Parts II and III introduce the Puritans who built Massachusetts Bay as a “city on a hill,” a model godly society meant to inspire the world. Their theology centered on covenant and predestination, with church, marriage, and community all understood as binding covenants before God. They rejected most secular amusements, saw the supernatural as ever present, and prized self-discipline and communal duty. At the same time, they created unusually democratic church structures, fostered high literacy for both men and women so that everyone could read scripture, and built institutions like Boston Latin School and Harvard to train an educated clergy and governing elite.Against that backdrop, Massachusetts slid into a profound crisis that touched religion, war, politics, and the law. The Halfway Covenant exposed deep anxieties about declining zeal in a pro ...