23 English eng Tindol, Robert Contributor <p>The article examines how <span data-start="1464" data-end="1481">Cotton Mather</span> integrated religious discourse with scientific reasoning in his writings on disease, particularly smallpox and the introduction of inoculation in early eighteenth-century New England. It argues that Mather did not regard science and faith as conflicting domains; instead, he employed Puritan rhetoric to justify the acceptance of new medical knowledge. The study further demonstrates that Mather's rhetorical strategies shaped Puritan understandings of illness, divine providence, and human responsibility for protecting public health. Consequently, the article presents Puritan science as both an experimental practice and a cultural-religious discourse designed to persuade audiences to embrace medical innovation.<br></p> University of North Carolina Press 2011 pdf ISSN 0012-8163 Early American Literature Getting the Pox off All Their Houses: Cotton Mather and the Rhetoric of Puritan Science mixed material University of North Carolina Press