Witchcraft
Probably the single greatest irony associated with Cotton Mather’s prodigious output of writing is related to the infamous Salem Witch Trials. Because of that dark moment in colonial history, Mather is forever associated first and foremost for the average person with belief in witches which is, to a point, almost the very definition of a foolish superstition. This is ironic because, in addition to religious subjects, Mather’s essay output comprehensively covers every aspect of rational scientific inquiry one can imagine.
Problems with Anti-Vaxxers
Believe it or not, but intolerant religious fundamentalists during Mather’s era—a description covering an even greater percentage of the English-speaking population of North America than is covered now—were just as irrationally opposed to inoculation against disease as some were revealed to be during the Covid-19 pandemic. Mather wrote in support of the basic scientific principles of inoculating against the smallpox epidemic ravaging Boston and was met with—amazingly and ironically—the same level of violent intimidation by opponents: some angry opponent of vaccinations actually threw a bomb through the windows of his home!
Covenant Theology
Puritanism in Mather’s era was a religious sect constructed upon a foundation of belief which had for the most part rejected the idea of attaining salvation through goodness in favor of the Covenant of Grace which insists that salvation is possibly only through God’s grace and those upon whom it will be bestowed are predestined to either enjoy or be denied that fate. Considering that Cotton Mather was perhaps the single most dominant Puritan theologian of his time, it is therefore quite ironic that much of his essays devoted to religious instruction robustly encourage Puritans to seek out opportunities to perform good deeds.
Disease
In a work titled “The Angel of Bethesda,” Mather pursues his argument in favor of his belief that the development of disease was directly tied to the exercise of sin. In other words, disease was the consequence of sin. Ironically, in essays being written during the same period he was pursuing this link between sin and disease, Mather was also establishing a reputation for advancing what was considered a far more irrational explanation for what actually was the cause of viral ravages on one’s health: the existence of organisms so small they could not be seen by the human eye. Today, we call these things germs.
Mather
The truly amazing irony about Cotton Mather is Cotton Mather. The man was at almost every level of knowledge a walking contradiction whose entire literary output is one irony built upon another. He was a devout Puritan who subverted its foundational covenants. He firmly upheld the theology of God’s unknowability while spending every moment he could find in pursuit of understanding the mysteries of God’s creation. He preached the Puritan ethic of enjoyment of life that avoided indulging in any excesses while indulging in an excess of writing that stands among the prodigious output of any writer calling North America home. He was gifted with an undeniably brilliant mind while ironically being able to produce massive amounts of words dedicated to arguing the logic of profoundly bigoted racial prejudices.
