The Pragmaticization of American Evangelicalism from Jonathan Edwards to the Social Gospel
Subsequent Statement of Responsibility
Crane, Gregg David
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
University of Michigan
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
2020
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
271
DISSERTATION (THESIS) NOTE
Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree
Ph.D.
Body granting the degree
University of Michigan
Text preceding or following the note
2020
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
This dissertation tracks the epistemological precursors, what I call the "pragmatic attitudes", of William James's pragmatism as they appear in liberal evangelical culture from the time of Jonathan Edwards to the postbellum Social Gospel movement. I examine what I take to be three major epistemological underpinnings of this tradition of evangelical theology - the privileging of direct experience, the practical identification of essence and praxis, and the emergent belief in God's pervasive affection toward Creation - and their role in the shaping of a distinctively pragmatic ethos in American evangelical culture. By juxtaposing two different traditions - one putatively "secular" and one "sacred" - I offer an interdisciplinary bridge between American religion and philosophy while challenging assumptions that American history can be divided along secular or sacred lines.