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.
| ISBN: | 9780195086010 |
| Publication date: | 12th January 1995 |
| Author: | Mark Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Lewis and Clark College Valeri |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press Inc |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 218 pages |
| Series: | Religion in America |
| Genres: |
Christianity Theology Social and cultural history |