Knowledge and Belief in America: Enlightenment Traditions and Modern Religious Thought

Description

The Enlightenment values of individual autonomy, democracy, and reason conflict with the religious traditions of community, authority, and traditional learning. Yet in American history the two heritages have been intertwined since the colonial era. This volume unites the work of theologians, historians, literary critics, and philosophers to explore the interaction between Enlightenment ideals and American religion. The essays focus on the Enlightenment's effect on the major religious traditions and explore religion in the thinking of such representative figures as Edwards, Emerson, Lincoln, Santayana, Stevens and Eliot.

"There are few books that so well capture the importance of Enlightenment assumptions for contemporary American religious discourse as this volume does. Highly recommended." The Reader's Review "This volume deserves serious attention. It deepens our understanding of American Enlightenment and religious tradition." Derek S. Jeffreys, Anglican Theological Review