About The Author
Christopher Kone, an educator-historian-developmental linguist, holds from Salem State College a bachelor’s degree in history, garnering Phi Alpha Theta honors, and a master’s degree in speech and language pathology from Northeastern University. As a thirty-seven-year ASHA-certified speech pathologist, his areas of concentration were developmental linguistics, language-originated behavior, and epistemic cognition. As a historian, he enjoys giving tours on the famed Freedom Trail in Boston, Massachusetts. With his forty-eightyear avocation as a historical reenactor, he continues to interpret American Colonial and American Civil War eras throughout New England and the East Coast. He and his wife are followers of the Bay Colony’s church theology found within the Cambridge Platform of 1648. The Matter of Anne Hutchinson is a child of Mr. Kone’s love of touring Boston
My Book
The Matter of Anne Hutchinson: Salvation by Grace
In this insightful work, educator and historian Christopher Kone explores the “Antinomian Controversy” (1636–1638) that shook the foundations of the early Massachusetts Bay Colony. Moving beyond modern “folk hero” caricatures, Kone examines the life of Anne Hutchinson through a unique “compass” of theological, political, and social perspectives .
The book delves into the “deep structure” of the conflict that led to Hutchinson’s civil conviction for sedition and her ecclesiastical excommunication . By comparing her beliefs against the Westminster Confession of Faith, Kone reveals a complex struggle over the nature of grace, the role of moral law, and the authority of scripture .
Reader
Reviews
History come Alive
May 30, 2026
Reading this book feels like joining Chris on one of his tours of the Freedom Trail. He masterfully places the story of Boston, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Anne Hutchinson into the larger context of history, hooking me from the very first sentence. It was clear from the introduction that this would be more than just a list of facts; it is the story of a real person living among real people, grappling with genuine matters of faith. More importantly, rather than aggrandizing Anne as history often does, Chris Kone presents the facts objectively—showing a government pursuing what it believed to be true, rather than a body simply out to target liberal thinkers.
Reader Questions
Q) Why did you write the book?
A) I wrote the book to right a wrong. Yes, Anne was a remarkable woman living and moving during the eventful days of the 17th century. A woman of passion, who through motives of the heart, made choices that speak to us this day. But it is the eyes of today, opened in the early 20th century, that misplace and misunderstand her. Anne’s passion that moved her life was not the scratchings of daily life but deep concern for the immortal soul. Anne’s passion, understood as a story, brings to the mind’s eye our past, our founding as colony, commonwealth and country including our prospects for the future.
