This study of religious thought and social life in early America focuses on the career of Joseph Bellamy (1719-1790), a Connecticut Calvinist minister noted chiefly for his role in originating the New Divinity--the influential theological movement that evolved from the writings of Bellamy's teacher, Jonathan Edwards. Tracing Bellamy's contributions as a preacher, noted controversialist, and church leader from the Great Awakening to the American Revolution, Mark Valeri explores why the New Divinity was so immensely popular. Set in social contexts such as the emergent market economy, the war against France, and the politics of rebellion, Valeri shows, Bellamy's story reveals much about the relationship between religion and public issues in colonial New England.
Industry Reviews
"A superb study. The author has made very significant arguments about Joseph Bellamy, an unduly neglected eighteenth-century theologian, and also about the New Divinity Theology, an unusually important strand of American thought. This is certainly one of the best studies of late eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century theology that I've ever read. I am confident that it will give many readers the delight it has given me."--Mark A. Noll, Wheaton College
"It is the most thorough study we have of Joseph Bellamy's work, and as such it should occupy a respectable place in scholarly literature."--The Journal of American History
"Important for students of eighteenth-century religion and politics."--Religious Studies Review
"This historical study offers a fresh reappraisal of Joseph Bellamy ....Valeri has produced a highly readable and very well researched reappraisal of Joseph Ballamy and his New Divinity Calvinism....Valeri has not ended the discussion of Bellamy, but that he has made a pursuaive contribution to that discussion."--History
"Valeri's study of Joseph Bellamy provides us with an excellent account of an important figure in New England's history....Richly annotated and based on a wide study of the sources, this volume is rewarding and an important contribution to studies of American theological development."--Church History
"A superb study. The author has made very significant arguments about Joseph Bellamy, an unduly neglected eighteenth-century theologian, and also about the New Divinity Theology, an unusually important strand of American thought. This is certainly one of the best studies of late eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century theology that I've ever read. I am confident that it will give many readers the delight it has given me."--Mark A. Noll, Wheaton College
"It is the most thorough study we have of Joseph Bellamy's work, and as such it should occupy a respectable place in scholarly literature."--The Journal of American History
"Important for students of eighteenth-century religion and politics."--Religious Studies Review
"This historical study offers a fresh reappraisal of Joseph Bellamy ....Valeri has produced a highly readable and very well researched reappraisal of Joseph Ballamy and his New Divinity Calvinism....Valeri has not ended the discussion of Bellamy, but that he has made a pursuaive contribution to that discussion."--History
"Valeri's study of Joseph Bellamy provides us with an excellent account of an important figure in New England's history....Richly annotated and based on a wide study of the sources, this volume is rewarding and an important contribution to studies of American theological development."--Church History