Winthrop’s “A Modell of Christian Charity” focuses on two major arguments. First, the act of charity is both a social and spiritual institution designed by God and central to the working of Christian society. Second, the colonial project is an opportunity to create an ideal Christian society founded upon these principles, or face the consequences of displeasing God. These two arguments frame both the positive and negative assertions of the text. For instance, Winthrop’s exhortations of charity are foundational to his hope for a new, better world than what is available in England. Furthermore, his understanding of love and goodwill as the core teaching of Christ is a positive interpretation of religious doctrine. However, Winthrop’s arguments on the special role of pious Christians in this new society inform the text’s more negative implications, such as its seeming exclusion of other creeds from Christian charity and the American exceptionalism that is often associated with the text (for more on this latter aspect, see Themes). Before examining the developments of these arguments, it is necessary to understand their roots in the sermon’s immediate political background.

In 1534, King Henry VIII passed the Act of Supremacy, breaking England from the religious control of the Roman Catholic Church and making himself the highest religious authority in the Church of England.