the war. After the end of King Phillip's War , the seven Nipmuc families that returned from war are referred to now as the Hassanamisco Nipmuc people. The Hassanamisco land was stolen by settlers without consent. The Nipmuc people were allowed to keep only 1,200 acres. That land began to dwindle as some Hassanmesit Nipmuc people started to sell or lease their land to encroaching settlers. From

8484-529: The present." Today, the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band has over 600 members. They are a state-recognized Tribe and maintain a government-to-government relationship with the state of Massachusetts. In 1980, the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Nation filed a petition with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to gain federal recognition, they received preliminary approval but were ultimately denied. The Cisco Homestead

8585-743: The reformation: Wessel Gansfort , Johann Ruchat von Wesel , and Johannes von Goch . They held ideas such as predestination , sola scriptura , and the church invisible , and denied the Roman Catholic view on justification and the authority of the Pope, also questioning monasticism . Wessel Gansfort also denied transubstantiation and anticipated the Lutheran view of justification by faith alone. Electors of Saxony Holy Roman Emperors Building Literature Theater Liturgies Hymnals Monuments Calendrical commemoration The Protestant Reformation began as an attempt to reform

8686-452: The relationship between Christianity and the law, good works, and the sacraments. The Reformation was a triumph of literacy and the new printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg . Luther's translation of the Bible into German was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy, and stimulated as well the printing and distribution of religious books and pamphlets. From 1517 onward, religious pamphlets flooded much of Europe. Following

8787-410: The right to interpret the Bible apart from the Christian community at large because universal priesthood opened the door to such a possibility. There are scholars who cite that this doctrine tends to subsume all distinctions in the church under a single spiritual entity. Calvin referred to the universal priesthood as an expression of the relation between the believer and his God, including the freedom of

8888-566: The thinking they represent was also part of the early Reformation. The Protestant movement began to diverge into several distinct branches in the mid-to-late 16th century. One of the central points of divergence was controversy over the Eucharist . Early Protestants rejected the Catholic dogma of transubstantiation , which teaches that the bread and wine used in the sacrificial rite of the Mass lose their natural substance by being transformed into

8989-515: The true teaching is often mutual discussion within the church (clarity). The necessity and inerrancy were well-established ideas, garnering little criticism, though they later came under debate from outside during the Enlightenment . The most contentious idea at the time though was the notion that anyone could simply pick up the Bible and learn enough to gain salvation. Though the reformers were concerned with ecclesiology (the doctrine of how

9090-472: The word "Reformation", the term emerged around the same time as Evangelical (1517) and Protestant (1529). Many experts have proposed criteria to determine whether a Christian denomination should be considered part of Protestantism. A common consensus approved by most of them is that if a Christian denomination is to be considered Protestant, it must acknowledge the following three fundamental principles of Protestantism. The belief, emphasized by Luther, in

9191-659: The world. The accession to the throne of Charles II of England made the book an embarrassment to the Massachusetts colony. In 1661 the General Court forced Eliot to issue a public retraction and apology, banned the book and ordered all copies destroyed. In 1709 a special edition of the Massachusett Bible was co-authored by Experience Mayhew and Thomas Prince with the Indian words in one column and

9292-806: Was a Puritan missionary to the American Indians who some called "the apostle to the Indians" and the founder of Roxbury Latin School in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1645. In 1660 he completed the enormous task of translating the Eliot Indian Bible into the Massachusett Indian language , producing more than two thousand completed copies. Eliot was born in Widford, Hertfordshire , England, and lived at Nazeing as

9393-707: Was able to translate the Ten Commandments , the Lord's Prayer and other scriptures and prayers. In 1660 Eliot had also translated the Bible from English to the Massachusett Indian language, and had it printed by Marmaduke Johnson and Samuel Green on the press in Cambridge, Massachusetts . By 1663, Marmaduke and Green had printed 1,180 volumes of the Old and New Testaments translated from English to

9494-523: Was called the town of Hassanamesit. Hassanamesit was already an established community when Eliot arrived, so he illegally claimed it in order to enslave the people already living there to the settlers and their religion. These towns had the backing of the Massachusetts government at the time to commit genocide. Eliot believed that the Indigenous people not only needed to learn the Gospel, but to also adopt European ways of living. While living in these towns,

9595-630: Was done in an effort to culturally assimilate the Nipmuc; as a part of Eliot's efforts to force the Nipmuc people to Christianity and to make them more "civilized," he forced the people in Hassanamesit to raise livestock. A superintendent at the time, Daniel Gookin, praised the Hassanmesit town for their ability to raise livestock. He stated that their way of keeping cattle and pigs was "better than any other Indians." The praying towns in Northeastern Connecticut were shut down after

9696-465: Was eaten and how they procured it. In the seventeenth century, a Protestant missionary by the name of John Eliot spoke in Northeastern Connecticut in an attempt to convert the local Native Americans to Christianity. On Nipmuc land and territory, Eliot created seven " praying towns . The present day Hassanamisco Reservation located in Grafton, Massachusetts , was briefly a praying town in 1728 when it

9797-470: Was increasingly persecuted by Catholics and Holy Roman Emperor's armies. In the 14th century, a German mysticist group called the Gottesfreunde criticized the Catholic church and its corruption. Many of their leaders were executed for attacking the Catholic church and they believed that God's judgement would soon come upon the church. The Gottesfreunde were a democratic lay movement and forerunner of

9898-626: Was the first complete Bible printed in the Western hemisphere; Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson printed 1,000 copies on the first printing press in British American colonies. Indigenous people including the Nipmuc James Printer (Wowaus) engaged in the creation of this Bible. In 1666, Eliot published "The Indian Grammar Begun", again concerning the Massachusetts language. As a missionary, Eliot strove to consolidate

9999-733: Was the first pastor of the First Church of Christ in Newton , Another son, Joseph Eliot, became a pastor in Guilford, Connecticut , and later fathered Jared Eliot , a noted agricultural writer and pastor. John Eliot's sister, Mary Eliot, married Edward Payson, founder of the Payson family in America, and great-great-grandfather of the Rev. Edward Payson . He was also an ancestor of Lewis E. Stanton

10100-495: Was the language of the local Indians. To help him with this task, Eliot relied on a young Indian named " Cockenoe ". Cockenoe had been captured in the Pequot War of 1637 and became a servant of an Englishman named Richard Collicott . John Eliot said, "he was the first that I made use of to teach me words, and to be my interpreter." Cockenoe could not write but he could speak Massachusett and English. With his help, Eliot

10201-479: Was the teacher at The First Church in Roxbury for sixty years and was their sole pastor for forty years. For the first forty years in Roxbury, Eliot preached in the 20-foot by 30-foot meetinghouse with thatched roof and plastered walls that stood on Meetinghouse Hill. Eliot founded the Roxbury Grammar School and he worked hard to keep it prosperous and relevant. Eliot also preached at times in

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