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Churchmen and Philosophers: From Jonathan Edwards to John Dewey
Churchmen and From Jonathan Edwards to John Dewey
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
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May 15, 2019
When I came across this book, I was intrigued by the title. I have been reading several books related to American religious history and thought this might be helpful. I was also pleased to learn from a professor friend that this book is considered a classic. I agree that this book is well worth your time.
Professor Bruce Kuklick's overall argument is rather surprising. He asserts that there is a structural similarity between the views of knowledge from the key late colonial pastor, theologian, and thinker Jonathan Edwards and the key philosopher of the first half of 20th century John Dewey.
He wrote that "[t]heoreticians of social science justified human work in much the same way as the Congregationalist theologians had in an early period." p. xx.
Late in the book, he asserted that "Edwards had his greatest influence on these Calvinists, and their tradition was the framework from which Dewey's immediate predecessors and Dewey himself emerged." p. 253
In between, Bruce Kuklick traces a fairly narrow history of American intellectual history and a history of American religious thought. At the same time, I will confess feeling rather challenged to gain a clear understanding of both the different religious and intellectual grouping and the numerous people who were involved. Taking notes and drawing a flow chart would have been useful.
He traces the path from Jonathan Edwards to those who sought to expand upon his system of religious and intellectual ideas and system.
Next, we learn about the theoreticians of the New Divinity, the emergence of the Unitarians, the Transcendentalists, the movement of those in the new American cities of the Midwest and frontier regions who had an interest in rationalism, and the eventual emergence of the social sciences, led often be those who had studied in German universities or read German philosophy, "higher criticism" of the Bible, and otherwise were influenced by intellectual trends in Europe.
As we turn to John Dewey and his generation, I was interested to learn that he grew up under the strong influence of his very religious mother, while his father was an older business man who may not have been as present in his growing up years. Dewey remained a member of the church through his college and graduate school years, as well as his 10 years teaching at the University of Michigan. Afterwards, upon his arrival at the University of Chicago and later at elite eastern colleges, Dewey and his wife did not continue as church members and did not raise their children in any sort of faith.
In this regard, I think the overall contours of this book fit fairly well in relationship to another more recent book that I read in the Spring of 2019, Skepticism and American Faith From The American Revolution and the Civil War. This other book traces a more popular brand of religious skepticism.
While looking at both books as a historian, I have to also think of them as a Christian thinker. One has a serious likelihood of going of the rails when one fails to understand God's eminence and the ontological authority and trustworthiness of the Bible as His Word. Speculation that rejects God and which relies upon the limited intellectual powers of even the smartest person, given our fallen tendency and desire to de-throne God so that we can tell ourselves we don't answer to Him, often lead to the tragic consequence that we never accept the gift of salvation, and thus live and die under the righteous judgment to come of our sins.
Professor Bruce Kuklick's overall argument is rather surprising. He asserts that there is a structural similarity between the views of knowledge from the key late colonial pastor, theologian, and thinker Jonathan Edwards and the key philosopher of the first half of 20th century John Dewey.
He wrote that "[t]heoreticians of social science justified human work in much the same way as the Congregationalist theologians had in an early period." p. xx.
Late in the book, he asserted that "Edwards had his greatest influence on these Calvinists, and their tradition was the framework from which Dewey's immediate predecessors and Dewey himself emerged." p. 253
In between, Bruce Kuklick traces a fairly narrow history of American intellectual history and a history of American religious thought. At the same time, I will confess feeling rather challenged to gain a clear understanding of both the different religious and intellectual grouping and the numerous people who were involved. Taking notes and drawing a flow chart would have been useful.
He traces the path from Jonathan Edwards to those who sought to expand upon his system of religious and intellectual ideas and system.
Next, we learn about the theoreticians of the New Divinity, the emergence of the Unitarians, the Transcendentalists, the movement of those in the new American cities of the Midwest and frontier regions who had an interest in rationalism, and the eventual emergence of the social sciences, led often be those who had studied in German universities or read German philosophy, "higher criticism" of the Bible, and otherwise were influenced by intellectual trends in Europe.
As we turn to John Dewey and his generation, I was interested to learn that he grew up under the strong influence of his very religious mother, while his father was an older business man who may not have been as present in his growing up years. Dewey remained a member of the church through his college and graduate school years, as well as his 10 years teaching at the University of Michigan. Afterwards, upon his arrival at the University of Chicago and later at elite eastern colleges, Dewey and his wife did not continue as church members and did not raise their children in any sort of faith.
In this regard, I think the overall contours of this book fit fairly well in relationship to another more recent book that I read in the Spring of 2019, Skepticism and American Faith From The American Revolution and the Civil War. This other book traces a more popular brand of religious skepticism.
While looking at both books as a historian, I have to also think of them as a Christian thinker. One has a serious likelihood of going of the rails when one fails to understand God's eminence and the ontological authority and trustworthiness of the Bible as His Word. Speculation that rejects God and which relies upon the limited intellectual powers of even the smartest person, given our fallen tendency and desire to de-throne God so that we can tell ourselves we don't answer to Him, often lead to the tragic consequence that we never accept the gift of salvation, and thus live and die under the righteous judgment to come of our sins.
Displaying 1 of 1 review