A propos Harvard's False Path To Wisdom....
In a sin- drenched world......
....Sometimes sin is a chance for redemption....
...they haven't disgraced themselves enough....DB
Bear in mind, as a group of side themes, that Brooks is coming from a Jewish moral and also probably theological perspective, not from the mainly Christian one discussed below, although they share a partial common heritage.
One side theme: What analogies might there be between Judaism and various Dissenting colonial Christian sectarians?
Another: How might Brooks' or Clark's discussion relate to the Orthodox world?
Bear in mind, as a group of side themes, that Brooks is coming from a Jewish moral and also probably theological perspective, not from the mainly Christian one discussed below, although they share a partial common heritage.
One side theme: What analogies might there be between Judaism and various Dissenting colonial Christian sectarians?
Another: How might Brooks' or Clark's discussion relate to the Orthodox world?
"When the Saviour is reduced from an equality with God to the condition of a creature, he is infinitely less powerful and compassionate. Hence as man has not so glorious a Saviour, his case is not so deplorable as the orthodox represent it to be; his guilt is neither so aggravated, nor his depravity so great. An atonement made by a creature will suffice for his forgiveness; and the grace of a creature, for such the Holy Ghost is said to be, will render him all the assistance of which he stands in need." Bogue & Bennett, History of Dissenters, (1808) v. 3, p. 386.
"...So, Arianism, a technical doctrine of theology, acted more widely to produce a profoundly modified view of human nature." Clark.
"Deism culminated in 1776 in Common Sense.
"Arianism and Socinianism shared with Deism one novel consequence. The more unnecessary the doctrine of the Atonement, the more it could be presumed that man was inherently benevolent; it followed that he was corrupted, or enslaved, only by outside forces (that is, by other people). Nurture rather than nature was prioritized; and the more that the human condition or the workings of divine Providence were excused, the more the blame for society's ills had to be laid at the door of minorities of wicked individuals. The tyranny of sin was subtly transformed into the tyranny of kings and bishops....politically mobilized Dissent redirected the hitherto-confused Deity to become a warrior against kingly and episcopal authority. Far from being secularized, spiritual commitments, zeal and hatreds were transferred to the political arena in the 1770s to greater effect than at any time since 1688-9.
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