The Very Idea

So, what does the Declaration of Independence do? What kind of writing is it, and what does it seek to accomplish? The documents begins: When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another We start with the occasion for the Declaration. “When. . . .” The language is strangely universal—as if this sort of thing happens all the time—but we’re going to find that the Declaration is part manifesto. That is, it wants to make real and proper something which is a bit unprecedented and […]

It’s surprising when you notice that the colonial period is nearly one half of American history, over 150 years. If you start the history of the national period after the ratification of the Constitution, rather than at 1776, the halves even a little more. But “nationhood” at that time still only meant the 13 original colonies. It’s worth looking at the dates states entered the union, just to remind ourselves how recent a thing our United States really is. [The fact that this isn’t obvious to us can be attributed to 1) boring history classes in high school; and/or 2) […]

It’s obvious, once the question is asked, that people value “great ideas” for a variety of reasons. But perhaps a general definition may still be possible. Great Ideas are those which will not let us (collectively) go—or which we can’t seem to let go—and which shape our sense of collective identity. It’s all too obvious that this only takes us so far. But that may be far enough to clarify things a bit more. Certain Great Ideas are of the “I know ’em when I see ’em” variety: liberty, democracy, monotheism, rationalism, science, community—these are our course keywords—love, progress, (indoor […]

We’ve set as a goal some attention to the development of “great ideas” as they relate to politics (specifically democracy), religion (monotheism), philosophy (rationalism), and science. So it make sense to do an occasional round-up along these lines. I. Politics: I’ve covered much of this already. Obviously, the state of government in the New England colonies was a far cry from modern notions of democracy, and very few of the basic rights we tend to take for granted were yet recognized. With a notion of liberty based on obedience to God and rightly-constituted authority, and a “model of charity” that […]

John Cotton came to Massachusetts from Boston, England. He was a respected minister, although his teachings on the matter of justification and sanctification ran more towards the position that we’re calling “antinomian” than most of his fellow ministers. Anne Hutchinson, herself the daughter of a controversial minister, had been an admirer of Cotton, and sometimes a visitor to his church. She responded very strongly to the controversial elements in Cotton’s theology, being already inclined towards mysticism and at least open to some of the more controversial currents in English Christianity. Unhappy that her inspiration had gone to New England, she […]

We need to wrestle with some key concepts in puritan theology, in order to understand the crises which arise in Massachusetts Bay, and give rise to changes in colonial culture. The key question of Christian theology is, of course, “what must a man do to be saved?” The key question in the organization of a Christian society is, unsurprisingly, “how are the saints to be recognized?” The leadership of the community–ministers and secular officials, operating in a context without church-state separation–naturally have a large stake in maintaining discipline and conformity. Toleration in the Bay was frequently understood as “toleration of […]

Freedom is, on this model, freedom to do good. And good is defined as actions in accordance with God’s will. Unfreedom comes from sin, or from subjection to Satan’s power. Our natures, though fallen, are still essentially oriented towards this variety of good. We are free to pursue our true natures only when we escape the influences of sin. Depending on the specific interpretation of some of the finer points of puritan theology, this form of freedom may amount to something very like a complete surrender. The varieties of puritanism which most emphasize the competely “free” nature of God’s grace–it’s […]