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:	9780199889297
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/29/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	696 KB

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

Introduction, by Thomas J. Davis Section I John Calvin, Calvinism, and American Society Chapter 1 Calvin and the Social Order in Early America: Moral Ideals and Transatlantic Empire, by Mark Valeri Chapter 2 Calvinism and American National Identity, by David Little Chapter 3 Implausible: Calvinism and American Politics, by D. G. Hart Section II John Calvin, Calvinism, and American Theology Chapter 4 Practical Ecclesiology in John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards, by Amy Plantinga Pauw Chapter 5 "Falling Away from the General Faith of the Reformation"? The Contest over Calvinism in Nineteenth-Century America, by Douglas A. Sweeney Chapter 6 Calvin and Calvinism within Congregational and Unitarian Discourse in Nineteenth-Century America, by David D. Hall Chapter 7 Whose Calvin, Which Calvinism? John Calvin and the Development of Twentieth-Century American Theology, by Stephen D. Crocco Section III John Calvin, Calvinism, and American Letters Chapter 8 "Strange Providence": Indigenist Calvinism in the Writings of Mohegan Minister Samson Occom (1723-1792), by Denise T. Askin Chapter 9 Geneva's Crystalline Clarity: Harriet Beecher Stowe and Max Weber on Calvinism and the American Character, by Peter J. Thuesen Chapter 10 "Jonathan Edwards, Calvin, Baxter & Co.": Mark Twain and the Comedy of Calvinism, by Joe B. Fulton Chapter 11 Cold Comforts: John Updike, Protestant Thought and the Semantics of Paradox, by Kyle A. Pasewark Conclusion John Calvin at "Home" in American Culture