edwards and franklin 美国文学课件.ppt

* The Formation of American Character: Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin Ⅰ. Deism Terminology The words deism and theism are both derived from the word god: The root of the word deism is the Latin word deus, which means god. The root of the word theism is the Greek word theos (θε??), which also means god. 2. Backgrounds Scientific Revolution of Seventeenth Century; Newton: “Philosophiae naturalis Principia Mathematica” (1687 ) (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy); the laws of motion and the idea of universal gravitation The world became mechanic. 3. Contents Deism holds that God does not intervene with the functioning of the natural world in any way, allowing it to run according to the Laws of nature that he configured when he created all things. ＊Critical elements of deist thought included: Rejection of all religions based on books that claim to contain the revealed word of God. Rejection of reports of miracles, prophecies and religious mysteries. ＊Constructive elements of deist thought included: God exists, created and governs the universe. God gave humans the ability to reason. God wants human beings to behave morally. Human beings have souls that survive death; That is, there is an afterlife. ＊Representatives: Voltaire, Rousseau, Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin Ⅱ Great Awakening (1730-1755) ＊The idea of an awakening implies a slumber or passivity during secular or less religious times. Thus, awakening is a term which originates and is embraced often and primarily by evangelical Christians. ＊The First Great Awakening (or The Great Awakening) was a period of heightened religious activity, primarily in the United Kingdom and its North American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. ＊a religious revival in American religious history. They were characterized by widespread reviva