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Book Review
Comet, Errand, Ocean, Compact
A tome for sure, but worth its weight in beaver pelts by Randy Asendorf
Review of Making Haste from Babylon:
The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World
by Nick Bunker
Alfred A. Knopf, 423 pages, $30.00
In Making Haste from Babylon: The Mayflower Pilgrims and
their World, Nick Bunker, an Englishman with a background
in journalism and finance, looks at previously ignored evidence
to provide a fresh interpretation of the old story.
With meticulous research skills and a keen understanding of
both British and New England geography, Bunker questions
accepted truths while confirming others. Who knew that
economic and political forces on both sides of the Atlantic—
involving beaver pelts, Native American tribes, class differences,
and the rise of modern journalism—combined in 1628
to guarantee Plymouth Colony’s success? That the geography
of Maine was at least as important as that of Massachusetts?
Or that a comet seen in England in 1618 helped prompt the
Mayflower’s voyage to America in 1620?
Though religion was the main reason for emigration to
the New World, clearly it was not the only one. The anger
of Puritans at Anglican-style popery (the “Babylon” of the
book’s title) is well-chronicled. Yet it’s impossible, says the
author, to separate the Puritans’ urge for religious liberty from
politics and economics. Here was a chance to succeed free
from England’s bounds of class as well as from her strictures
upon faith. Also, life expectancy was greater away from filthy,
plague-infested England and Holland.
Nick Bunker explains that while “Calvinistic zeal was far more
important than other factors in bringing about the creation of
New England,” Bradford, Winslow, and the other Pilgrim Fathers
sometimes omitted from their narratives facts that may have
told us much more about this watershed in Western civilization.
I might quibble with Bunker’s assertion that Puritanism was
for many merely a way to achieve a rank they could otherwise not
attain. Was reaching a “gentleman’s” status so important that men
would risk their lives for it? At any rate, the work ethic that the
Puritans fostered has served America well for almost 400 years.
The Pilgrims also gave us another pillar of the American
Way: The Mayflower Compact. Bunker gives them full credit
here. Some historians have dismissed the Compact as a short,
temporary measure, later supplanted by royal decree—surely
not “the foundation stone of American democracy.” But after
carefully examining other documents of the time, Bunker concludes
that Englishmen on both sides of the Atlantic viewed it
as a fundamental and permanent source of authority, even after
the colony received a new charter from England. This is because
it depended on the vote of the governed, whereas a patent
merely came from the King. The 41 signatures represented 90
percent of the men on the Mayflower, a super-majority. William
Brewster, the probable author, didn’t insist on a religious creed
or even any statement of faith at all by the signers. Our spiritual
ancestors clearly established freedom of conscience and separation
of church and state from the start.
Making Haste from Babylon is a hugely important book for
people of our tradition, but it’s not light reading. In fact, it’s a
tome. Read it anyway for new insights about who we are, where
we came from, and where we may be going.
rA n D y As E n D o r f is a retired teacher and a
student of Congregational history and has served
the NACCC in various roles, currently as a
member of the Executive Committee. He and his
wife, Nancy, are members of the Congregational
Church of Sun City, Ariz., and co-chair the host
committee for the 2011 Annual Meeting and
Conference in Scottsdale.
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