John Calvin's American Legacy

by Thomas Davis

Overview

Though his influence on American society has often been forgotten or misunderstood, John Calvin played a formative role in the traditions of almost every sector of American life. This wide-ranging study, comprising twelve essays, shows for the first time the extraordinary extent to which Calvinist thoughts and practices are woven into the fabric of American society, theology, and letters, from the colonial period to the twenty-first century.

John Calvin's American Legacy examines the economics of the Colonial period, Calvin's effect on American identity, and the evidence for Calvin's influence on American democracy. The book next addresses Calvin's critical role in American theology, inspecting the relationship between Jonathan Edwards's and Calvin's church practices, the diverse views on the Calvinist theological tradition in the nineteenth century, the ways in which Calvin was understood in the historiography of Williston Walker and Perry Miller, and Calvin's influence on twentieth-century theologies. Finally, the book explores Calvinism's influence on American literature, examining the work of such writers as Samson Occom, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Max Weber, Mark Twain, John Updike, and Marilynne Robinson.

This important book is the first to introduces readers to the breadth and depth of Calvin's influence along the spectrum of American thought and society, from the 18th century to modern times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195390971
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	03/05/2010
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Professor and Chair, Department of Religious Studies, and Thomas H. Lake Scholar in Religion and Philanthropy, Indiana University-Purdue University

Table of Contents

Contributors xi

Introduction Thomas J. Davis 3

Part I Society

1 Calvin and the Social Order in Early America: Moral Ideals and Transatlantic Empire Mark Valeri 19

2 Calvinism and American National Identity David Little 43

3 Implausible: Calvinism and American Politics D. G. Hart 65

Part II Theology

4 Practical Ecclesiology in John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards Amy Plantinga Pauw 91

5 "Falling Away from the General Faith of the Reformation"? The Contest over Calvinism in Nineteenth Century America Douglas A. Sweeney 111

6 Calvin and Calvinism within Congregational and Unitarian Discourse in Nineteenth-Century America David D. Hall 147

7 Whose Calvin, Which Calvinism? John Calvin and the Development of Twentieth-Century American Theology Stephen D. Crocco 165

Part III Letters

8 "Strange Providence": Indigenist Calvinism in the Writings of Mohegan Minister Samson Occom (1723-1792) Denise T. Askin 191

9 Geneva's Crystalline Clarity: Harriet Beecher Stowe and Max Weber on Calvinism and the American Character Peter J. Thuesen 219

10 "Jonathan Edwards, Calvin, Baxter & Co.": Mark Twain and the Comedy of Calvinism Joe B. Fulton 239

11 Cold Comforts: John Updike, Protestant Thought, and the Semantics of Paradox Kyle A. Pasewark 257

Conclusion: John Calvin at "Home" in American Culture Thomas J. Davis 267

Index 273

Editorial Reviews

"The authors of these provocative and insightful essays are prone neither to grandiose claims nor to cavalier dismissals. Instead, they skillfully explore ambiguities. Ranging in their scope from politics and economics to religious practice, ethics, and fiction, they reveal the persisting relevance of a sixteenth-century Genevan theologian for anyone who hopes to understand American culture. They also prove that reading about Calvin can be genuinely entertaining."
—E. Brooks Holifield, author of God's Ambassadors: A History of the Christian Clergy in America

From the Publisher