Showing posts with label American History; American Revolution; Puritan; Church of England. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American History; American Revolution; Puritan; Church of England. Show all posts

Sunday, September 9, 2018

Yankee Doodle Went to Church: The Righteous Revolution of 1776 by James L. Adams

Here is the incomparable Martha Argerich playing Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit no. 1 Ondine. 



Hercule flew away and was gone for two days.  I was heart broken.  We had a friend over for dinner Thursday night and neither Josh nor I was good company because we kept looking out the window, hoping to see if our little Hercaloo had come back.  

Friday afternoon, I heard a familiar "squawk".  Up in the tree in my front yard was my little Hercy.  He was trying to fly down, but like a little kid on the high dive, was frightened.

Without worrying what passersby or the neighbors thought, I stood below the tree with my arms spread out.  He finally took the plunge, flying over me and into my picture window.  When he bounced onto the ground I grabbed him and brought him inside.  I am so grateful to God.  I was praying hard.

In the meantime, Josh was looking in the papers to see if someone had found little Herc and instead found someone trying to re-home their burbie.

We'd like you to meet the newest addition of our family, Cosmo the Quaker parrot.  He is just a cuddle bug. He loves my keeties (Hercule hates them) and is learning to get along with my little green monster.


Hercule, like the older sibling is a little jealous, but he is also intrigued.  They've been warming up to each other little by little.

 
                       
               I love my Hercy Poo.  I'm so glad he's safely back.

                                       



Yankee Doodle Went to Church/the Righteous Revolution of 1776 
Yankee Doodle Went to Church/the Righteous Revolution of 1776 by James Lewis Adams

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Interesting analysis as to how the colonialists were inspired to break away from the English crown and govern themselves.

Because the focus is on the role religious leaders played in the revolution, I found Adams' argument a little simplistic, but I have no doubt that what he says is true, if limited in its scope.

In a nutshell, Adams places the responsibility of revolt squarely on the shoulders of Puritan preachers and specifically one Unitarian preacher who used the Bible to justify breaking the yoke of the "oppressors", thus justifying a war against the governing authorities.

Other preachers, loyalists, argued that it was not scriptural to revolt but rather to respect the government that God had appointed. (Romans 13:1-7)

We learn a good deal of the various religious leaders of the time, the good, the bad and the ugly and the same could be said for the congregants.

Some may be surprised to know that fewer American citizens were church members in the 18th century than today. The reason is due to the difficulty in joining a church back then. Puritan leaders wanted to ensure that anyone joining the church had undergone a genuine conversion experience. This is rather different than the "inclusive" environment many churches today wish to exude. One wonders who had the most authentic believers. Today's churches or the colonial ones.

People today may also be surprised to learn that a major reason for the Puritans' revolutionary attitude is because they did not want the Church of England, the church that was hand in hand with the government in England, the church they left England to escape, to re-establish itself in the New World. It was not just Jefferson who did not want the government interfering with the free practice of religion.

Ironically Jefferson's words today have been re-interpreted to mean that the government does have a right to interfere with the free practice of religion, if it conflicts with secular philosophies.

The final chapters end with an enlightening description of a couple of Loyalists and their side of the story. I found this side to be little told but very interesting. I would like to get more information on the people who sided with England.

I think today they are called Canadians.



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 Cosmo is a daddy's bird.  He'll fly to Josh, but not to me (yet).