“It is Better to Marry Than to Burn”: Anglo-American Attitudes Toward Celibacy,1600-1800

Abstract

Ministers in England and New England diverged in their writings about lay sexual renunciation. In England, clerical writers were ambivalent about celibacy. In contrast, New England ministers uniformly opposed lay vows of celibacy. These differing responses resulted from both demographic and cultural factors. English ministers found it difficult to criticize celibacy when nearly 20 percent of some birth cohorts never married. In New England, on the other hand, only a tiny percentage of colonists never married, allowing ministers to condemn celibacy. Culturally, the patriarchal family figured more prominently in New England ministers'minds as the foundation of a well-ordered society. Celibacy, then, was a direct attack on the institution that secured religion and promoted social stability. This article helps explain both the virulent attacks on Immortalists and Shakers in New England and the relative lack of controversy that greeted England's few religious celibates.