Can Jonathan Edwards (and His Heirs) be Integrated into the American History Narrative?

July/August 2004 · Historically Speaking 13 Jonathan Edwards and American History: A Forum GEORGE MARSDEN'S Jonathan Edwards: A Life (Yale University Press, 2003) is one ofthe most significant books in American history published in recent years. It has received virtually every awardpossiblefor an intellectual biography, among them: co-winner ofthe 2004 Bancroft Prize, winner ofthe OAH's 2004 Merle Curti Award in Intellectual History, co-winner ofthe Historical Society's 2004 Eugene Genovese Best Book in American History Prize, and a finalistfor a 2003 National Book Critics Circle Awardin biography. In thefollowingforum Marsden asks whetherJonathan Edwards and his heirs can be integrated into the American history narrative. He argues that the story ofAmerica being toldtodayfails to take exclusivist religious claims seriously. We askedBruce Kuklick and Wilfred McClay to respondand then gave Marsden an opportunity to reply. Can Jonathan Edwards (and His Heirs) Be Integrated into the American History Narrative? George Marsden Jonathan Edwards is widely acknowledged as the most impressive intellect in early America, and he is often ranked as America's greatesttheologian. In addition, his practical work in fostering evangelical awakenings places him near the fountainhead of one of the most influential popular movements in American culture. Despite such stature both in elite and popular culture, Edwards typically appears as a tiny blip in general accounts ofAmerican history. Although he gets a respectful paragraph in the better college survey texts, ifthe general public remembers him at all, it is almost solelyfor his terrifyingsermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." The effect is that to the extent that Edwards is remembered, it is to dismiss him as representing an outlook that a later more tolerant America has thankfully escaped. The problem is an instance ofthe larger one ofhowto dealwith exclusivistreligion in telling the story of America. People who believe that their religious views are correct and thatall otherviews are dangerouslywrong just do not seem to fit in. Even though it is easilydemonstrable that such religionhas had a major impact in shaping the experience of countless Americans, and hence it is important just for understanding American history, it is easier to ignore, marginalize, or caricature , since the impact runs counter to a dominant master narrative ofdiversity and tolerance . Valuable as these latter ideals unquestionably are, R. Laurence Moore in Religious OutsidersandtheMakingofAmericans (1986) pointed outthe historical problemwith this approach alone. In telling ofthe Catholic experience in America, for instance, the most typical storyline has been a Whiggish tale of the triumph ofAmericanist Catholics over retrograde conservatives. In broader tellings ofAmerican history even such subtleties as this may be lost. While religion's prominent role in shaping immigrant communities may be mentioned, the potentially controversial subjects ofsubstantive religious teachings, their cultural impacts, and tensions concerning them are likely to be ignored. Issues of class and race (as in "whiteness studies") are more likely to be emphasized. The most prominent exception to this rule is the Puritan religion of 17th-century NewEngland.The importance ofsuch exclusivist beliefis too evident to ignore and, ever since the era ofPerryMiller, Puritan studies have been sophisticated enough to take the New Engländers outlookseriously and often sympathetically. Nonetheless, in recent decades the imperative to emphasize diversity has displaced Puritanism from any priorityit once held. In teaching about the early settlements, as manyothervoices as possible must be given equal time regardless oflongterm cultural influences. While there is value in recognizing thatmostofcolonialAmerica was far different from New England and especially in taking seriously the roles and points ofview ofnative cultures, recognition of the fundamental role of Protestantism in shaping (for good orforill) subsequentAmerican culture is ultimately diminished. Such diminishment becomes more pronounced in the accounts ofthe 18th century just about when Edwards makes his appearances in historical narratives. Here there is no escaping the influence ofGeorge Whitefield and the GreatAwakening (with a mention of Edwards) as the first colonial-wide popular event, but then the narrative moves quicklyto theAmerican Revolution and politics . Afterthatthe storyofreligioninAmerica gives way to the implicit motifofsteady secularization. Religion's role in anti-slavery is acknowledged, but otherwise it appears largely as a rear-guard phenomenon, as in anti-Catholicism, prohibition, fundamentalism , and the rise ofthe religious Right. Paradoxically , the actual development ofreligion inAmerican...