AMHERST COLLEGE
Religion 335
AMERICAN RELIGIOUS THOUGHT: FROM EDWARDS TO EMERSON--AND BEYOND
Fall 2011 Professor David W. Wills MW 2:00-3:20 Chapin 112
September 7: Introduction to the Class
September 12: Puritanism: Anxiety and Assurance I Michael McGiffert, ed., God’s Plot: Puritan Spirituality in Thomas Shepard’s Cambridge, Rev. & Enlarged edition, pp. ix-xiv, 3-79 (purchase)
September 14: Puritanism: Anxiety and Assurance II McGiffert, God’s Plot, pp. 81-134.
September 19: The Enlightenment: Benjamin Franklin Avihu Zakai, “The Age of Enlightenment,” in Stephen Stein, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Jonathan Edwards, pp. 80-99 (e-reserve). Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, pp 64-66, 87-104 (packet)
September 21: Edwards: Personal Writings George Marsden, A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards, chs. 1-3 (purchase). Jonathan Edwards, “Personal Narrative,” “Diary,” “Resolutions,” “Apostrophe to Sarah Pierpont,” “Letter to Timothy Edwards,” in John E. Smith, Harry S. Stout, and Kenneth P. Minkema, eds., The Jonathan Edwards Reader, pp. 281-295, 266-281, 298-300 (purchase). Exercise Due (2pp)
September 26: Edwards and the Evangelical Awakenings Marsden, SLJE, ch. 4-5. Jonathan Edwards, “A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God” and “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” in JE Reader, pp. 57-87, 89-105. Jonathan Edwards, “To George Whitefield” and “To John Lyman,” in JE Reader, pp. 300-303. September 28: Edwards and the Divine Light Jonathan Edwards, “A Divine and Supernatural Light” and “A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections,” JE Reader, pp.105-124,137-171.
September 30: Friday Paper Due (4-5 pp)
October 3: Edwards the Idealist Stephen H. Daniel, “Edwards as Philosopher,” in Stephen Stein, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Jonathan Edwards, pp. 162-180 (e-reserve). Jonathan Edwards, “Spider Letter,” “Of Being,” “Beauty of the World,” “Images of Divine Things,” “The Mind,” and “Miscellanies,” in JE Reader, pp. 1-48.
October 5: Edwards: History, Missions, and Slavery Marsden, SLJE, c h. 6-7. Jonathan Edwards, “Notes on the Apocalypse,” “A History of the Work of Redemption: Sermon 1,” “The Bad Book Case,” “An Humble Inquiry,” and “Receipt for Slave Venus,” in JE Reader, pp. 49-56, 124-136, 173-178, 179-191, and 296-297. Kenneth P. Minkema, “Jonathan Edwards on Slavery and the Slave Trade,” William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 54, No. 4 (October 1997): 831-834 (e reserve). Kenneth P. Minkema, “Jonathan Edwards’s Defense of Slavery,” Massachusetts Historical Review, Vol. 4 (2002): 23-59 (e-reserve)
FALL BREAK
October 12: Edwards: Freedom of the Will, Original Sin, and God’s Purpose in Creation Marsden, SLJE, ch 8. E. Brooks Holifield, “Edwards as Theologian” in Stephen Stein, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Jonathan Edwards, pp.144-161 (e-reserve) Jonathan Edwards, “Freedom of the Will” and “Original Sin” in JE Reader, pp 192-222, and 223-243. Jonathan Edwards, “Dissertation I: Concerning the End for Which God Created the World,” Section VII, in Jonathan Edwards, Ethical Writings, ed. Paul Ramsey, Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 8, pp. 526-536 (Works of Jonathan Edwards on-line)
October 17: Edwards: True Virtue Jonathan Edwards, The Nature of True Virtue, entire (purchase) October 19: An Edwards Disciple: Samuel Hopkins Joseph Conforti, “Samuel Hopkins” American National Biography (on-line) Samuel Hopkins, “A Dialogue between a Calvinist and a Semi-Calvinist,” Works of Samuel Hopkins, Vol. 3, pp. 143-157 (packet) Samuel Hopkins, “Disinterested Affection,” Works of Samuel Hopkins, Vol. 1, pp. 378- 399 (packet). Samuel Hopkins, “The Author’s Farewell to the World,” in Works of Samuel Hopkins, Vol. 3, pp.746-769 (packet)
October 21: Friday Paper Due (5pp)
October 24: Emerson, Channing, and “Aunt Mary.” Joel Myerson, “Ralph Waldo Emerson,” American National Biography (on-line) Daniel Walker Howe, “William Ellery Channing,” American National Biography (on- line) William Ellery Channing, “Unitarian Christianity,” Works of William E. Channing, Eleventh Complete Edition, Vol. 3, pp. 59-103 (packet) Phyllis Cole, “Ralph Waldo Emerson in His Family,” in Joel Porte and Saundra Morris, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson, pp.30-48 (e- reserve)
October 26: Emerson and the Unitarian Ministry David Robinson, ed., “Introduction,” The Spiritual Emerson, pp. 1-20 (purchase). Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Lord’s Supper Sermon,” in Wesley T. Mott, ed. The Complete Sermons of Ralph Waldo Emerson, vol. 4, pp. 185-194 (packet) Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Divinity School Address,” in David Robinson, ed., The Spiritual Emerson, pp. 63-82 (purchase)
October 31: Emerson, Nature, and Self Reliance Robert D. Richardson, Jr., “Emerson and Nature,” in Cambridge Companion to RWE, pp. 97-105 (e-reserve) R. W. Emerson, “Nature” and “Self Reliance” in SE, pp. 21-62, 84-109. Exercise Due (2pp)
November 2: Compensation, the Over-Soul, Circles R. W. Emerson, “Compensation,” “The Over-Soul,” and “Circles,” in SE, pp. 110-163
November 7: Emerson, Experience, and Reform R. W. Emerson, “Experience” in SE, pp. 164-188. R. W. Emerson, “New England Reformers,” in David Robinson, ed., The Political Emerson, pp. 70-90 (purchase)
November 9: Slavery: Hopkins and Channing, Colonizationism and Abolition Samuel Hopkins, “A Discourse upon the Slave Trade and the Slavery of the Africans,” Works of Samuel Hopkins, Vol. 2, pp. 598-612 (packet). William Ellery Channing, “Slavery,” Works of William E. Channing, Vol. 2, pp. 7-16, 106-149 (packet)
November 14: Emerson and Slavery David Robinson, “Introduction,” The Political Emerson, pp. 1-26. R. W. Emerson, “Emancipation in the British West Indies, “ in PolE, pp. 91-119. R. W. Emerson, “The Fugitive Slave Law (1854),” in SpirE, pp. 189-206. R. W. Emerson, “American Slavery” in PolE, pp. 120-137.
November 16: Emerson, Slavery, and the Civil War R. W. Emerson, “Address at the Woman’s Rights Convention,” “John Brown,” “American Civilization,” “The President’s Proclamation,” and “Fortune of the Republic,” in PE, pp. 138-205.
November 18: Friday Paper Due (5pp)
THANKSGIVING VACATION
November 28: A Later Emerson? R. W. Emerson, “Fate”, in The Conduct of Life, pp.1-42 (packet) R. W. Emerson, “Worship,” “Essential Principles of Religion,” and “Character” in SE, pp. 207-260. Michael Lopez, “The Conduct of Life: Emerson’s Anatomy of Power,” in Joel Porte and Saundra Morris, The Cambridge Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson, pp. 243- 266 (e-reserve)
November 30: Emerson and the Tradition of Liberal Spirituality: Thomas Wentworth Higginson Leigh Eric Schmidt, Restless Souls, ch. 1, ch. 3 (pp. 101-115 only), and chapter 4 (purchase) Thomas Wentworth Higginson, The Sympathy of Religions (packet)
December 5: Emerson and the Tradition of Liberal Spirituality: Thomas Kelly Schmidt, RS, ch 6 and epilogue Thomas R. Kelly, “The Light Within,” in A Testament of Devotion, pp. 29-50 (packet)
December 7: Edwards and Emerson Perry Miller, “From Edwards to Emerson,” Errand into the World, pp. 184-203 (e-reserve). “The Great Reckoning: Leigh E. Schmidt on Jonathan Edwards and Ralph Waldo Emerson,”June 22, 2005, Free Library (on-line) Robert Milder, “From Emerson to Edwards,” The New England Quarterly, vol. 80, no 1 (March 2007): 96-133 (e-reserve)
December 12: Edwards and Neo-Orthodoxy: H. Richard Niebuhr Stephen D. Crocco, “Edwards’s Intellectual Legacy,” in Stein, CCJE, pp. 300-324 (e-reserve). H. Richard Niebuhr, “The Anachronism of Jonathan Edwards,” in William Stacy Johnson, ed., H. Richard Niebuhr: Theology, History, and Culture , pp. 123-133 & 226-227 (packet) H. Richard Niebuhr “Faith in Gods and in God”, in Radical Monotheism and Western Culture, pp. 114-126 (packet)
December 14: Edwards and the Evangelical Tradition: John Piper Marsden, SLJE, conclusion Douglas A. Sweeney, “Evangelical Tradition in America” in Stein, CCJE, pp. 217-238 (e-reserve) John Piper, “A Personal Encounter with Jonathan Edwards,” Reformed Journal 28 (11): 13-17 (packet). John Piper, “A God-Entranced Vision of All Things: Why We Need Jonathan Edwards 300 Years Later,” in John Piper and Justin Taylor, eds. , A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, pp. 21-34 (packet).
December 16: Friday Paper Due (4-5 pp)
Books for Purchase (at Amherst Books) Michael McGiffert, ed., God’s Plot: Puritan Spirituality in Thomas Shepard’s Cambridge (University of Massachusetts Press) John E. Smith, Harry S. Stout, and Kenneth P. Minkema, eds, The Jonathan Edwards Reader (Yale University Press) George Marsden, A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards (Yale University Press) Jonathan Edwards, The Nature of True Virtue (University of Michigan) David M. Robinson, ed., The Spiritual Emerson (Beacon Press) David Robinson, ed., The Political Emerson (Beacon Press) Leigh Eric Schmidt, Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality (Harper) And a packet of duplicated material available in the Religion Department office.