E. Brooks Holifield – författare

A magisterial work of American theological history—authoritative, insightful, and unparalleled in scopeThis book, the most comprehensive survey of early American Christian theology ever written, encompasses scores of American theological traditions, schools of thought, and thinkers. E. Brooks Holifield examines mainstream Protestant and Catholic traditions as well as those of more marginal groups. He looks closely at the intricacies of American theology from 1636 to 1865 and considers the social and institutional settings for religious thought during this period. The book explores a range of themes, including the strand of Christian thought that sought to demonstrate the reasonableness of Christianity, the place of American theology within the larger European setting, the social location of theology in early America, and the special importance of the Calvinist traditions in the development of American theology. Broad in scope and deep in its insights, this magisterial book acquaints us with the full chorus of voices that contributed to theological conversation in America’s early years.

Pre-eighteenth century America was a uniquely pragmatic, utopian society—a new world in which the expectations of a new beginning brought by explorers, traders, and settlers often conflicted violently the Native Americans they encountered. In Era of Persuasion: American Thought and Culture 1521–1680, E. Brooks Holifield identifies the act of persuasion as the common ground on which these disparate groups stood. As he clearly documents and persuasively interprets an America that some readers may not recognize, Holifield includes compelling insights into the social expressions of Native Americans and Africans as well as Europeans. His view extends from the pueblos of New Mexico and the missions of France to the plantations of Virginia and the towns of New England. Era of Persuasion portrays an early American society populated by passionate visionaries with urgently persuasive purposes who lived by applied philosophy and inspired action, and will be appreciated by the curious reader and avid historian alike.

Pre-eighteenth century America was a uniquely pragmatic, utopian society—a new world in which the expectations of a new beginning brought by explorers, traders, and settlers often conflicted violently the Native Americans they encountered. In Era of Persuasion: American Thought and Culture 1521–1680, E. Brooks Holifield identifies the act of persuasion as the common ground on which these disparate groups stood. As he clearly documents and persuasively interprets an America that some readers may not recognize, Holifield includes compelling insights into the social expressions of Native Americans and Africans as well as Europeans. His view extends from the pueblos of New Mexico and the missions of France to the plantations of Virginia and the towns of New England. Era of Persuasion portrays an early American society populated by passionate visionaries with urgently persuasive purposes who lived by applied philosophy and inspired action, and will be appreciated by the curious reader and avid historian alike.

As E. Brooks Holifield notes in his introduction, "e;John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, would have relished the opportunity to write this volume. He recognized the power of religious traditions, and he thought that issues of health and medicine were profoundly interwoven into the texture of religious faith. All ten themes that have concerned [this series] - healing and well-being, suffering and madness, passages and sexuality, dying and caring, morality and dignity - were among the topics that Wesley believed should interest Christians."e; In the attempt to show how a Wesleyan understanding of theology might inform a modern Methodist sensibility, the author has structured his treatment of Health and Medicine in the Methodist Tradition around the polarities of health and healing, holiness and happiness, penalty and promise, love and law, restraint and responsibility, and possibility and limit. These are not to be construed as opposites or as mutually exclusive extremes. Each member of each pair both checks and enriches the other. They provide a way of establishing boundaries; they mark the way of a journey - "e;the way of salvation,"e; or the way of love.