Law and Providence in Joseph Bellamy's New England: The Origins of the New Divinity in Revolutionary America

by Mark Valeri

Overview

This study of religious thought and social life in early America focuses on the career of Joseph Bellamy (1719-1790), a Connecticut Calvinist minister noted chiefly for his role in originating the New Divinity--the influential theological movement that evolved from the writings of Bellamy's teacher, Jonathan Edwards. Tracing Bellamy's contributions as a preacher, noted controversialist, and church leader from the Great Awakening to the American Revolution, Mark Valeri explores why the New Divinity was so immensely popular. Set in social contexts such as the emergent market economy, the war against France, and the politics of rebellion, Valeri shows, Bellamy's story reveals much about the relationship between religion and public issues in colonial New England.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195358841
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/13/1994
Series:	Religion in America
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	1460L (what's this?)
File size:	773 KB

About the Author

Lewis and Clark College

Table of Contents

	Abbreviations	xi
	Introduction	3
1.	Conversion	9
2.	Law	41
3.	Original Sin	76
4.	The Wisdom of God	110
5.	Revolution	140
	Epilogue: The New Divinity	173
	Bibliography	180
	Index	199

Editorial Reviews

"A superb study. The author has made very significant arguments about Joseph Bellamy, an unduly neglected eighteenth-century theologian, and also about the New Divinity Theology, an unusually important strand of American thought. This is certainly one of the best studies of late eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century theology that I've ever read. I am confident that it will give many readers the delight it has given me."—Mark A. Noll, Wheaton College

"It is the most thorough study we have of Joseph Bellamy's work, and as such it should occupy a respectable place in scholarly literature."—The Journal of American History

"Important for students of eighteenth-century religion and politics."—Religious Studies Review

"This historical study offers a fresh reappraisal of Joseph Bellamy ....Valeri has produced a highly readable and very well researched reappraisal of Joseph Ballamy and his New Divinity Calvinism....Valeri has not ended the discussion of Bellamy, but that he has made a pursuaive contribution to that discussion."—History

"Valeri's study of Joseph Bellamy provides us with an excellent account of an important figure in New England's history....Richly annotated and based on a wide study of the sources, this volume is rewarding and an important contribution to studies of American theological development."—Church History

From the Publisher