John Eliot's mission to the Indians before King Philip's War

by Richard W. Cogley

No previous work on John Eliot's mission to the Indians has told such a comprehensive and balanced story. Richard Cogley takes a dual approach: he delves deeply into Eliot's theological writings, and he describes the historical development of Eliot's missionary work. By relating the two, he presents fresh perspectives that challenge widely accepted assessments of the Puritan mission. Cogley incorporates Eliot's eschatology into the history of the mission, takes into account the biographies of the proselytes (the "praying Indians") and the individual histories of the Christian Indian settlements (the "praying towns"), and corrects misperceptions about the mission's role in English expansion. This book makes signal contributions to New England history, Native American history, and religious studies.