American Missions Distinctly Rooted in New Divinity Theology

Within The New Divinity and the Origins of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions David W. Kling proposes that the theological influences of the New Divinity movement of the early 1800s intricately inspired the formative nature of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) - a concept Kling asserts is unchallenged by scholars of American religious history as the doctrinal guidance of Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Hopkins, and other Congregational ministers visibly are rooted in the origins of the Protestant missionary movement. Congregational ministers and heirs of Edwardsean thought became known as proponents of the New Divinity movement and initiated evangelical pursuits of mass conversions to the Protestant religion. An early model for missionary work can be detected through the urging of the Great Awakening theologian's Life of Brainerd which emphasized the reality of redemption and man's need to encounter that grace. Following Edwards' example, Kling suggests that Samuel Hopkins took the basis for mission work further by taking the abstract ideal of heart conversion and forming sincere spiritual change into a matter of practicality narrowed on "self-denial for the greater glory of God's kingdom and the betterment of humankind."[1]

The essence prevailing Edwards’ New Divinity resulted in a “distinction between natural and moral inability,” found especially in his well-regarded Freedom of the Will which promoted the idea of human agency and cultivated a sense of urgency in believers to demonstrate that "faith as doctrine is incomplete without fruition in experience,"[2] convictions which motivated hopeful missionaries to fulfill the calling to convert nations yet deaf to the Gospel as per Edwards’ emphasis upon genuine expressions of religious affections. These sentiments would rekindle during the Second Great Awakening and future Holiness Movements as Protestantism submerged America’s culture in a spiritual landscape.

Despite the demise of famed Great Awakening ministers, the revivals of the 1800s saw an influx of youthful converts desiring to enter missions. Upon fervent prayer meetings and intimate gatherings, many attendees of Second Great Awakening camp revivals associated as New Divinity believers who committed their lives to spreading the Gospel across domestic, cultural, and political borders. A famous example of such commitment by youth attending one of these revivals was the declaration of Samuel J. Mills Jr. to fulfill the spiritual calling resonating within him and his peers at Williams College despite enduring balmy weather which ushered the group to take shelter beneath a haystack while they continued formulating ways in which they could realize this vision. The Haystack Prayer Meeting served as the fundamental instance where the foreign missions movement initiated by American Protestants spread from Christian students to other seminaries and eventually into formal organizations and mission associations. Student involvement, interest, and assistance from congregational bodies resulted in the official opening of the ABCFM in 1810. Within the span of two short years, five missionaries from this religious collective ventured to the vastly pagan "jewel of the British empire:" India while others turned their gazes inward to reform American society.

This initial launch sounded the beginning of American missionary work which found its basis primarily in the contributions and labor of Congregationalists from New England though the activities of Presbyterians, Reformed Dutch, and other denominations which came to join the ranks of the new ABCFM. Kling wisely discerns that though Edwards and Hopkins offered theological insight, they did not purposefully intend nor supply doctrinal rationale as to how Protestants were to engage in international or domestic ministry. Kling paints them as transitional figures as Edwards functioned prior to the growing consciousness of the importance of mission work, and though Hopkins was aware of the underpinnings of this movement through New Light influence through the Great Awakening of the 1740s, he did not live to witness the effects occurring in the generation proceeding after these two influential theological figures ascended into glory. Instead, Kling argues that the following generation "extended and applied the implicit missionary theology of Edwards and Hopkins into an explicit theological justification for the creation of the ABCFM."[3] It is also an ironic fact that the man known as the "father of the foreign missionary work in Christian America” is often overlooked, as Samuel J. Mills Jr. never served as a foreign missionary, yet he arguably did more to pioneer the advance of mission work compared to any contemporary. A grand student leader and religious evangelical promoter, Mills organized the ABCFM, was "instrumental in the formation of the Foreign Mission School,"[4] and dedicated to educating converted native peoples so that they could serve as ambassadors for Christ amongst the members of their culture in their homeland.

Though he did not travel abroad, Mills’ domestic influence punctured the heart of Congregational worship as he served as a pioneer missionary in the western territories of America and posed as an abolitionist who desired to rectify the institution of slavery, to educate, and to include African Americans as equal members of church and society. Suitably, Mills’ lobbying for educational reform assisted evangelization at home and abroad with the opening of missionary societies and organizations which funded the distribution of Bibles, construction of Sunday schools, the traveling expenses and lodging for preachers and missionary families, and the establishment of education societies to lessen the “cost for ministerial training for pious young men aspiring to the ministry.”[5] Thus, Mills operated as a fundamental catalyst of the foreign missionary movement which aligned with the broader scope of the antebellum reforms sweeping throughout the initial stages of the nineteenth century.

The New Divinity or Edwardsean or Hopkinsian mindsets relied upon by Mills and other Congregationalists surged the movement forward as many felt compelled by the idea of a "disinterested benevolence," rather that the believer ought to be willing to be damned for all eternity if one’s individual sacrifice of their salvation could bring glory to God. Though perhaps misguided regarding how the redemption and salvation of all mankind remains at the heart of the Christian doctrine, those of New Divinity theology stewed in Edward’s “grand providential/millennial scheme” believed that revivals “signaled the dawn of the millennium – a new age [emerging] through natural means as an outpouring of God’s Spirit manifested in religious activity – [denoting how] Christian activity was a precondition [and that Christians ought to be] engaged in benevolent activities, social reform, and missionary outreach”[6] to usher in the second coming of Christ.

Fundamentally, Kling’s work explains the contributions of multiple New Divinity members, such as Moses Hallock, William Richards, Ammi Robbins, and the impact of sermons such as Edward D. Griffin's "The Kingdom of Christ" which called for the fulfillment of the Great Commission which supported Mills’ efforts to gain sponsors and volunteers to sustain and expand the ABCFM. However, Kling primarily constructs a narrative regarding an exploration of Edwardsean theology, Mills' exceptional organizational skills and passion which propelled the success of the "Society of the Brethren" (a secret missionary society) and the ABCFM as an institution and movement, as well as how the historian analyzes the overall influence of New Divinity thought on the mission field. Intriguingly, Kling reiterates how most scholarship lacks the assertion that New Divinity is the stirring cultural factor entwined with the Edwardsean tradition that prompts the development of American missions. In fact, Kling boldly claims that New Divinity ideology should be considered a "widespread movement insofar as it promoted a theology and directed that ideology into organizations bent on influencing the nature of society"[7] – the origin of missionary societies being firmly ingrained within New Divinity doctrine, revivalism, and an intricate series of voluntary associations which were distinctly New Divinity-based and whose members adhered to New Divinity doctrine which served as the motivation and justification for domestic and international American missions due to a benevolent view of depraved mankind – a step away from prior forms of Calvinist theology as though a new light had dawned in order to lead America and the world closer toward the Divine being and the awaiting millennium.

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[1] David Kling, “The New Divinity and the Origins of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.” Church History (2003): 792.

[2] Michael Haykin, “All the Dogmas of the American School” in Great Admirers of the Transatlantic Divinity, 201.

[3] Kling, “The New Divinity,” 793.

[4] David Raymond, "The Legacy of Samuel J. Mills Jr." International Bulletin of Missionary Research 38, no. 4 (2014): 207.

[5] Ibid,.

[6] John Hubers, "Making Friends with Locusts: Early ABCFM Missionary Perceptions of Muslims and Islam, 1818-50." International Bulletin of Missionary Research 33, no. 3 (2009): 151.

[7] Kling, 794.

Image (c) Salem Harbor, Caravan, 1818.

Historical Review - Levy’s Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side

  

Levy, Leonard W. Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1963. xviii+225 pp, Bibliography, notes, and index. $4.50.

     

A philosopher of limited government, classical liberal ideals, and civil equality, Thomas Jefferson yet poses as a dichotomy according to Leonard Levy’s Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side. He accounts for Jefferson's involvement toward religious and civil liberties during and after the American Revolution, details Jefferson's controversial support of Virginia's 1778 Bill of Attainder and sometimes hypocritical defense of freedom of expression (Levy denotes that the politician was open to exceptions when it related to his political adversaries), as well as the results of Aaron Burr conspiracy, the Embargo Act, his repressment of Federalist writings and sentiment, as well as Jefferson's activities after his presidential term including the establishment of his beloved University of Virginia intended to enshrine republican values. Despite, provided a thorough exposition on Jefferson as a political figure, Levy appears to be agenda-driven - successfully exposing Jefferson’s supposed darker side.

Denigrating Jefferson’s hallowed position in the minds of the American public, Levy presents an often unseen side to the otherwise esteemed Virginia statesman, showing how his "at one time or another supported loyalty oats; countenanced internment camps for political suspects; drafted a bill of attainder; urged prosecutions for seditious libel; condoned military despotism; used the Army to enforce laws in time of peace; censored reading; chose professors for their political opinions; and endorsed the doctrine that means, however odious, are justified by ends.”[1] Due to these scholarly findings, Leonard W. Levy explores Jefferson’s political and social record and relatively achieves his stated goal to “determine the validity of his historical reputation as the apostle of liberty.”[2]

Objectively, Levy could be pressed upon to have utilized a more neutral approach to discerning Jefferson's achievements and failures, yet his intension to critique the pristine image of the Founder is well-founded. By opting to do so, Levy's work stands out as rather biased despite his emphasis that enough books have been produced praising the statesman. A fair reading would instead find the complexity of Jefferson engaging and understandable as there exists a “tension between the principle of tolerance and the habit of complete commitment between idealism and the exercise of power in a revolutionary age.”[3] Instead, Levy appears to convict Jefferson on all charges and rip his saintly halo and drag Jefferson’s tarnished image through allegorical mud. “In his effort to expose sin, error, and dereliction [Levy] has ranged through the entire career of Jefferson, covering half a century or more, and has collected a considerable pile of what he regards as dirt...and while admitting that balance is not his objective, [Levy] claims that in fact he is restoring it.”[4] Astutely Trevor Colbourn notes that Jefferson was a “politician- (and with all it connotes) a superb one. Jefferson does not need to be protected from himself; virtues clearly outweigh his vices; like most human beings Jefferson was not always on the side of angels,”[5] and rightly so, suggests that Levy has constructed an unnecessarily embellished interpretation in order to prove his thesis.

Although Levy reveals clear partiality, his portrayal of Jefferson’s actions which stand contrary to national memory and his abandonment of privately held and publically espoused ideals is a credible aspect of his career that ought to be further explored. In The Darker Side, Levy provides an account that carries significant weight in furthering a genuine exploration of America’s most revered historical figures, including their exalted and broken particularities. Though harshly critiquing Jefferson's conflicting ideals and actions while in power, Levy offers an insightful and weighty account of a passionate supporter of liberty while engaging in the humanistic portrayal of a flawed and complex individual attempting to achieve the hopes enshrined in his political and philosophical ponderings.

Bibliography

Levy, Leonard W. Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1963.

Scholarly Reviews Consulted:

Colbourn, Trevor. “Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side by Leonard W. Levy” The Journal of American History 51, no. 2 (1964): 297-99.

Harrison, Joseph H. “Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side by Leonard W. Levy” The William and Mary Quarterly 21, no. 3 (1964): 451-54.

Malone, Dumas. “Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side by Leonard W. Levy” The American Historical Review 69, no. 3 (1964): 787-89.

---

[1] Leonard W. Levy, Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side, 1963, 225.

[2] Ibid,.

[3] Joseph H. Harrison, The William and Mary Quarterly 21, no. 3 (1964): 451.

[4] Dumas Malone. The American Historical Review 69, no. 3 (1964): 787.

[5] Trevor Colbourn. The Journal of American History 51, no. 2 (1964): 298.

An Appeal to Heaven – Baptist Isaac Backus' Struggle for Religious Liberty in the Revolutionary Era

Converting to Christianity in 1741 as an effect of the Great Awakening, Isaac Backus became a separatist Baptist Congregationalist and head of the Warren Association of Baptists who championed religious freedom in America. Through the work of his piestic writings and petitions to Congress and State legislatures, the Massachusetts Baptist pastor vied for the separation of church and state in order to ensure and protect individual liberty of consciousness.

An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty (1773) poses as one of Backus’ most renowned works that details legal, Biblical, and Enlightenment rationale to support his position which stresses the importance of true liberty, the role of the government, and the differences between civil and ecclesial structures. Backus clearly defines the distinction between each government type, stating that "all acts of executive power in the civil state, are to be performed in the name of the king or state they belong to; while all our religious acts are to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus." He goes onto say that due to the nature of civically elected systems, “putting any men into civil office is of men, of the people of the world; so officers have truly no more authority than the people give them."[1] Justification for the Patriots’ separation from the mother-country fell along these lines, with Colonies abject to Britain’s refusal to acknowledge their rights as Englishmen or fairly represent the interests and concerns of citizens.

Similarly, having endured decades of religious persecution due to the arrangement of state-sponsored churches, Backus and other religious dissenters saw hypocrisy in how Revolutionaries decried civil subjugation while spiritually subjugating their fellow compatriots who theologically differed from the traditional Congregational and Anglican Church structure which dominated Colonial religious life.

Backus’ Appeal to the Public illustrates that “while his thoughts were similar to John Locke, he maintained a distinctly pietistic interpretation of man's natural obedience to God. [The two ordained systems of government held] purposes and natures [which] were distinctly different and should never be linked together.”[2] He relied upon Biblical narratives and the sovereign examples of David and Solomon to reveal that God erected covenants with nations and that the creation of laws ensured the protection of liberty. However, Backus appealed to notions of God’s ordained order, the distinctive nature of man’s depravity, and how though the Revolutionary Era’s mindset adhered to the idea that civil liberty ought not to be denied, he proposed that religious liberty shared the same fundamental importance.

Patriotic cries against a neglectful sovereign were validated however, when the “same cry was raised by Backus and the Baptists in protest against religious taxes imposed by civil government, it was perceived as an unnecessarily divisive ploy by fanatical rabble-rousers.”[3] Due to their association with other groups desiring religious freedom, such as pacifistic Quakers, Baptists were viewed as non-patriotic and their petitions, letters, and public addressment of religious concerns were largely ignored. However, Backus managed to utilize the “rhetorical strategies of the more elite New England revolutionaries in support of the minority opinion that their right of conscience, like the patriots' rights with Great Britain, had been unjustly denied.”[4] Through the War for Independence, Backus preached to the Continental Army, met with Congressional members, and traveled about the colonies sermonizing the importance of religious autonomy. He consistently readdressed the Baptist “position in relation to the colonial bid for freedom emphasizing that religious taxation without representation was just as unjust as civil taxation without representation.”[5]

Historian Thomas Kidd eloquently specifies how the “evangelical tradition supplied spiritual propulsion to the Patriot cause that was unsurpassed by any other element of Patriot ideology"[6] Though differing doctrinally, these “individuals of such varied theological strands [agreed] that religion had political implications.” Communal convictions and adherence to republicanism strengthened both the religious and irreligious alike as a core principle acknowledged was that the “disestablishment of state churches was the best means to promote religious tolerance and freedom of conscience. Following the war, evangelicals and rationalists often joined politically in agreement on the public role of religion and that the government had no business legislating religion.”[7] Dissenters amicably account that the “war in Virginia was not only a war against British rule but also a war against religious establishment. Religious liberty was not the result of republicanization, but republicanization was the result of the concerted efforts by dissenters to gain religious freedom from the establishment in exchange for mobilization against the British.”[8] Furthermore, the advance of religious liberty in America is revealed to be “not inevitable, nor was it the natural outcome of the American victory in the Revolution. It had to be won, not from Britain per se, but from the established church which was at war with the British. Thus, religious liberty was won through petitions and negotiations more than on the battlefields of the Revolution.”[9] Despite theological disputes, Backus supported the Revolution, and by relying on Biblical and civil arguments vindicating the rights of man, he became known as the “most forceful and effective writer America produced on behalf of the pietistic or evangelical theory of separation of church and state."[10]

Ultimately, political change ushered in a reconfiguration of state and church structure in America. As new state constitutions were designed and adopted, a more inclusive awareness emerged towards dissenters as sects, such as the Baptists, were gradually accepted into the fold of mainstream Protestantism. The voluntary service of dissenters during the Revolution additionally aided their plight, as the conscientious objectors to imposed theocracy had proven themselves loyal to the new republic through blood and Christian fervor. The hold of Anglican and Congregational churches slowly began to weaken, yet it was not until the mid-19^th century that the final ties between church and state were officially severed.[11]

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[1] Isaac Backus, “An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty,” 1973.

[2] Sewell Jr. and Edward H. “Isaac Backus’ Plea for Religious Freedom, 1770-1776.” Today's Speech 23, no. 2 (1975): 39-47.

[3] Ibid., 45-6.

[4] Ibid,.

[5] Sewell Jr. and Edward H. “Isaac Backus’ Plea for Religious Freedom,” 44.

[6] Thomas S. Kidd, God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution (2010): 94.

[7] Matthew Hill, “God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution.” Fides Et Historia 43, no. 1 (2011): 93-4.

[8] John A. Ragosta, Wellspring of Liberty: How Virginia’s Religious Dissenters Helped Win the American Revolution and Secured Religious Liberty, 2010.

[9] John D. Wilsey, “Wellspring of Liberty: How Virginia’s Religious Dissenters Helped Win the American Revolution and Secured Religious Liberty.” Fides Et Historia 45, no. 1 (2013): 156-7.

[10] William G. McLoughlin, “Isaac Backus on Church, State, and Calvinism: Pamphlets, 1754-1789,” (1968): 1.

[11] Sewell Jr. and Edward H. “Isaac Backus’ Plea for Religious Freedom,” 45.

Image - Isaac Backus, Government and Liberty Described and Ecclesiastical Tyranny Exposed, 1788.

Puritan Piety through a Communal Work Ethic

Diligence - Frugality - Faith

Inspired by Charles Cohen’s, “The Saints Zealous in Love and Labor,” this analysis details contrasting scholarly perspectives regarding the Puritan psychology of work. Cohen cites Max Weber’s thesis and mentions how Weber links the practice of piety to the development of capitalism and Western Civilization. Weber suggests that Puritans were largely inspired to fulfill their earthly acts of labor due to a higher sense of moralistic reasoning and virtue. Overwhelmingly, from the writings of John Winthrop, one of the leading founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and other Puritan authors, the majority of New England’s early settlers appeared to have desired to manifest their faith through good works and economic activity, whether as a show of their own piety or due to societal pressures to behave accordingly to the ideals of their religiously-based colony. From Charles perspective, Puritans assumed that if they were not being productive, they were not living up to the standards of Christ and that without labor, the Spirit of God was not being accessed, thus not reflecting a transformed state from sinner to a soul regenerated into active Christian life.

Reminiscent of John Smith’s famously attributed quote – “Those who do not work do not eat” –highly incentivized public activity from all members of Puritan society regardless of class or gender is indicative that new settlements along the Eastern coastline were no longer bound by old European ties to class hierarchy. Additionally, each individual, in order to survive the harsh elements of the New World, appeared compelled to participate and contribute, concepts that were exceptionally relevant to the Puritan way of life, as the common belief seemed to hold that the single action from one of their members could result in either God’s favor or displeasure, indicating that there existed subsequent consequences for either their action or inaction.

Historian Sharon Beder explores how a higher motivation is necessary for the efficiency of modern economics, that being portrayed in the success of capitalism. She states that "modern capitalism, more than mere trading for profit, requires a system of values that revolves around economic meanings and goals." She continues to highlight how the Protestant Reformation brought about "moral support and legitimacy" to settlers desiring to impact commerce and industry - one of the hallmarks of those crossing the Atlantic who were set on exploring and cultivating the relatively unclaimed American continent for their own personal or imperialistic gain.

Intriguingly, a critique of Max Weber's initial projection on how the economic motivations of Puritans stemmed from their Calvinistic theology emerges in the form of Anglican dissent. A contrary opinion posed by C. John Sommerville stands refreshingly aloof compared to the amount of research on early colonial piety during the 1600s. Sommerville argues that Anglicans were far more work-focused and efficient in their enterprises compared to their Puritan counterparts. In “The Anti-Puritan Work Ethic,” Sommerville disputes the validity of other scholars whom he sees as having relied too heavily on Weber's analysis and that consideration ought to be placed on other pieces of literary evidence to support the conjected link between Calvinist doctrine and the compulsive desire to work. He suggests, based on religious books penned by Anglican authors within the 17^th century, that Anglicans instead placed more emphasis upon worldly acts of labor “as a religious duty" in a way that was "integrated with the rest of their theology in a more logical manner than the Puritans." He sees the Puritan motive for work more as a symptom of psychology branching out from a sense of “religious anxiety” instead of acts conducted out of pure devotion.

Sommerville could be right, however, though more detailed and thought provoking due to how he contrasts the deeper theological differences between Christian denominations, it appears as though his argument misses the point – simply because Anglicans may have been more concentrated on work as a stated “religious duty,” this does not discredit the reasons as to why Puritans were motivated to actively act out the will of God. Cannot both sects be equally motivated by economic and religious factors? Even if Puritans were motivated in part by societal pressures they may have felt, especially in light of conformity, intrinsically the Puritan mindset is fundamentally yet enamored with the idea that each believer is responsible in expressing the Spirit of God and His transformational powers within and through their outward show of labor and good works. Through the tenets of the Protestant Reformation, with Luther’s insistence on Sola Gratia - through God's grace alone, the Puritans heartily believed that salvation can only be achieved through the sacrifice of Christ and not through any humanly effort, thus they were further inspired by Christian principles to dedicate their lives to hard work in service of God in addition to a dedicated display of their own personal piety and devotion in an outwardly visible way.

I do not see the conflict here as anyone can be simultaneously motivated by various influences yet still maintain a genuine and sincere conviction towards an original motivating factor, this being God in the instance through our analysis of motivational factors influencing the Puritans. In fact, Christianity revolves around each saint navigating through the diverse influences and responsibilities of life while always bearing in mind Who ought to have the greatest amount of influence in our lives.

Linking Protestant Work Ethic and Capitalism, Max Weber

Thankfully, historian Marilynn Robinson, points out a unique facet of Puritan thinking in her "Puritans and Prigs: An Anatomy of Zealotry" that acknowledges the Christian doctrine of the depravity of man, a notion emphasized quite emphatically by Calvinists from which Puritan methodology strains. She likens a portion of Puritanical society to that of the “National Socialism of Germany” or other fascist communities – “the idea that society can and should produce good people – people suited to life in that idealized society” who must consistently examine whether they and those around them are expressing and living up to that communal standard. However, she retracts that affiliation, suggesting that the Puritans cannot be considered “zealots or Stalinists”, but rather showcases how Puritans have a zealous nature about them only because the passion of these devotees originates from the deep desire to “feel secure in their reasonableness, worth, and goodness,” or rather, to solidly mirror their Christian identity, despite their understanding of flawed human nature. It is actually because of this understanding, Robinson claims, that they are “filled with a generous zeal to establish their virtues through the world of their society with the inspiring hope that this transformation can be accomplished.”

And this leads us back to the beginning of this discussion with the statement Cohen took from Max Weber, suggesting that Puritan motivation for earthly work was uniquely and intimately bound together with their desire to serve and worship God to the utmost of their abilities - a pious expression rooted at the very core of Christian hospitality and compassion which came to greatly influence and alter the course of Western Civilization due to both economic and religious motivating factors.

Link to Commentary Video - Puritan Piety through Work Ethic

Bibliography

Cohen, Charles L. "The Saints Zealous in Love and Labor: The Puritan Psychology of Work." The Harvard Theological Review 76, no. 4 (1983): 455-80. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1509547.

Fitzpatrick, Tara. "The Figure of Captivity: The Cultural Work of the Puritan Captivity Narrative."American Literary History 3, no. 1 (1991): 1-26. http://www.jstor.org/stable/489730.

Harper, Preston. "Puritan Works Salvation and the Quest for Community in "the Scarlet Letter"." Theology Today 57, no. 1 (Apr 01, 2000): 51, http://ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1791712277?accountid=12085.

Hart, Ian. "The Teaching of the Puritans about Ordinary Work." 67, no. 3 (January 1, 1995): 195. http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eq/1995-3_195.pdf.

Laird, Pamela. "Selling the Work Ethic: From Puritan Pulpit to Corporate PR."Enterprise & Society 2, no. 4 (12, 2001): 855-7, http://ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/218624952?accountid=12085.

Robinson, Marilynne. "Puritans and Prigs: An Anatomy of Zealotry." Salmagundi, no. 101-102 (Winter, 1994): 36, http://ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/221291588?accountid=12085.

Seaver, Paul. "The Puritan Work Ethic Revisited." Journal of British Studies 19, no. 2 (1980): 35-53. http://www.jstor.org/stable/175492.

Sommerville, C. John. "The Anti-Puritan Work Ethic." Journal of British Studies 20, no. 2 (1981): 70-81. http://www.jstor.org/stable/175637.

Winthrop, John. "John Winthrop: A Modell of Christian Charity." Hanover. Accessed September 09, 2016. https://history.hanover.edu/texts/winthmod.html.

Book Review - Banning’s Sacred Fire of Liberty

Lance Banning. The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the Founding of the Federal Republic. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1995. Pp. x, 543. $35.00

In The Sacred Fire of Liberty, Lance Banning presents the unassuming yet capable James Madison as a uniting figure presiding over the Congressional delegation wrought in debate over ratification of a proposed Constitution penned for the United States and continues with an analysis of Madison’s subsequent political career after his landmark contribution. The author primarily argues that Madison's position for establishing a sense of national security rested upon the laurels of the Revolution yet hinged between success and failure due to the weakened nature of the Articles of Confederation following the rise of discord during the era of the Early Republic. Banning’s main point appears to attempt to shed light on the politician’s often misunderstood rationale subsisting of his view on the proper role of government and how the essence of liberty intertwines.

The Sacred Fire of Liberty masterfully chronicles Madison’s efforts and vocational progression, however, most impressively, Banning articulately surveys Madison’s belief in a compound form of republican government which he expected to preserve individual liberties while enabling a strong federal system that would function within its appropriate realm. Banning ought to have delved deeper into the reasons for Madison’s assumptions toward this end, however assurances issuing from his proposed idea of a tripartite limitation of national power may give recourse for his assumptive stance on how future statesmen would function. Yet in the same vein, Cathy Matson notes how Madison "clung to classical republican beliefs in the need for a virtuous citizenry and reputable political leadership...[consecrated on the] ideal of self-government grounded on republican dignity and virtue,"[1] forces which may indeed explain Madison’s frequently misinterpreted political vantage point in light of clamoring for a more distinctive form of democratic republicanism.

 Appreciatively, Robert A. Becker provides insight into a slight flaw of Banning's throughout his publication, that being repetitiveness and the potential glorification of Madison in lieu of his reputation's tarnishing at the hands of modern historiography. Yet the redeeming virtue of Sacred Fire is Banning’s insistence on respectfully illuminating the error within a majority of scholarly reviews of the man. Banning suggests that "numerous interpretative difficulties" over Madison's concern of potential authoritative overreach while yet desiring an effective centralized government "can produce an image bearing little resemblance to Madison himself."[2] Complimentary to the author’s thesis, Becker's persuasive observation of Banning's intention to project Madison as a "revolutionary republican and a kind of states' rights nationalist [instead of the politician who has been] persistently misread in order to force Madison into the mold of an anti-republican nationalist"[3] is thoroughly agreeable.

Additionally, as suggested by Vincent McGuire, Banning aims to reveal that, however contradictory, Madison's "overriding concern was maintaining the Spirit of Revolution"[4] in its purest form. Similarly, with Matson’s aforementioned discernment of Madison’s ethical stance, Banning utilizes Madison's "own words woven unobtrusively into the narrative"[5] to feature how Madison poses not as a fickle public servant but rather one of principled character and consistency in his approach to sociopolitical theory and revivalist change.

Through approaching the realm of America’s hallowed pantheon to dissect one of its members in an honest and justifiable manner, Banning provides an insightful and fair analysis of the humble man bearing the weighty mantle as the Father of the Constitution. Though refraining from considering himself a nationalist, Banning skillfully indicates through his work how Madison emerged from a defender of state rights’ to jointly favoring federal policy, namely through the institution of implied Congressional powers due to the necessity of reform he recognized the budding nation required if the idealized vision for the “grand American experiment” could be sustained.

Bibliography:

Lance Banning, A Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the Founding of the Federal Republic (1995).

Scholarly Reviews Consulted:

Becker, Robert A. The American Historical Review 102, no. 5 (1997): 1562-563.

Matson, Cathy. The Journal of Southern History 63, no. 1 (1997): 151-53.

McGuire, Vincent. The American Political Science Review 90, no. 4 (1996): 884.

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[1] Cathy Matson, The Journal of Southern History 63, no. 1 (1997): 152.

[2] Lance Banning, The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the Founding of the Federal Republic (1995): 165.

[3] Robert A. Becker, The American Historical Review 102, no. 5 (1997): 1563.

[4] Vincent McGuire, The American Political Science Review 90, no. 4 (1996): 884.

[5] Cathy Matson, 151.

A Brief Consideration of Charles Cohen’s Thesis - Christianity and the Colonization of British North America

        Charles Cohen presents a contrary perspective regarding the early colonization of British North America in the 17th and 18th centuries, suggesting not that Christianity loomed only to decrescendo ever since the landing of the Puritans and other-like minded dissidents, but instead, presents the case that the faithful pinioned on the periphery of the New World were located in a fundamentally revolving environment that harbored and instigated the expanse of Christendom. Cohen's thesis explores the unique scenario of migrants huddled in an uncharted landscape and endued with the responsibility to organize and structure their surroundings upon ideological concerns, primarily as a refuge from European church and societal corruption, the desire to revive long-held and valued Christian principles, and to function as a successful system of citizens lying outside the boundaries of conventional British civilization. He concludes with the notion that American revivalism ought not to be considered isolated but instead, a complement to the global revival sweeping across the Atlantic from Western Civilization's shore due to the organization of Protestantism from official doctrine to a faith revived by the intensive yearnings of devoted hearts affected by sermons from enthusiastic ministers, such as George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. Ultimately, Cohen argues that the religiously unassociated as well as the cross-denominational collective of settlers from the British continent were an extent of the church-state system but also a product of their developing environment.

        Charles Cohen, “The Colonization of British North America as an Episode in the History of Christianity,” Church History (2003), 553-568. http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4146260.pdf

        Charles Landseer, The Eve of the Battle of Edge Hill, 1642, Google Art Project.

Eddie Rickenbacker: Ace of Aces

Known as “America’s Red Baron,” Edward Reichenbacher, the son of Swiss immigrants, grew up during the early 1900s in Columbus, Ohio. An aptitude for speed inclined Eddie to race in multiple Indianapolis 500s in which his skills swiftly vaulted the young man to third place among all American racers in 1916. Driving for different motor companies offered Rickenbacker a substantial income and a mechanical career which soon ignited a passion for the developing field of aviation.

Patriotic heart ablaze, Eddie immediately volunteered to join the armed forces upon the United States' decision to intervene in the international affairs of World War 1.

Innovative and resourceful, he petitioned to form a league of militarized racecar drivers, a unique alternative that was promptly refused. Despite the rejection of his idea, Eddie received a position as the personal driver for General John Pershing and other high-ranking officers. He was even called upon to repair the car of Army Air Service Chief, Billy Mitchell, who insisted on Rickenbacker attending aviation school in France which specialized in training US airmen prior to their deployment to the Western Front. However, he remained at Issoudun as an engineering officer who was permitted to fly outside of his duties yet forbidden from participating in the war. Growing restless with the arrangement, Eddie requested to join the most recent aerial division, the 94th Aero Squadron; a request which was granted.

With fast reflexes and a keen eye, Eddie took to the sky in a Newport 28 until the famous Spat 13 could be mobilized. Though Newport aircrafts were fast and nimble, the machine lacked diving prowess in which many a pilot suffered though up to eighteen thousand feet of brutal wind chill in an open cockpit during the descent.

A WWI Dogfight clip from Flyboys, 2006

Modeled after Eddie's plane, a Spat 13 bears the "Uncle Sam's Hat in the Ring" colors in honor of  the 94th Division

Apparently ambitious, Eddie successfully achieved five confirmed air combat kills within his first month of combat, an act which awarded the French War Cross and elevated the pilot to ace status. He became the commander of the 94^th aerial division, entitled "Uncle Sam's Hat in the Ring Squadron" to represent the United States' intention to aid the Allies. At the Great War’s end, Rickenbacker had achieved twenty-six air victories, boasting the greatest destruction rate of enemy planes of any American pilot during World War I. His record proved the necessity for increased air power and the emerging contest for air superiority. With the signing of the Armistice in 1919, he returned to the US and toured the nation as a celebrated hero.

Lavishing in the height of personal fame, Eddie created an auto-manufacturing company, Florida Airways, with fellow WWI pilot Reid Chambers in 1922. Though the company produced quality vehicles, steep competition drove the firm to bankruptcy. Employment with General Motors enabled Eddie to earn enough money to pay his debts and purchase the Indianapolis Speedway, which he maintained until 1940. In 1930, Eddie was one of four men who received the Medal of Honor for their gallantry in WWI yet his participation in international affairs was far from over. On Sept 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, effectively launching the globe into crisis.

Initially, Rickenbacker opposed US intervention yet retracted his opposition upon Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. From the tragedy onward, the famous pilot wholeheartedly supported American involvement and promptly responded to assist as a civilian in military affairs. At the request of Gen. Hap Arnold, Eddie went on a tour of military bases to determine their morale and status. Later, due to Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson, Rickenbacker flew off on an ill-fated mission over the Pacific. Drifting 600 miles off course, Rickenbacker and other survivors were fortunately rescued by the Navy twenty four days after impact into the ocean. In 1943, Sec. Stimson again requested Rickenbacker’s services. He was privately commissioned to inspect and gather intelligence from China, India, Iran, North Africa, and the Soviet Union.

At the conclusion of World War II in 1945, Eddie officially retired from the military to pursue the arena of commercial airlines. In the late 1950s, Rickenbacker began to speak adamantly about conservative sociopolitical concerns. An autobiography captures some of his marvelous and stirring feats from the World War I era. The successful and exciting life of Eddie Rickenbacker, stretched between many crucial decades of world events, came to an end with his passing in Zurich, Switzerland on June 23, 1973.

A documentary presented by the Nat. Museum of the U.S. Air Force on Cpt. Rickenbacker's role in WWI

Eddie Rickenbacker’s exploits during the Great War and through his career as an aviation and government consultant prompted the most decorated United States combat pilot to advocate for the vital necessity of American air power. A pioneer in air transportation, Rickenbacker was conscious of ensuring that the legacy of America’s fledgling aviation history was preserved. Today, Eddie is synonymous as an immortal ace and remains a leading figure of national recognition.

Suggested Reading:

Hart, Peter. Aces Falling: War Above the Trenches, 1918. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007.

Groom, Winston. The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight. Washington D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2013.

Jeffers, H. Paul. Ace of Aces: The Life of Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker. New York: Ballantine Books, 2003.

Lewis, W. David. Eddie Rickenbacker: An American Hero in the Twentieth Century. Auburn, Ala.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.

Malinovska, Anna, and Mauriel Joslyn. Voices in Flight: Conversations with Air Veterans of the Great War. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Aviation, 2006.

Rickenbacker, Eddie. Fighting the Flying Circus. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1965.

Rickenbacker, Eddie. Seven Came Through; Rickenbacker's Full Story. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran, 1943.

Ross, John F. Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed. St. Martin's Press, 2014.

Sources:

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/airforce/p/rickenbacker.htm

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=715

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1008.html

http://www.lib.auburn.edu/archive/find-aid/101/eddie.htm

http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/rickenbacker.htm

http://acepilots.com/wwi/us_rickenbacker.html