false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172607230m/197690.jpg 197690 2 Religious life in early America is often equated with the fire-and-brimstone Puritanism best embodied by the theology of Cotton Mather. Yet, by the nineteenth century, American theology had shifted dramatically away from the severe European traditions directly descended from the Protestant Reformation, of which Puritanism was in the United States the most influential. In its place arose a singularly American set of beliefs. In America's God, Mark Noll has written a biography of this new American ethos. In the 125 years preceding the outbreak of the Civil War, theology played an extraordinarily important role in American public and private life. Its evolution had a profound impact on America's self-definition. The changes taking place in American theology during this period were marked by heightened spiritual inwardness, a new confidence in individual reason, and an attentiveness to the economic and market realities of Western life. Vividly set in the social and political events of the age, America's God is replete with the figures who made up the early American intellectual landscape, from theologians such as Jonathan Edwards, Nathaniel W. Taylor, William Ellery Channing, and Charles Hodge and religiously inspired writers such as Harriet Beecher Stowe and Catherine Stowe to dominant political leaders of the day like Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln. The contributions of these thinkers combined with the religious revival of the 1740s, colonial warfare with France, the consuming struggle for independence, and the rise of evangelical Protestantism to form a common intellectual coinage based on a rising republicanism and commonsense principles. As this Christian republicanism affirmed itself, it imbued in dedicated Christians a conviction that the Bible supported their beliefs over those of all others. Tragically, this sense of religious purpose set the stage for the Civil War, as the conviction of Christians both North and South that God was on their side served to deepen a schism that would soon rend the young nation asunder. Mark Noll has given us the definitive history of Christian theology in America from the time of Jonathan Edwards to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. It is a story of a flexible and creative theological energy that over time forged a guiding national ideology the legacies of which remain with us to this day. 831023 2002 America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln total:29|5:15|4:11|3:3|2:0|1:0| 29 128 68 7 4 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu May 01 18:11:59 -0700 2008 Thu May 01 18:42:10 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri Jun 19 21:23:59 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 17:49:19 -0700 2009
Noll writes clearly and also offers a useful glossary that defines all the various religionists in 18th and 19th c. America. So far the biggest thing he's talked about is the synthesis between revivalism and republicanism (antimonarchism), a new pheno...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Sep 05 14:18:04 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 05 14:26:25 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jun 26 22:21:01 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 26 22:22:05 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun Jun 24 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 07 06:50:04 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 07 06:54:41 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Feb 10 04:23:27 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 10 04:24:09 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 23 17:23:15 -0800 2008 Wed Aug 19 23:48:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Nov 18 07:24:45 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 07:24:45 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Oct 29 16:18:39 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 29 16:18:39 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 28 20:45:48 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 20:45:48 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Oct 23 09:01:04 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 09:01:32 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Oct 09 20:43:01 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 20:43:09 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Sep 24 10:22:12 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 20:17:29 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Sep 04 05:53:11 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 04 05:53:13 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Aug 18 20:10:14 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 20:10:19 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Jul 30 11:19:33 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 11:19:33 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Jul 29 08:20:01 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 08:20:01 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Jul 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 06:15:32 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 22 13:01:51 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Jun 21 23:03:59 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 23:03:59 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun May 31 18:58:33 -0700 2009 Sun May 31 18:58:33 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=197690