Jonathan Edwards, Religious Tradition, and American Culture / Edition 2

by Joseph A. Conforti

Overview

As the charismatic leader of the wave of religious revivals known as the Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) is one of the most important figures in American religious history. However, by the end of the eighteenth century, his writings were generally dismissed as remnants of a moribund Puritan tradition. Focusing on the publishing history and appropriation of Edwards's works by succeeding generations, Joseph Conforti explores the construction and manipulation of the Edwards legacy and demonstrates its central place in American cultural and religious history. Most of Edwards's writings were not regularly republished or widely read until the early nineteenth century, when he emerged as a prominent thinker both in academic circles and in the new popular religious culture of the Second Great Awakening. Even after the Civil War, Edwards remained a popular figure from the Puritan past for colonial revivalists. But by the early twentieth century, scholars had again reinvented Edwards, this time deemphasizing his influence. These contrasting constructions of the one man, Conforti says, reveal the dynamic process of cultural change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807845356
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	11/20/1995
Edition description:	2
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.64(d)

About the Author

Joseph A. Conforti is director of the American and New England studies program at the University of Southern Maine. He is author of Samuel Hopkins and the New Divinity Movement: Calvinism, the Congregational Ministry and Reform in New England between the Great Awakenings.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Conforti's presentation is solidly researched and clearly written. . . . [His] volume ends up illuminating more than the history of Jonathan Edwards's reputation or the development of what came to be called 'the New England theology'. . . . [he] shows how the cultural transmission of ideas involves a complex dynamic of change as well as continuity.—Religion & Literature



A carefully documented, lively account of Edwards' cultural influence in American history that will be read quite profitably across several disciplines for years to come. . . . It is likely that this fine book will secure its author a well-deserved reputation as the leading socio-cultural historian of the Edwardsian tradition.—Historical Journal of Massachusetts



The research is excellent, the prose clear and attractive, and the argument thoughtful. . . . This is scholarship of a high order.—Church History



Conforti's feast is rare and delightful. By marching the figure of Jonathan Edwards across so much cultural terrain, from the Second Great Awakening to yesterday's neo-orthodoxy, Conforti will jolt readers outside the Edwards 'industry' awake to the presence of an Edwardsean figure of long duration in American cultural and intellectual history.—Harvard Divinity Bulletin



Examines the full sweep of Edwards's influence from his death in 1758 through the early years of this century. . . . An important contribution to Edwards studies and to the study of the history of religion in America.—Christian Century



The historical sweep of this book poignantly dramatizes the continually politicized reinventions of a protean Jonathan Edwards. In light of ongoing discourse about the American canon, readers should find compelling Conforti's discussion of the linkage between the colonial revivalist movement and the historiography of American literature in late-nineteenth-century America.—American Literature



This is the definitive work on the life, thought, and career of America's 'first philosopher.' . . . It is a model of its kind. The prose is clear, witty, and wise . . . . Every professional student of American philosophy needs a copy of this book.—International Philosophical Quaterly



Conforti's study ranges widely across the fields of intellectual and cultural history, challenging a number of longstanding judgments. It is a major, original contribution to our understanding of the formation and impact of the Edwardsean tradition.—Stephen J. Stein, Indiana University



[Conforti] explains fully the wide appeal of this difficult thinker for his nineteenth-century audiences, illustrating how Edwards became something new and different when his texts were transformed into artifacts of emergent popular culture.—Philip F. Gura, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Editorial Reviews

A carefully documented, lively account . . . that will be read quite profitably across several disciplines for years to come.

"Historical Journal of Massachusetts"

The research is excellent, the prose clear and attractive, and the argument thoughtful. . . . This is scholarship of a high order.

"Church History"

"A carefully documented, lively account . . . that will be read quite profitably across several disciplines for years to come.

"Historical Journal of Massachusetts""

"The research is excellent, the prose clear and attractive, and the argument thoughtful. . . . This is scholarship of a high order.

"Church History""

An important contribution to Edwards studies and to the study of the history of religion in America.

"Christian Century"

Conforti's feast is rare and delightful.

"Harvard Divinity Bulletin"

Conforti's presentation is solidly researched and clearly written.

"Religion & Literature"

From the Publisher