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Historians have debated how the clergy's support for political resistance during the American Revolution should be understood, often looking to influence outside of the clergy's tradition. In
Justifying Revolution: The American Clergy's Argument for Political Resistance, 1750-1776, Gary L. Steward explores the theological background and rich Protestant history available to the American clergy as they considered political resistance and wrestled with the best course of action for them and their congregations. He argues that rather than deviating from their inherited modes of thought, the clergy who supported resistance did so in ways that were consistent with their own theological tradition.
List of contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: "The great part of it was stolen": Jonathan Mayhew's Doctrine of Political Resistance
- Chapter 2: "Never to be forgotten": Governor Andros, the Glorious Revolution, and Resistance to the Stamp Act
- Chapter 3: "No Bishop, No Tyrant!": The Debate over American Bishops and the Threat to Religious Liberty
- Chapter 4: "An established law of our nature": Self-Defense and Resistance Doctrine
- Chapter 5: "One of the best causes of the world": The British Clergy's Support of American Resistance
- Chapter 6: "As different...as light is from darkness": John Witherspoon's Support of Independence
- Chapter 7: Conclusion
- Bibliography
About the author
Gary L. Steward is Assistant Professor of History at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, Colorado. He received a BA in history from South Dakota State University, an MDiv from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and a ThM in historical theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He earned a PhD from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Church History and Historical Theology, focusing on American religious history. He previously served as the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, and currently lives in Arvada, Colorado with his wife and three kids.
Summary
Historians have debated how the clergy's support for political resistance during the American Revolution should be understood, often looking to influence outside of the clergy's tradition. This book argues, however, that the position of the patriot clergy was in continuity with a long-standing tradition of Protestant resistance.
Drawing from a wide range of sources, Justifying Revolution: The American Clergy's Argument for Political Resistance, 1750-1776 answers the question of why so many American clergyman found it morally and ethically right to support resistance to British political authority by exploring the theological background and rich Protestant history available to the American clergy as they considered political resistance and wrestled with the best course of action for them and their congregations. Gary L. Steward argues that, rather than deviating from their inherited modes of thought, the clergy who supported resistance did so in ways that were consistent with their own theological tradition.
Additional text
Gary L. Steward's Justifying Revolution represents an important intervention in the rich literature on religion, republicanism, and the American Revolution. Steward persuasively argues that Patriot clergy were not advancing novel arguments for resistance based on heterodox intellectual influences. Instead, they were drawing on a deep Protestant tradition of resistance against unjust political power.
