Name: “A Modest Enquiry”: When a Community Leader Reconsiders Witchcraft
Start: 2025-10-18T14:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-10-18T15:00:00-04:00
Location: 117 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA, United States, Massachusetts 01915

$\u201cA Modest Enquiry\u201d: When a Community Leader Reconsiders Witchcraft$

What happens when a community leader changes his mind in public? Reverend John Hale’s "A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft" (1702) offers a rare, candid window into that transformation. Serving as a minister during the Salem witchcraft crisis, Hale later wrote a measured treatise that scrutinized evidentiary standards, pastoral duty, and the dangers of moral panic.
This lecture places "A Modest Enquiry" in its full context while guiding attendees through key chapters and lesser-known passages. We’ll consider how Hale framed temptation, possession, and providence; how he weighed neighborly testimony; and how his text helped shift New England memory from certainty to conscience. Along the way, we’ll explore Beverly connections, surviving editions, and how the book has been interpreted by scholars and the public.
$10 In person ticket
$5 Virtual link
Tickets available at the attached link