Cotton Mather's Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels in "Biblia Americana"
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English 4-30-2018 "Perhaps No One General Answer Will Do": Cotton Mather's Commentary On The Synoptic Gospels In "Biblia Americana" Grace Sara Harwood Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Recommended Citation Harwood, Grace Sara, ""Perhaps No One General Answer Will Do": Cotton Mather's Commentary On The Synoptic Gospels In "Biblia Americana"." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2018. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/196 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “PERHAPS NO ONE GENERAL ANSWER WILL DO”: COTTON MATHER’S COMMENTARY ON THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS IN “BIBLIA AMERICANA” by GRACE SARA HARWOOD Under the Direction of Reiner Smolinski, PhD ABSTRACT The Bible began to lose its privileged place in Western society when skeptics found its contradictions irreconcilable. Cotton Mather (1663-1728) witnessed the integration of radical ideas into mainstream hermeneutics and attempted to respond honestly in his “Biblia Americana.” Although Mather never left New England, his exegesis was shaped almost entirely by European radicalism and its conservative responses. His remarks on the Synoptic Gospels reveal that as he tried to weigh radical arguments objectively, so he often accepted the radical conclusions that undermined the Bible’s authority. While Mather seemingly did not recognize the significance of the concessions he made, examination of his commentary on the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke reveals that Mather was a wholehearted participant in Enlightenment discourse and its radicalizing tendencies. INDEX WORDS: American studies, Enlightenment, Religion, Bible studies, Colonial America, Historical Jesus “PERHAPS NO ONE GENERAL ANSWER WILL DO”: COTTON MATHER’S COMMENTARY ON THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS IN “BIBLIA AMERICANA” by GRACE SARA HARWOOD A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2018 Copyright by Grace Sara Harwood 2018 “PERHAPS NO ONE GENERAL ANSWER WILL DO”: COTTON MATHER’S COMMENTARY ON THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS IN “BIBLIA AMERICANA” by GRACE SARA HARWOOD Committee Chair: Reiner Smolinski Committee: Mark Noble Jeffrey Trask Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2018 iv DEDICATION To Mom, Dad, Tom, Carley, and Sandy. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I give my sincerest thanks to Dr. Reiner Smolinski, the world’s leading Matherist, without whom this project would not be possible. It is because of Reiner that Mather’s scholarship is finally receiving due reexamination. Even more importantly, Reiner truly appreciates Mather’s talents, strength of character, and honesty. Thank you also to Dr. Mark Noble, who provided an exceptionally supportive voice both during my comprehensive exams and throughout the writing process, and to Dr. Jeffrey Trask, who has continuously encouraged - and often electrified! - my passion for historic preservation studies. Thanks as well to James Bearden for keeping me grounded in the “real” world and for providing “technical” support, and to Jeremy Weiss for authoring almost as many wise quotations as Mather himself. I warmly extend my gratitude to my seventh-grade history teacher, Nick Hughes, in whose class I began studying the Salem witch trials – a research project that never ended! – and to my high school English teachers, Maria Papalia-Potvin and Carrie Collins, who not only greatly improved my writing skills but indulgently tolerated my obsession with Cotton Mather. Likewise, I am eternally grateful to Dr. Alex Damm, whose courses at the University of Toronto illuminated the fascinating world of Bible criticism and provided a solid foundation for me to begin this study. Finally, thank you to my parents, who have been listening to me talk about Cotton Mather for two dogs’ ages. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ V 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 1 1.1 Why Study “Biblia Americana”? ...................................................................... 2 1.2 Mather Outside the Church ............................................................................... 6 1.3 Reformation Roots .............................................................................................. 9 1.4 Anti-Clerical Radicalism .................................................................................. 12 1.5 Anti-Revelation Radicalism .............................................................................. 16 1.6 Ecumenism ......................................................................................................... 22 1.7 Radical Attacks on Typology ........................................................................... 26 1.8 Radicalism in Mather’s America ..................................................................... 33 1.9 Mather’s Bible ................................................................................................... 39 1.10 Religious Antisemitism .................................................................................. 39 1.11 To Be or Not To Be ........................................................................................ 41 1.12 Mather’s Sources ........................................................................................... 43 1.13 Precritical Exegesis and Modern High Criticism ....................................... 47 1.14 This Study ....................................................................................................... 51 2 CHAPTER TWO: RATIONALISM ...................................................................... 54 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 54 2.2 Nicodemus .......................................................................................................... 57 vii 2.3 Scene at Jesus’s Tomb and other Mysteries ................................................... 62 2.4 The Inconsistent Morality of Jesus .................................................................. 71 2.5 The Meaning of Jesus ........................................................................................ 74 2.6 The Secrecy of Jesus .......................................................................................... 77 2.7 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 82 3 CHAPTER THREE: MIRACLES .......................................................................... 83 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 83 3.2 Why Miracles ..................................................................................................... 90 3.3 The Jonah Saga ................................................................................................. 93 3.4 The Nature of Miracles ..................................................................................... 99 3.5 Miracles and Faith .......................................................................................... 103 3.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 106 4 CHAPTER FOUR: JESUS .................................................................................... 106 4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 106 4.2 Man-God .......................................................................................................... 109 4.3 Man-Man.......................................................................................................... 115 4.4 Bad Prophet ..................................................................................................... 119 4.5 The Son and the Holy Ghost .......................................................................... 122 4.6 The Son and the Devil ..................................................................................... 125 4.7 The Son of Man and the Son of God.............................................................. 128 viii 4.8 The Spirit and the Dove .................................................................................. 131 4.9 Judge Jesus....................................................................................................... 134 4.10 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 136 5 CHAPTER FIVE: HARMONY ............................................................................ 137 5.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 137 5.2 Problem 1: The Biblical Narrative ................................................................ 139 5.2.1 The Importance of Being a Prophet ..........................................................