ISBN : 9780197565353
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.
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 differentELas light is from darkness: John Witherspoon's Support of Independence
Chapter 7: Conclusion
Bibliography
