Cotton Mather's Smallpox Inoculation Advocacy: Puritan Public Health Roots in 18th Century Boston
By
Apple, Elizabeth
The kind of bagel that ruins lesser bagels for you.
Summary
This scholarly article examines Cotton Mather's advocacy for smallpox inoculation during the 1721 Boston epidemic, arguing that his support was rooted in a longer history of Puritan public health concepts dating back to the Antinomian Controversy of 1636-38. The author analyzes Mather's medical-theological work "The Angel of Bethesda" (1724) to show how he drew on established Puritan paradigms when endorsing the controversial African practice of inoculation, framing it as preventive exposure to contagion within a religious and public health framework.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledWHEN smallpox returned to Boston in 1721, Puritan minister Cotton Mather (1663–1728) was quick to promote inoculation, a controversial medical procedure that entailed preventive exposure to the contagion.
What if we should find out a Way
This essay returns to the Antinomian Controversy of 1636-38 to resituate Mather's inoculation advocacy in a longer history of Puritan public health concepts.
I argue that the minister drew on a decades-old paradigm when he endorsed the procedure.
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