final quiz

Abolitionist

This term best describes a person strongly committed to the unjustness of and need to end human slavery, generally by nonviolent means, although sometimes resorting to violence.

Henry David Thoreau

He was a naturalist, author, and social reformer whose walking, observing, and journaling became the model for a new kind of connection between humans and the natural world. He eventually became as well known for his idea that "civil disobedience" was a legitimate response to unjust laws. Although he never set forth a consistent philosophy, his voluminous writings helped to define the role of wild nature and independent thinking in the development of the individual. The person described is:

Enlightenment

Primarily in the 17th-18th centuries in Europe this epoch (era) was distinguished by the elevation, praise, and use of reason, along with the promotion of liberty. The term that best describes this is:

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Seen by many as the philosophical founder of New England Transcendentalism, he was surely its most influential spokesperson and thinker on American culture. To convey his diverse perspectives, he used astute oratory and writing skills. He produced essays on a wide-range of topics such as "Nature," Self-Reliance," "The Over-Soul," and "The American Scholar." The person described here is

Presbyterianism

This term best describes a "liberal" religious denomination that emerged out of congregationalist churches in New England in response (or more appropriately in reaction) to the strict Calvinism of the Puritan settlers. They argued against the idea of the Trinity, thereby preferring to see the divinity as a single unity. They emphasized reason and questioned miracles. In contemporary context, this tradition strongly resonates with Humanists, upholding these 7 principles: worth and dignity; equity and compassion; acceptance of one another; the search for truth; the democratic process; peace, liberty, and justice for all; and respect.

Utopianism

This term best describes a "no place; nowhere" perfect or ideal society, imagined as achievable on earth. This is most often modeled by communitarian movements. There are a number of examples of these experiments in America, such as the Oneida Perfectionists, New Harmony, Indiana; the Shakers; the Amish; Brook Farm, etc. Four characteristics are self-reliance; optimism; individualism, and a disregard for external authority and influence

trans

This term best describes a 19th-century literary, philosophical, and religious movement marked by a mystical quality; among other characteristics there was an interest in Eastern religious thought and a commitment to forms of idealism. It was not a religious movement per se, and encompassed a broadly-related cluster of ideas that emerged as a part of the American Renaissance. Some of its distinctions include observing the divine in nature, a rising understanding of "spirituality," the value of the individual, and human intuition. Also upheld was an ideal spiritual reality that not only goes beyond the "Christian tradition," but also goes beyond sensory experience and served as a better guide for life than narrowly empirical or logical reasoning

Calvinism

This term best describes a bundle of rather austere theological beliefs (e.g., the theological TULIP acronym) and practices emphasizing the total depravity of human beings, deemed irremediably sinful, saved only by the undeserved and unearned grace of God. There is little if any emphasis on human free will while attributing to God divine omnipotence and sovereignty over the affairs and actions of humanity.

Deism

This term best describes a form of Enlightenment rationalism that affirms belief in a providential God but rejects miracles, divine revelation and such claims for the authority of Scripture, and other supernatural phenomena. A number of prominent figures (movers and shakers) in the Founding Era ascribed to this line of thinking about God

Denomination

This term best describes a form of religious organization, often differing from one another on divergent theological views and doctrines that emerged in America. These unique designations are primarily "Protestant"; membership, affiliation, and association is voluntary, and there is a general consensus on distinctive theological standpoint

Stone-Campbell Tradition

This term best describes a major wing of the Restorationist movement in American Christianity in the early nineteenth century that sought to "recapture" the essence of the New Testament church. As a result a particular tradition was birthed, and both the Disciples of Christ and the Churches of Christ formed as new Protestant denominations that exist to this day

Pacifism

This term best describes a moral position that to varying degrees opposes militarism, military ideals, and war as a means of accomplishing goals or settling disputes. This may also include opposition to any use of forms and degrees of violence

Pentecostalism

This term best describes a movement of a cluster of religious groups that insist the gifts of the Holy Spirit are available and operational today for all believers, such as speaking in tongues, prophetic utterances, and divine healing.

Modernism

This term best describes a movement of religious thought in the later 19th-20th centuries primarily among American Protestants open to reason, being responsive to "liberal theological currents." Accommodation was promoted as a means of communicating with and keeping religion relevant in the contemporary culture and an evolving social milieu. There was a noticeable hesitancy to base belief on supernatural revelation, such as claims of miracles, and other purported manifestations of the divine

Evangelicalism

This term best describes a movement of theological viewpoints, many dimensions and nuances, but most often refers to Protestant groups that place primary importance on personal religious experience, in particular free will conversions to Christ. In the 19th century this increasingly popular Protestant Christian approach exercised a dominant influence in American culture. Notably this religious outlook and practices undermined the Calvinist tradition

Determinism

This term best describes a philosophical position that "for every event, including human action, there exist conditions that could cause no other event, meaning that all events are pre-set and could not have been otherwise." Or, speaking religiously/theologically: "all events that happen are pre-ordained or pre-destined to happen by a monotheistic deity

Pragmatism

This term best describes a school of thought in the American tradition holding that practical consequences is a core concept of philosophical analysis. A clear phrase that illustrates this line of thinking is, "the truth is what works." The standard measure is usefulness. Exertion in the practical realm should net positive results for the common good.

Perfectionism

This term best describes a specific theological concept shared by and adhered to among a range of Protestant religious movements and groups. It is the belief that individuals can achieve total holiness through Jesus Christ, and reach a state of sinlessness in this world. An example is the "Oneida" community.

Schism

This term best describes a splintering, dividing, separating, or fracturing of a group away from the original, intact unified group. Moving forward, it is a permanent formal division into distinct and independent segments. The greatest example took place in 1054 CE between Roman Catholicism (West: Rome) and Byzantine Christian "Orthodox" Church (East: Constantinople)

Self-Reliance

This term best describes a style of Protestant practice that emphasizes quiet devotion and simplicity, often practiced by German Anabaptists who settled in rural areas and established communities. The Amana Colonies in Iowa off of Interstate 80 is an example.

Natural Law

This term best describes a system based on observation of human nature, giving rise to a body of unchanging moral principles. These values are intrinsic to human nature—such as all "men" (think human beings) are created equal; and affirming the inherent dignity of the human person.

Fundamentalism

This term best describes a type of reactionary movement first among American Protestants in the later 19th-20th centuries that emphasized "Christian basics." The return-to-the-rudiments include: affirming biblical authority; divinity of Christ; the physical resurrection of Christ; anticipated second coming of Christ; and other orthodox beliefs in opposition to broader, fluid, and open biblical interpretation influenced in part by modernist thought

Individualism

This term best describes a view that emphasizes the importance of personhood over societal groups. It values human freedom for persons on their own to discover and establish moral value. This was a vote of confidence in the singular person's intelligence, awareness, and intuition to uncover many of life's truths evidenced in the natural world.

Civil Disobedience

This term best describes actions taken against unjust laws in an attempt to change them and transform social attitudes. It is both a philosophical approach of nonviolent resistance and a book title

American Renaissance

This term best describes an American movement that witnessed a flowering of creative activity throughout the country with authors like Melville, Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, emerging American philosophers, naturalists, essayists like Thoreau and Emerson, Frederick Douglass and his slave narratives, and poets like Edgar Allen Poe, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson. It was an era of expansive forms of thinking, individualism, religious freedom, a developing national spirit and an emerging American culture

Restoration

This term best describes any Protestant religious expression (among any number of denominations and groups) of going back to its Christian roots. (These kinds of "revisits and returns to" earlier historical models are often more exercises in nostalgia and wishful thinking.) It is an urge to gain or regain authenticity by returning to its early, primitive New Testament origins. Acts Chapter 2—"...and they held all things in common..." is often appealed to as a Christian community organizational pattern to follow. The purpose, however idealistic, is to seek "genuine" Christianity, unify all the various religious movements, and reduce doctrinal squabbles

Skepticism

This term best describes any movement or individual that places primary emphasis on reason (over emotions, for example) in matters of religious belief and practice. It is often associated and paired with the Enlightenment

Congregationalist

This term best describes any one of a number of churches that based their governance solely around each individual and autonomous assembly. The designation is not so much a specific denomination as it is a way of describing the organizational and operational structure of each church

Revivalism

This term best describes any religious expression that looks for new adherents as well as strives to rekindle religious enthusiasm and jumpstart the commitment of the already-religious believers. The frontier meetings in camps and tents exemplify various methods of emotion and open invitation to freely and voluntarily "come to Jesus" to accept the "born again" offer of Christ's salvation

Self-Reliance

This term best describes both a concept and the title of an essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. He advocated that one be an individual, nonconformist thinker who protects the independence of thought, autonomy, and personal freedom. One should trust in one's own moral agency, along with taking pride in human greatness. He extols human strength, capabilities, and accomplishments. In a larger sense he contributes to American culture a uniquely American individual with the capacity to "self-create" and of course "innovate."

Over-Soul

This term best describes both a concept and the title of an informal, and lyrically-styled essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson. This concept can be thought of in two ways. First, Emerson was influenced by and borrowed from Hindu writings the perception of no real distinction between God and humanity in terms of ultimate reality (a more fluid religious view of "the divine"). Second, this concept reflects a person's true and higher self—the real self—that empowers the individual to "self-create" and to achieve that which is moral and good.

Communitarianism

This term best describes groups and movements that live voluntarily in societies in which they pool and share all resources in common. Whether religious or secular, a prominent view they uphold is individuals are "encumbered selves"—social animals who thrive in groups—and may even be willing to undergo radical social experimentation

Millennialism

This term best describes groups or movements emphasizing an anticipated return of Christ to establish his kingdom on earth for a set period of time that will culminate in the end of history. It is an impulse that could become an unhealthy fixation. If it devolves into an obsession, then it could generate indifference to pressing social and environmental issues in this-world, as well as potentially bring about a passive-aggressive doomsday mentality

Adventism

This term best describes religious groups' rock-steady belief in the Second Coming of Christ. The "Millerites"—a group that nearly became extinct after two failed predictions of Christ's imminent return to the earth—is one such example

Idealism

This term best describes the philosophical position that elevates ideas over and above material things. The nonmaterial realm is thought to be essential to human existence and experience where the human mind and spirit are engaged and energized

Predestination

This term best describes the understanding that all events have been willed by God. Specifically in Christian theology (for instance, the Puritanism/Calvinism brand), it is a doctrine that narrowly focuses on God's "election"—God's sovereign rule in choosing which individual souls are saved and which are damned.

Cape Cod

check This term best describes a geographical place; it is also a book title journaling the experience of living alone in a log cabin, walking, studying nature closely and recording his botanical observations, reading widely, thinking deeply, living deliberately and fully; and this might also be thought of as a condition of mind, a state of being

Puritanism

this term best describes a body of beliefs that took root in a group of radical Protestant reformers in England after the Reformation. For the most part they were Calvinists who emphasized austere ways of life and strict adherence to religious rules and commands, in particular what Christian's called the Jewish Torah: namely, the "Old Testament." Unlike evangelicalism, they put little or no emphasis on the individual. Therefore, they would have rejected the revival experience of conversion to Christ evidenced in the emotionally-saturated soul-winning thrust of the Second Great Awakening tent revival meetings.