Lucy Hutchinson’s Guide to Domestic Catechesis

Abstract This essay proposes that we can better understand Lucy Hutchinson’s manuscript, ‘On the Principles of the Christian Religion’, by considering it in relation to ministerial guides to domestic catechesis. Guides to catechesis were a popular religious genre in sevententh-century England and were most often composed by ministers as part of their pastoral duties; they provided explanations of the Westminster Shorter Catechism and were designed for use within godly homes. ‘On the Principles’ resembles these ministerial guides both thematically and structurally. But Hutchinson elaborates and expands the genre to reflect her own concerns and experience as a catechizing mother, just as she adapts the epic genre in ‘Order and Disorder’. By composing a guide to domestic catechesis for her daughter, Hutchinson draws upon the authority accorded to mothers in domestic catechesis while emulating ministerial authority. Hutchinson’s adaptation of this ministerial genre reveals her views concerning the role of domestic catechesis within Christian community as well as her understanding of the relationship between women’s teaching and ministerial authority.