What is the summary of A Model of Christian Charity?

Winthrop's sermon is often reduced to only its final page or two, and this ignores his central arguments concerning the importance of love in what will be this new community. He discusses his idea that God makes people different—some are rich, some are poor, some are powerful, some not—and that he does so in order to preserve the whole. It is more glorious to God when we help one another rather than when he helps us. Therefore, if this community wants to serve God, they must love and serve one another.

Winthrop argues that this community of Puritans will need to be generous in order to survive. It is better to give than to keep. When we hoard our riches, it spoils, decays, gets stolen, and corrupts our hearts; therefore, it is better to share it around and take care of each other.

Winthrop describes this community as "one body," just as "true Christians are of one body in Christ." If one member suffers, all suffer. If one is selfish, one lacks God in one's heart, while generosity proves that one has taken God into one's heart.

Finally, he says that all must conform in this way, and that God will not "bear [our] failings" in this. Winthrop claims that they are on a special mission from God, and so they have a greater responsibility to do his will. This is the contract between the Puritan community and God: if they fail to keep him in their hearts, then this will "cause Him to withdraw His present help from [them], [and they] shall be made a story and a by-word through the world." They are to be the "Model of Christian Charity" for all; if they fail, everyone will be watching, and they will be known the world over for their failures.

What is the summary of A Model of Christian Charity?

A Model of Christian Charity by John Winthrop must be understood in context. It was a sermon delivered by Winthrop, the future governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, to his fellow Puritans on the way to Massachusetts.

While not a legal document, it essentially lays out the norms and societal expectations that were to govern the people of the colony, and as such serves as a wonderful primary source for the ideals of its founders. There is a heavy emphasis on charity and especially community, as Winthrop enjoins his listeners to ensure that, in the new society they were striving to create, "every man might have need of others, and from hence they might be all knit more nearly together in the bonds of brotherly affection." The colony was to be a Christian commonwealth, organically united, Winthrop hoped, in Christian love, which he compared to "ligaments." In order to make this happen, each member of the colony had to be willing to subsume his or her private interests (which were nevertheless important) to the public good. Winthrop spoke of a covenant between the Puritans and God, and if the colonists lived up to their end of this agreement, they would not fail to achieve success.

The most famous part of this sermon is at the end, when Winthrop urges his followers to recognize that they can be an example to true Christians around the world. "We must consider," he said, "that we shall be as a city on a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us." This line, a reference drawn from the Sermon on the Mount, has been cited as an early example of American exceptionalism, the belief that the American colonies, and then the United States, were to serve as a beacon of freedom to the rest of the world. This belief remains largely unaccepted by professional historians, but has served as a rhetorical touchstone for American politicians across the political spectrum for more than a century.

What is the summary and analysis of A Model of Christian Charity?

In "A Model of Christian Charity," John Winthrop, a main figure of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, discusses the best ideals and philosophy for their new colony in what would come to be known as the United States of America.

How does Winthrop start off his vision? He begins with money.

In all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity; others mean and in submission,

says Winthrop.

According to Winthrop, the above distribution is up to God. It should not be questioned much further. As Winthrop says,

The rich and mighty should not eat up the poor, nor the poor and despised rise up against their superiors and shake off their yoke.

Winthrop's thoughts about the rich and the poor are quite relevant today. Now, we might call it "income inequality." You might want to see how Winthorp's ideas align and deviate from how powerful people today account for the gap between the rich and the poor.

Winthrop's attempt to justify the existence of rich people and poor people does not preclude solidarity. As Winthrop tells us (and the impending colonists),

Every man might have need of others, and from hence they might be all knit more nearly together in the bonds of brotherly affection.

This, too, connects to modern trends. Think about how well-off corporations (and the people they're composed of) support Black Lives Matter and various LGBTQ movements. Is this an example of Winthrop's "brotherly affection" or is it something more sinister and calculating?

Winthrop then goes on to talk about the importance of giving, lending, and love. According to Winthrop, "Love makes the world perfect."

He then encourages his fellow colonizers to see themselves as a "city upon a hill" with "the eyes of all people" watching them.

Again, it'd be fascinating to analyze Winthrop's speech by talking about how it links to current topics.

Think about how much emphasis people put on the word “love” with slogans like "Love Wins" and "Love Trumps Hate."

Also, you might analyze the pros and cons of Americans still seeing themselves as "city upon a hill." Do Americans still place themselves on a pedestal? Do they still feel like they have to set an example for the rest of the world? Why?

If you go this route, you might want to talk about race. It was an issue in Winthrop's time, as the White settlers fought against the indigenous people whose land they were seizing. Of course, race continues to be an issue, not just with indigenous people, but with all people of color.

What is the summary and analysis of A Model of Christian Charity?

Winthrop wrote "A Model of Christian Charity" onboard the Arabella in 1630 as the ship full of colonists approached the New World. The essay is structured as a rational argument rooted in Christian ethics explaining how the colonists should behave as a community when they arrive on shore. It puts forth propositions, asks questions, answers them, and raises and answers theoretical objections, all to create what Winthrop believed was a rational argument for the creation of a humane and just society.

The essay calls on the members of the community to form a social hierarchy (Winthrop is not a leveler or democrat), but in such a way that compassion rather than greed is at the forefront of the social order. He envisions a society in which the needs of others are attended to in a spirit of Christian love and put ahead of personal gain. Although based in rationalism, Winthrop's emotional fervor shines through the essay, animating it.

The essay is most famous for proposing what has become for many an ingrained part of the American psyche, the concept that America is an exceptional, God-given opportunity to make a better world. He uses the now famous image of the city on the hill, writing,

For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.

This idea that "America," meaning primarily the White, English colonization of North America, is a divinely appointed experiment, and that all eyes are watching to see how it unfolds, has driven Americans for many generations to try to live up to higher ideals than their European counterparts, so as to provide a light and a path to the rest of the world. While America has never achieved Winthrop's ideal, this foundational mythology is an important part of the United States' cultural identity.

What is the summary and analysis of A Model of Christian Charity?

In 1630, John Winthrop delivered this sermon to the colonists aboard the flagship of the flotilla that was bringing them to New England.  It served to define the expected religious virtues that would epitomize the new colony.

He used scripture to support the basic notion that all men were equal in the sight of God, and must treat each other with equality, respect, and honesty.  One’s station in life should not influence the way one interacted with their fellow man. It mattered not whether you occupied a “lowly” station or a “lofty” one; all were created in God’s image and put here to fulfill their work at their station in life.

Those that had the luxury of material goods were obligated to help the less fortunate. This was to be carried out as an act of love and caring, not one of lording over and to induce a sense of obligation from those in need of help.

Following his reasoning would ensure that the tyranny of their former lives would be left behind as they set forth to foster a more caring society in this New World.

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What is the purpose of the poem at the end of "A Model of Christian Charity"?

The poem with which Winthrop ends his famous sermon "A Model of Christian Charity" is a summary of Deuteronomy 30:19-20. In it, Moses enjoins the people of Israel to keep the terms of their covenant with God; their possession of the Promised Land depends on it. This is what Moses means when he says that the Israelites must choose life, so that they and their children will live. Their occupation of the Promised Land, and that of their ancestors, is conditional upon their obedience to the Law.

For Winthrop, this particular passage of the Bible is especially relevant to the message he is preaching to his fellow Puritans. They too are about to take possession of the Promised Land—in this case, America—where they intend to establish a godly commonwealth.

Just as Moses enjoined the people of Israel to keep God's Commandments and Laws, so Winthrop drives home a similar message to his hearers. They have also entered into a sacred compact with God, which they must obey if they are to thrive and prosper in their new homeland. If not, then like the people of Israel, the Puritans will suffer the consequences of turning their hearts from God. Or, as Winthrop puts it,

We shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it.

What was Winthrop's purpose for writing "A Model of Christian Charity"?

Winthrop's sermon, delivered on board the Arbella, was to admonish those who travelled with him that they were to establish a new community in the new world which was to be, in his words, "a city on a hill."

The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world: we shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God and all professors for God's sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us, till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.

Winthrop and his fellow travellers referred to themselves as the "Godly," but were known in England as "Puritans," as they hoped to purify the Church of England and remove from it any element of "popery." Typical of the Puritans, they were convinced that they were right and everyone else was wrong in theological matters. Winthrop wanted the new colony in New England to be an example of what a Christian community should look like. If they succeeded, then the world would know that God was on their side; if they failed, then it was their own fault for having abandoned their principles.

Ironically, Winthrop, a lawyer, was himself hardly a model of christian charity. Upon departing for England, he managed to take the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company with him, so the company had no headquarters in England. All company decisions were made in New England and largely controlled by Winthrop himself.