Benjamin Franklin

I thought it was quite interesting to read about Franklin's attempts to better himself and live in accordance to thirteen virtues that were important to him. However, I found it more interesting that he at first only had twelve virtues and then as a sort-of after thought, added humility to his list. Humility is often viewed as one of the greatest virtues for anyone to have, so for someone to add it as an after thought in their life is curious. Reading about how he changed his appearance to look like he had humility by using different, more agreeable words and not contradicting people right off the bat was intriguing. As he said himself, he can't boast about acquiring the reality of humility, but had a "good deal of regard to the appearance of it". I don't know how many people would really try to go through the trouble of looking humble without ever really being humble, but apparently Franklin succeeded in this. I really enjoyed the last paragraph of this excerpt, though, and think that Franklin was spot on by his last sentence. He said that pride is the hardest natural passion to subdue, and "even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility". This is such a true statement that many people have witnessed throughout history, because even those who are still humble seem to take some pride in it.

Jonathon Edwards

I was rather uncomfortable reading Edwards' "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God". I didn't even listen to it be delivered; I just read it and I was struck by what he had to say. It is quite easy to tell that Edwards believes that only those who are born again will be able to go to Heaven. He claims that God absolutely hates sinners and holds them in the highest contempt. It's almost as if Edwards is saying that God is a puppeteer who takes great pleasure in screwing his enemies over. He dangles them by a thread over the depths of Hell just to watch them squirm and then lets them goes as He pleases and watches them die. And apparently He gets pleasure from this. This is what made me the most uncomfortable and made me not want to finish reading his sermon. Because of Jesus, all people have been saved from their sins, according to the Scriptures. So I think that since God demonstrated His love for us by sending His son, He most definitely is not dangling us above Hell and getting immense pleasure from our suffering. I believe that it hurts God to watch us hurt, and it hurts Him even more when people actually do end up in Hell. Because of these beliefs of mine based on the gospels, it was really hard to read Edwards' sermon all the way through. I think he spent way too much time on the Old Testament verses about God's wrath then the New Testament verses about His love for us through His son.

1700-1820

I thought it was very interesting to read the section "Enlightenment Ideals" in this introduction. A big part of the American colonies before this time was based on religion and the people were typically very spiritual. In this section, however, it said that the colonists started defining their highest duties in social rather than spiritual terms. There was a shift in this period from being interested in God and the metaphysical to being interested in people and relating to other colonists. It is curious that this change happened because it led to a more political mindset in many of the colonists, because they became more concerned with government and the order of relating to other people instead of just focusing on the spiritual aspect of life. This change was one of the causes of the writing of the Declaration of Independence. I don't usually stop to think about why and how documents like the Declaration were written, but reading this gave a good insight into it because there was a shift from spiritual to governmental importance in the colonies.

Mary Rowlandson

While reading Mary Rowlandson's narrative of her captivity, I thought it was extremely interesting that she kept focusing on the future and how God was going to deliver her from her predicament. She didn't allow herself to get beaten down by her situation, even though it was a very diffucult situation to be in. She watched her family all die or be taken prisoner, and saw much brutality on the part of her captors. Yet she was still able to look to God and try to discover his reasons for putting her in this position; I think it was because of this focus on God that she was able to view her captors as just "indians" by the end of her captivity instead of referring to them as "savages" as she had at first.

I also found it very intriguing that she wrote this after she was back with her husband and had been released from the Indians. It made me wonder if she was exaggerating any of her thoughts or feelings throughout her time with them because it was written so much after-the-fact. It is a very hard thing to focus on God in difficult situations, and to have the kind of focus on Him that she claims to have had throughout made me slightly skeptical. I'm sure that she always hoped for Him to save her from where she was but I don't think it's possible to not have serious doubts about what He is doing in a situation such as hers.

All together, I did enjoy reading this piece and found it very thought-provoking.

Anne Bradstreet

I really enjoyed reading Anne Bradstreet's works. Her poems were fairly easy to understand and laced with subtle irony and sarcasm which was enjoyable to read. Throughout her poems, she brought up many issues with being a women poet in a time where women weren't supposed to be educated and do things like write poems. I thought it was very interesting, then, that she wrote a poem all about Queen Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth is one of the most prominent females in our history, and accomplished a lot during her reign. Anne spoke in her poem about the fact that Queen Elizabeth was a women and yet did so much for her country despite the common feeling that women were inferior. It really seemed like this poem was written almost to spite the men of the time, for it was a well-written poem by a female about a female who was an outstanding person in her time. I thought Anne did a wonderful service to her sex by writing that poem in particular, but all of other her poems as well.

While reading about John Smith and John Winthrop, I was struck by the differences in their views on how to survive in early America. Smith was very corporate and money-focused while Winthrop was very focused on community and the idea of "one body" in Christ. We also discussed in class the different backgrounds of these two men, and I think it is very interesting to note that their views on survival definitely stemmed from how they lived before moving to America.

The struggle between corporate and moral living was very apparent then and it still is today. It can be seen in the conflict between church and state, as was mentioned in class today, and can be seen in nearly every social issue of today's age. Issues such as stem cell research bring up this conflict, because it is morally wrong to some people and should never occur, and yet to others it will benefit those who are sick and help medical corporations. This is just one example of the struggle that is seen in our country today and it is evident from the two men we were discussing that this struggle is not at all new. It has been occuring since the earliest days of our nation.