Unity in Diversity? North Atlantic Evangelical Thought in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Leonard Bacon, minister of the First Congregational Church at New Haven, preaching before the Foreign Evangelical Society in New York in May 1845, found in the Atlantic Ocean a vivid image of an underlying unity which he perceived in the divided evangelical churches that surrounded it. Separated tho...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Studies in Church History
Main Author: Wolffe, John
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1996
Subjects:
Sociology and Political Science
Religious studies
History
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0424208400015503
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0424208400015503
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spelling crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0424208400015503 2024-03-03T08:47:01+00:00 Unity in Diversity? North Atlantic Evangelical Thought in the Mid-Nineteenth Century Wolffe, John 1996 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0424208400015503 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0424208400015503 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) Studies in Church History volume 32, page 363-375 ISSN 0424-2084 Sociology and Political Science Religious studies History journal-article 1996 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0424208400015503 2024-02-08T08:47:49Z Leonard Bacon, minister of the First Congregational Church at New Haven, preaching before the Foreign Evangelical Society in New York in May 1845, found in the Atlantic Ocean a vivid image of an underlying unity which he perceived in the divided evangelical churches that surrounded it. Separated though they were, still influences upon them operated like ‘the tide raised from the bosom of the vast Atlantic when the moon hangs over it in her height, [which] swells into every estuary, and every bay and sound, and every quiet cove and sheltered haven, and is felt far inland where mighty streams rise in their channels and pause upon their journey to the sea’. The choice of metaphor betrayed an aspiration that the North Atlantic itself should become an evangelical lake. Such hopes, Bacon appreciated, would be worse than fruitless if they were driven by a model of Christianity as ‘one and indivisible’. No, the model should be the American, not the French Republic, e pluribus unum , unity in diversity. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Cambridge University Press Studies in Church History 32 363 375
institution Open Polar
collection Cambridge University Press
op_collection_id crcambridgeupr
language English
topic Sociology and Political Science
Religious studies
History
spellingShingle Sociology and Political Science
Religious studies
History
Wolffe, John
Unity in Diversity? North Atlantic Evangelical Thought in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
topic_facet Sociology and Political Science
Religious studies
History
description Leonard Bacon, minister of the First Congregational Church at New Haven, preaching before the Foreign Evangelical Society in New York in May 1845, found in the Atlantic Ocean a vivid image of an underlying unity which he perceived in the divided evangelical churches that surrounded it. Separated though they were, still influences upon them operated like ‘the tide raised from the bosom of the vast Atlantic when the moon hangs over it in her height, [which] swells into every estuary, and every bay and sound, and every quiet cove and sheltered haven, and is felt far inland where mighty streams rise in their channels and pause upon their journey to the sea’. The choice of metaphor betrayed an aspiration that the North Atlantic itself should become an evangelical lake. Such hopes, Bacon appreciated, would be worse than fruitless if they were driven by a model of Christianity as ‘one and indivisible’. No, the model should be the American, not the French Republic, e pluribus unum , unity in diversity.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Wolffe, John
author_facet Wolffe, John
author_sort Wolffe, John
title Unity in Diversity? North Atlantic Evangelical Thought in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
title_short Unity in Diversity? North Atlantic Evangelical Thought in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
title_full Unity in Diversity? North Atlantic Evangelical Thought in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
title_fullStr Unity in Diversity? North Atlantic Evangelical Thought in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
title_full_unstemmed Unity in Diversity? North Atlantic Evangelical Thought in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
title_sort unity in diversity? north atlantic evangelical thought in the mid-nineteenth century
publisher Cambridge University Press (CUP)
publishDate 1996
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0424208400015503
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0424208400015503
genre North Atlantic
genre_facet North Atlantic
op_source Studies in Church History
volume 32, page 363-375
ISSN 0424-2084
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1017/s0424208400015503
container_title Studies in Church History
container_volume 32
container_start_page 363
op_container_end_page 375
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