For Discussion or Writing 1

1. Read Robert Lowell’s poem “Mr. Edwards and the Spider” and consider his interpretation of the sermon.

2. Edwards’s sermon is visually rich, freighted with provocative images depicting the tenuous state of an unrepentant sinner. Select what you believe to be the most effective or powerful of these images and explain how they work, and how they fashion a dynamic between God and humans.

3. How does Edwards reconcile the image of God as angry, powerful, and mighty with the image of him near the sermon’s end as loving and forgiving? Are the images mutually exclusive? If not, how does Edwards reconcile them?

4. Jonathan Edwards is primarily associated with the “hellfi re and brimstone” aspects of the Puritan faith rather than regarded as a holy man endeavoring to convert followers during the Great Awakening. Examine his texts carefully and make an argument for Edwards as a compassionate man, intent upon preventing the backsliding of Puritans and reinstating their position as God’s chosen people.

5. Conduct additional research into the Great Awakening, which was such a pivotal event in early American history, and argue for the position that Jonathan Edwards occupies in this critical historical moment.

6. Consider how Edwards’s examinations of nature relate to his understanding of mankind’s relationship with God, and compare these ideas to those of Cotton Mather and then to those of the transcendentalists Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Is there a point of commonality?

7. Jonathan Edwards is primarily associated with the “hellfi re and brimstone” aspects of the Puritan faith rather than regarded as a holy man endeavoring to convert followers during the Great Awakening. Examine his texts carefully and make an argument for Edwards as a compassionate man, intent upon preventing the backsliding of Puritans and reinstating their position as God’s chosen people.

8. Conduct additional research into the Great Awakening, which was such a pivotal event in early American history, and argue for the position that Jonathan Edwards occupies in this critical historical moment.

9. Consider how Edwards’s examinations of nature relate to his understanding of mankind’s relationship with God, and compare these ideas to those of Cotton Mather and then to those of the transcendentalists Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Is there a point of commonality?

10. What language does Edwards use to describe his experience of grace in his “Personal Narrative”? What kinds of difficulties does he seem to have articulating his experience? What imagery and metaphors does he employ? What was the Great Awakening?

11. Both Edwards and Emerson were profoundly affected by the beauty of the natural world and understood it to be an expression of God’s glory. Compare Edwards’s descriptions of his experiences in nature in the “Personal Narrative” with Emerson’s descriptions in Nature. How are they similar? How are they different? How does Edwards use natural imagery in his sermons?

12. During the Great Awakening preachers and clerics had a tremendous influence on American culture: they captivated audiences with their powerful messages and transformed people’s beliefs and the way they lived their everyday lives. What charismatic figures seem to exert this kind of influence over American culture today?

13. Part 2 of Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography contains lists and schedules that remain a central aspect of American life to this day (self-improvement books and New Year’s resolutions). Compare the secular tenets espoused by Franklin as a means of achieving perfection to Cotton Mather’s advice in Bonifacius. Are there points of commonality between the deist and the Puritan?

14. Compare Franklin’s moral virtues in part 2 with some of the aphorisms and moral instructions he offers in Poor Richard’s Almanac.

15. Franklin offered advice packaged in witty aphorisms and in a reflective autobiography. How do Franklin’s ideas for self-improvement reflect larger American values?

16. Select one or two of Franklin’s works and argue for their role and infl uence in shaping early American letters. How does his writing compare with that of another founding father, Thomas Jefferson?

17. Franklin offered advice packaged in witty aphorisms and in a reflective autobiography. How do Franklin’s ideas for self-improvement reflect larger American values?

18. Select one or two of Franklin’s works and argue for their role and infl uence in shaping early American letters. How does his writing compare with that of another founding father, Thomas Jefferson?

19. To what does Franklin attribute his success? What kind of advice does he offer to readers who want to model their life on his?

20. What is an “erratum”? Why does Franklin adopt this term?

21. Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Edwards were born within three years of each other, but, despite their similar ages, the two men had radically different perspectives and beliefs. Compare Franklin’s Autobiography with Edwards’s “Personal Narrative.” How are these writers’ views on morality, personal responsibility, human nature, and/or the limits of human knowledge similar? How are they different? How does Franklin both draw from and reject the Puritan tradition that was so important to Edwards?

22. Examine the paintings and sculptures of Franklin featured in the archive. What different images of Franklin do these representations provide? If Franklin were choosing among them for an image for the cover of his Autobiography, which of the representations of himself do you think he would choose? Why?

23. How did Franklin’s Autobiography influence subsequent American autobiographies? How were his values translated and reinterpreted by writers like Frederick Douglass or Zitkala Sa?