Paul S. Boyer Quotes & Sayings

In a shipboard lecture en route to America, John Winthrop, Massachusetts' first governor, called the soon-to-be-founded settlement "a city on a hill," a model of God's ultimate plan for humanity. Elaborated by a succession of ministers, this sense of divine purpose arose from a particular reading of sacred history: God had chosen the Puritans to create in America a New Zion, as He had once chosen the Jews in ancient times. Sometimes reformulated in secular language, this deep-seated belief in America's unique role in history would long survive. — Paul S. Boyer