The Hidden Balance: Religion and the Social Theories of Charles Chauncy and Jonathan Mayhew

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Cambridge University Press, 1987 M07 31 - 161 páginas
Boston Congregationalist ministers Charles Chauncy and Jonathan Mayhew were among the most influential social and religious thinkers in Boston in the mid-eighteenth century. This study argues, against the interpretations of some previous historians, that Chauncy and Mayhew produced a complex but coherent body of ideas, and that these ideas were organized closely and self-consciously around the principle of "balance." Writings on society and government are treated alongside theological works, rather than apart from them, and each man's corpus is placed against the background of English ideas as well as within the context of intellectual and social life in Boston. Chauncy and Mayhew were the leading architects of the mid-eighteenth century New England transition from Puritanism to religious rationalism. They were also instrumental in formulating and popularizing the political and social criticisms that led to the American Revolution. The Hidden Balance illustrates the connections between their religious leadership and their political leadership, and in so doing clarifies our understanding of why Chauncy and Mayhew exercised such a profound influence upon their contemporaries.

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Contenido

Introduction
1
The hidden whole
9
a balance of public and private reason
20
liberty balanced with deference
59
a balance of stasis and movement
86
the hidden balance
108
status of members of First Church and West Church
114
Notes
126
Bibliography
151
Index
159
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