In this Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016 photo a 19th century bronze statue of Puritan John Winthrop, by sculptor Richard Saltonstall Greenough, stands outside the First Church in Boston, in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. The famously straight-laced 17th-century sectarians who helped settle America weren't nearly as priggish as you might think, says leading Puritan scholar Francis Bremer, who points to a love letter that Winthrop wrote in 1618 to his wife Margaret as an example of Puritan passion. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
In this Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016 photo a 19th century bronze statue of Puritan John Winthrop, by sculptor Richard Saltonstall Greenough, stands outside the First Church in Boston, in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. The famously straight-laced 17th-century sectarians who helped settle America weren't nearly as priggish as you might think, says leading Puritan scholar Francis Bremer, who points to a love letter that Winthrop wrote in 1618 to his wife Margaret as an example of Puritan passion. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Credit: Steven Senne

BOSTON — “Fifty Shades of Grey,” Puritan edition?

A leading Puritan scholar says the famously strait-laced 17th-century sectarians who helped settle America weren’t nearly as priggish as you might think.

Francis Bremer, of Pennsylvania’s Millersville University, says letters and sermons penned by Puritan forefathers evoke more passion than prudishness.

Bremer is presenting his latest research next week at Boston’s Old South Meeting House.

He points to a love letter that colonial governor John Winthrop wrote in 1618 to his wife as an example of Puritan passion.

In the letter, Winthrop speaks of “being filled with the joy of thy love, and wanting opportunity of more familiar connection with thee, which my heart fervently desires.”