Date of Award
4-30-2018
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
English
First Advisor
Reiner Smolinski
Second Advisor
Mark Noble
Third Advisor
Jeffrey Trask
Abstract
The Bible began to lose its privileged place in Western society when skeptics found its contradictions irreconcilable. Cotton Mather (1663-1728) witnessed the integration of radical ideas into mainstream hermeneutics and attempted to respond honestly in his “Biblia Americana.” Although Mather never left New England, his exegesis was shaped almost entirely by European radicalism and its conservative responses. His remarks on the Synoptic Gospels reveal that as he tried to weigh radical arguments objectively, so he often accepted the radical conclusions that undermined the Bible’s authority. While Mather seemingly did not recognize the significance of the concessions he made, examination of his commentary on the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke reveals that Mather was a wholehearted participant in Enlightenment discourse and its radicalizing tendencies.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/11991781
Recommended Citation
Harwood, Grace Sara, ""Perhaps No One General Answer Will Do": Cotton Mather's Commentary On The Synoptic Gospels In "Biblia Americana"." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2018.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/11991781