Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Edwards, and the Representation of American CultureBarbara Oberg, Harry S. Stout, John B Madden Master of Berkeley College and Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Christianity Harry S Stout No colonial figures so completely anticipated the shape of American culture - at once material and spiritual, piously secular and pragmatically sacred - as did Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin. Commonly labeled "Puritan" and "Yankee" respectively, Edwards and Franklin evoke seemingly opposite ideals. Puritan values, embraced by Edwards and sustained in American "evangelicalism," focus on God, communal faith, and self-denial. Yankee attributes, espoused by Franklin and sustained in American liberal republicanism, coalesce around the trinity of hard work, independent virtue, and utilitarian self-happiness. For two and a half centuries these alternative emphases and orientations have coexisted in uneasy tension both individually and in American society at large. In contrast to traditional comparative studies, which portray Edwards and Franklin as mutually exclusive ideal types, this interdisciplinary collection of essays allows polemical contrasts to disappear and Edwards and Franklin emerge as contrapuntal themes in a larger unity. From these essays, written by distinguished historians and literary critics such as Ruth Bloch, Edwin S. Gaustad, Daniel Walker Howe, J. A. Leo Lemay, and David Levin, emerges a portrait of two men who shared a common concern with mind, character, and virtue that shaped a legacy that would define much of American character for generations to come. |
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antinomian argument Arminianism Art of Virtue Awakening B. F. Skinner Barnum Becoming Benjamin Franklin behavior believed benevolent Benjamin Franklin BF's Brainerd called Calvinist Carl Van Doren century Christian colonial conscience contrast conversion Cotton Mather culture David David Brainerd divine doctrine Early American Literature Edwards and Franklin Edwards wrote Edwards's eighteenth eighteenth-century emotional England Enlightenment Esmond Wright essay evangelical experience faculty faculty psychology faith Franklin and Edwards Franklin wrote Franklin’s Autobiography God’s grace happiness heart heaven holy human nature humor Ibid Indians J. A. Leo Lemay JE’s Jonathan Edwards Labaree letter man’s memoirs mind moral philosophy Narrative never Norman Fiering Northampton one’s passion Paxton Boys Perry Miller Philadelphia Poor Richard practice prayers President Edwards Puritan rational reason religion Religious Affections rhetorical scholars Seavey selfish sense sermon Sinners social soul spiritual theology things tion true virtue universe Whitefield women words writings York
Bibliographic information
| Title | Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Edwards, and the Representation of American Culture |
| Editors | Barbara Oberg, Harry S. Stout, John B Madden Master of Berkeley College and Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Christianity Harry S Stout |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, 1993 |
| ISBN | 019507775X, 9780195077759 |
| Length | 230 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Middle East / General History / United States / General Literary Criticism / American / General Religion / Philosophy |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |