Thanks for the recommendation, Jon.  Very timely.

-- Stephan



Stephan A. Schwartz
932 North Oriole Drive  *  Virginia Beach, Virginia 23451
Schwartzreport:  http://www.schwartzreport.net
Personal Website:  http://www.stephanaschwartz.com

On 7 Dec 2005, at 11:22, Jon Kukla wrote:

> Princeton University Press has recently published a splendid
> collection
> edited by James H. Hutson entitled The Founders on Religion: A Book of
> Quotations.  At more than 200 pp., it is far more _substantial_
> than the
> usual run of quotation books - both in size and in its editorial/
> research
> dimensions.  The familiar quotes are here from the familiar voices
> - but
> Hutson has unearthed great commentary by lots of founders we don't
> usually
> hear from (Charle Carroll, Elias Boudinot, John Jay) and from
> manuscript
> sources as well as the familiar published ones.
>   I've been reading a few pages every morning - and its fascinating.
> Hutson organized the book by subjects, ranging - from Addiction,
> Afterlife, and Age - through Creeds, Crime and Death - to Virgin Mary,
> War and Women. With many subjects in between those mentioned.
>   Its not a perfect book -- the preface is a bit pedantic and
> certainly
> not as effective as it might be and a few founders (John Adams and
> Thomas Jefferson) _seem_ slightly over-represented -- but the quotes
> themselves are really worth reading : among other things, they
> demonstrate that the founders's personal opinions and religious
> beliefs
> were all over the map - and that, whatever their personal convictions,
> many of them were very sophisticated about theological matters and
> implications - in a way that seems quite lacking in today's polity.
>
> Jon Kukla
>
> "When will Mankind be convinced that true Religion is from the Heart,
> between Man and his Creator and not the Imposition of] Man or
> creeds or
> tests." - Abigail Adams to a daughter Jan 3 1818 from microfilm at
> Library
> of Congress.  Hutson op cit. p. 79
>
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