“Doubtfull beginnings”: Confronting Heterodoxy in Early Colonial Virginia, c.1607–1624

What is it about?

This article explores the ways in which English Protestants defined non-belief during the seventeenth century, focusing on the context of early colonial Virginia between 1607 and 1624. It argues that writing about atheism, Catholicism, and indigenous 'heathen' peoples in sermons, legal documents, and reports, shaped Protestant arguments in support of colonial expansion and evangelism, while also strengthening trans-Atlantic connections between people in England and settlers in North America.

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