The American Deists

Author : Kerry S. Walters
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700631771
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.73/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The American Deists written by Kerry S. Walters and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2021-10-08 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Challenging carved-in-stone tenets of Christianity, deism began sprouting in colonial America in the early eighteenth century, was flourishing nicely by the American Revolution, and for all intents and purposes was dead by 1811. Despite its hasty demise, deism left a theological legacy. Christian sensibility would never be quite the same. Bringing together the works of six major American deists—Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Ethan Allen, Thomas Paine, Elihu Palmer, and Philip Frenau—an dthe Frechman Comte de Volney, whose writings greatly influenced the American deists, Kerry Walters has created the fullest analysis yet of deism and rational religion in colonial and early America. In addition to presenting a chronological collection of several works by each author, he provides a description of deism’s historical roots, its major themes, its social and political implications, and the reasons for its eventual demise as a movement. Essential readings from the three major deistic periodicals of the period—Temple of Reason, Prospect, and the Theophilanthropist—also are included in the volume. This is the first time they have been reprinted since their original publication. American deism is more than merely an antiquated philosophical position possessing only historical interest, Walters contends. Its search for a religion based upon the ideals of reason, nature, and humanitarianism, rather than the blind faith, scriptural inerrancy, and miracles preached by Christian churches at the time, continues to offer insight of real significance.

Author : Joseph Waligore
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1666920649
Total Pages : 347 pages
Book Rating : 4.42/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Spirituality of the English and American Deists written by Joseph Waligore and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2023-01-15 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The English and American deists rejected Christianity, which they believed portrayed God as cruel. In The Spirituality of the English and American Deists, Waligore shows how the deists were the first group of modern thinkers who were spiritual but not religious.

Author : Kerry S. Walters
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.83/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Rational Infidels written by Kerry S. Walters and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Kerry Walters
Publisher : Prometheus Books
ISBN 13 : 1616143266
Total Pages : 281 pages
Book Rating : 4.68/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Revolutionary Deists written by Kerry Walters and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2011-03 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating study of America's first culture war, one that in many ways has continued to this day. Includes profiles of six rational infidels: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Ethan Allen, Thomas Paine, Elihu Palmer, and Philip Freneau.

Author : Kerry S. Walters
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781616141905
Total Pages : 279 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Revolutionary Deists written by Kerry S. Walters and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating study of Americas first culture war, one that in many ways has continued to this day. Includes profiles of six rational infidels: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Ethan Allen, Thomas Paine, Elihu Palmer, and Philip Freneau.

Author : G. Adolf Koch
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1606085875
Total Pages : 350 pages
Book Rating : 4.75/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Republican Religion written by G. Adolf Koch and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2009-04-08 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Peter Merritt Rinaldo
Publisher : Dorpete Press
ISBN 13 : 9781890849030
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.30/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Atheists, Agnostics, and Deists in America written by Peter Merritt Rinaldo and published by Dorpete Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the First history of religious disbelief in the United States covering the period from the American Revolution to the year 2000 from Thomas Jefferson to the American Humanist Association. It examines the influence on our Founding Fathers of the philosophers Epicurus, Marcus Aurelius & Voltaire & discusses the religious beliefs of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Ingersoll & Clarence Darrow, as well as the lives of lesser-known figures such as Fanny Wright, an atheist whom Jefferson invited to the White House & Walt Whitman praised. It also traces the history of Unitairans, Universalists, Ethical Culture, Buddhists & Humanists in the United States. Finally, the book examines why atheism has never become more than a fringe belief in this country, as contrasted with much greater popularity in Europe & whether it will have more influence in future years. The book includes a glossary, an index & eight-page bibliography. The author, Peter Rinaldo, has written twelve widely-praised books in the fields of history & sociology. Order over the internet, from your local bookstore, or directly from the publisher, DorPete Press, P. O. Box 238, Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510

Author : Ray Strobo
Publisher : WestBow Press
ISBN 13 : 1512777757
Total Pages : 556 pages
Book Rating : 4.58/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Founding Fathers: Atheists? Deists? Are You Sure? written by Ray Strobo and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2017-08-31 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whats this book about? It's about TRUTH. According to the Internet and the media, the Founding Fathers were deists and atheists. That is NOT TRUE. The Historical Record is clear: The Signers of the Declaration of Independence, an exemplar of the Founding Fathers, were, for the most part, men of religious faith. The reader is directed to hundreds of historical references, many accessible online, which tell us the TRUTH that none of the Signers of the Declaration were publicly professing atheists and only a handful of them were ever publicly categorized as deists in their day. (And most of those characterizations were NOT TRUE.) The author spent years researching this subject and gathering data about the Signers from biographies, wills, magazine articles, newspaper articles, personal correspondence, speeches, legislation, first-hand testimonials, obituaries, eulogies, tombstone engravings, and character studies. The overall conclusion from these sources is inescapable: Religion played a significant role in the private and public lives of most of these patriots. (The religion of their day in the British North American colonies was Christianity.) Meet these Signers for yourself, all 56 of them. See them as real people, "ordinary" men in many cases, called on to do extraordinary things in the face of overwhelming odds. Hear them give credit to the "interposition of God" as they overcame those odds. See TRUTH through their eyes and through the eyes of people who knew them or researched them.

Author : Gregg L. Frazer
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700620214
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders written by Gregg L. Frazer and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Were America's Founders Christians or deists? Conservatives and secularists have taken each position respectively, mustering evidence to insist just how tall the wall separating church and state should be. Now Gregg Frazer puts their arguments to rest in the first comprehensive analysis of the Founders' beliefs as they themselves expressed them-showing that today's political right and left are both wrong. Going beyond church attendance or public pronouncements made for political ends, Frazer scrutinizes the Founders' candid declarations regarding religion found in their private writings. Distilling decades of research, he contends that these men were neither Christian nor deist but rather adherents of a system he labels "theistic rationalism," a hybrid belief system that combined elements of natural religion, Protestantism, and reason-with reason the decisive element. Frazer explains how this theological middle ground developed, what its core beliefs were, and how they were reflected in the thought of eight Founders: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington. He argues convincingly that Congregationalist Adams is the clearest example of theistic rationalism; that presumed deists Jefferson and Franklin are less secular than supposed; and that even the famously taciturn Washington adheres to this theology. He also shows that the Founders held genuinely religious beliefs that aligned with morality, republican government, natural rights, science, and progress. Frazer's careful explication helps readers better understand the case for revolutionary recruitment, the religious references in the Declaration of Independence, and the religious elements-and lack thereof-in the Constitution. He also reveals how influential clergymen, backing their theology of theistic rationalism with reinterpreted Scripture, preached and published liberal democratic theory to justify rebellion. Deftly blending history, religion, and political thought, Frazer succeeds in showing that the American experiment was neither a wholly secular venture nor an attempt to create a Christian nation founded on biblical principles. By showcasing the actual approach taken by these key Founders, he suggests a viable solution to the twenty-first-century standoff over the relationship between church and state-and challenges partisans on both sides to articulate their visions for America on their own merits without holding the Founders hostage to positions they never held.

Author : Kerry S. Walters
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700631771
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.73/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The American Deists written by Kerry S. Walters and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2021-10-08 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Challenging carved-in-stone tenets of Christianity, deism began sprouting in colonial America in the early eighteenth century, was flourishing nicely by the American Revolution, and for all intents and purposes was dead by 1811. Despite its hasty demise, deism left a theological legacy. Christian sensibility would never be quite the same. Bringing together the works of six major American deists—Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Ethan Allen, Thomas Paine, Elihu Palmer, and Philip Frenau—an dthe Frechman Comte de Volney, whose writings greatly influenced the American deists, Kerry Walters has created the fullest analysis yet of deism and rational religion in colonial and early America. In addition to presenting a chronological collection of several works by each author, he provides a description of deism’s historical roots, its major themes, its social and political implications, and the reasons for its eventual demise as a movement. Essential readings from the three major deistic periodicals of the period—Temple of Reason, Prospect, and the Theophilanthropist—also are included in the volume. This is the first time they have been reprinted since their original publication. American deism is more than merely an antiquated philosophical position possessing only historical interest, Walters contends. Its search for a religion based upon the ideals of reason, nature, and humanitarianism, rather than the blind faith, scriptural inerrancy, and miracles preached by Christian churches at the time, continues to offer insight of real significance.