Author: Elihu Palmer Publisher: ISBN: Category : Christianity Languages : en Pages : 216
Book Description
Philosophy teaches us to seek in Nature, and the knowledge of her laws, for the cause of every event. When this Knowledge shall become universal, man will relinquish, with elevated satisfaction, his attachment to supernatural and vindictive theology. It is this theology, which has destroyed the harmony of Nature, and demoralized the intelligent world. The establishment of theological systems, claiming divine origin, has been among the most destructive causes by which the life of man has been afflicted. The new chapters contained in this edition are intended to awaken a spirit of philosophic enquiry into every description of adherents to the ancient regimen, and to induce them to pass once more in review the religious theories to which they have been so strongly attached. The principal design of the author, through the whole of this work, has been to give to moral principle a basis as durable as time, and as immortal as the specific succession of human existence; and to render the sentiment of virtue, as far as possible, independent of all the theological reveries of antiquity.--(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).
Author: A. Pinn Publisher: Springer ISBN: 1137465301 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 174
Book Description
Does theism dominant the language and practices of public life in the United States? This volume explores this question from a humanist perspective, and in so doing it provides insight into the relationship of religion to public policy, and offers ways to advance a more democratic and secular public arena.
Author: Kirsten Fischer Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press ISBN: 0812297822 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 321
Book Description
The first comprehensive biography of Elihu Palmer tells the life story of a freethinker who was at the heart of the early United States' protracted contest over religious freedom and free speech. When the United States was new, a lapsed minister named Elihu Palmer shared with his fellow Americans the radical idea that virtue required no religious foundation. A better source for morality, he said, could be found in the natural world: the interconnected web of life that inspired compassion for all living things. Religions that deny these universal connections should be discarded, he insisted. For this, his Christian critics denounced him as a heretic whose ideas endangered the country. Although his publications and speaking tours made him one of the most infamous American freethinkers in his day, Elihu Palmer has been largely forgotten. No cache of his personal papers exists and his book has been long out of print. Yet his story merits telling, Kirsten Fischer argues, and not only for the dramatic account of a man who lost his eyesight before the age of thirty and still became a book author, newspaper editor, and itinerant public speaker. Even more intriguing is his encounter with a cosmology that envisioned the universe as interconnected, alive with sensation, and everywhere infused with a divine life force. Palmer's "heresy" tested the nation's recently proclaimed commitment to freedom of religion and of speech. In this he was not alone. Fischer reveals that Palmer engaged in person and in print with an array of freethinkers—some famous, others now obscure. The flourishing of diverse religious opinion struck some of his contemporaries as foundational to a healthy democracy while others believed that only a strong Christian faith could support democratic self-governance. This first comprehensive biography of Palmer draws on extensive archival research to tell the life story of a freethinker who was at the heart of the new nation's protracted contest over religious freedom and free speech—a debate that continues to resonate today.
Author: Robert K. Pavlick Publisher: iUniverse ISBN: 1450280218 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 369
Book Description
“A Gay Epiphany” is basically my autobiography, the autobiography of a “man of no importance”, but it is really much more than that. It covers a 55 year journey beginning with an innocent young child’s search for God, complicated by the conflicting dogmas and interpretations of institutional Christianity and coupled with growing up gay in the 1950’s and 60’s. The book covers the struggles of a young man who wants only to serve God, but who meets with nothing but religious hostility and condemnation from institutional Christianity due to his homosexuality. It addresses many areas of study including comparative religion, Eastern philosophy, New Age, The Christian Right, politics, The American Dream, fundamentalism, misinterpretation of religious texts, authenticity of the Bible itself and many other related topics quoting from specialists in those fields of study. It is an appeal to religious leaders, parents, educators and legislators to show more compassion towards gay men and women and grant them the full respect and equality to which they are entitled under a secular democracy. It is my gift to my gay brothers and sisters who may still be struggling with how to integrate their sexual identity with their spirituality. It is also intended as my gift to those in the heterosexual community who still may be struggling with which spiritual path, out of the hundreds that exist, would be most advantageous to their spiritual growth. One can either choose a path which believes that “the glass is half empty” or a path which believes that the “glass is half full.”
Author: John R. Shook Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1472570553 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 1105
Book Description
For scholars working on almost any aspect of American thought, The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia to Philosophers in America presents an indispensable reference work. Selecting over 700 figures from the Dictionary of Early American Philosophers and the Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers, this condensed edition includes key contributors to philosophical thought. From 1600 to the present day, entries cover psychology, pedagogy, sociology, anthropology, education, theology and political science, before these disciplines came to be considered distinct from philosophy. Clear and accessible, each entry contains a short biography of the writer, an exposition and analysis of his or her doctrines and ideas, a bibliography of writings and suggestions for further reading. Featuring a new preface by the editor and a comprehensive introduction, The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia to Philosophers in America includes 30 new entries on twenty-first century thinkers including Martha Nussbaum and Patricia Churchland. With in-depth overviews of Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Noah Porter, Frederick Rauch, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, this is an invaluable one-stop research volume to understanding leading figures in American thought and the development of American intellectual history.
Author: Paul Edwards Publisher: Prometheus Books ISBN: 1615924469 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 330
Book Description
This witty and learned exploration of critical views on the nature and existence of God, as expressed by major philosophers of the Western world from the medieval period to the present day, is the last work of noted philosopher Paul Edwards. In his unique trademark style, laced with erudition and acerbic humor, Edwards addresses how the concept of God has changed over the centuries, in large part due to the analyses of such skeptical thinkers as David Hume, Thomas Paine, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Bertrand Russell. A longtime critic of theistic arguments, Edwards demonstrates a masterful understanding of the ways in which the scientific revolution of the 17th century, the Enlightenment of the 18th century, the evolutionary materialism of the 19th century, and the rise of analytic and existentialist philosophies in the 20th century prepared the way for the growing role of atheism in the 21st century. This work is a tour de force - a master storyteller''s idiosyncratic evaluation of the views of dozens of Western thinkers on perennial topics in the philosophy of religion. Though not all of the philosophers discussed were nonbelievers or antireligious, they can be considered to be - like Edwards himself -"freethinkers." They pursued the cause of knowledge wherever their thinking led them, often to iconoclastic positions. Editor Timothy Madigan, who gave Edwards thoughtful feedback over the years on various drafts of this work and compiled it for publication after Edwards''s death, has written an appreciative and informative introduction.
Author: Thomas Jefferson Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 1400840031 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 818
Book Description
Volume 38 opens on 1 July 1802, when Jefferson is in Washington, and closes on 12 November, when he is again there. For the last week of July and all of August and September, he resides at Monticello. Frequent correspondence with his heads of department and two visits with Secretary of State James Madison, however, keep the president abreast of matters of state. Upon learning in August of the declaration of war by Mawlay Sulayman, the sultan of Morocco, much of the president's and the cabinet's attention is focused on that issue, as they struggle to balance American diplomatic efforts with reliance on the country's naval power in the Mediterranean. Jefferson terms the sultan's actions "palpably against reason." In September, he addresses the concerns of the mayor of New York City and the governor of South Carolina that free blacks expelled from Guadeloupe by the French will be landed onto American shores. Although he believes the matter will be dealt with by the states, he also instructs Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin to direct custom house officers to be watchful. In late August, Jefferson is alerted that he has been touched by the "breath of Slander," when James T. Callender's accusations appear in the Richmond Recorder and make public his relationship with Sally Hemings. The president offers no comment, and a month later returns to Washington, where he continues planning for an impending visit by his daughters. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.
Author: Christopher Grasso Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0190494379 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 662
Book Description
Between the Revolution and the Civil War, the dialogue of religious skepticism and faith profoundly shaped America. Although usually rendered nearly invisible, skepticism touched-and sometimes transformed-more lives than might be expected from standard accounts. This book examines Americans wrestling with faith and doubt as they tried to make sense of their world.
Author: Elihu Palmer
Author: Elihu Palmer
Author: A. Pinn
Author: Kirsten Fischer
Author: Robert K. Pavlick
Author: John R. Shook
Author: Paul Edwards
Author: Thomas Jefferson
Author: Thomas Jefferson
Author: Christopher Grasso