I had never read a word from Butler or Paley before picking up the Bush anthology, and I doubt very much that most 18th century history texts say much at all about either of them. Why do you suppose this is? Are these writers somewhat of a dead end in the "great conversation"? Or are their voices unfairly neglected?
One thing I've learned so far in my life is that its not so much what you know its who you know. Both of these writes make great contributions to the great conversation. One of the many things they have going against them is that they just aren't as popular then their other contemporaries. It is hard to get a word in edgewise when you are put in the same boat as Pascal even though their work is written 100 years apart.
ReplyDeleteTrent Dean
Trent,
DeleteI believe you spot on with your comment. What gets promoted totally depends on who is doing the promoting. And I do believe who does the promoting greatly depends on the politics and the rulers of the time. Butler and Paley both had great contributions with their writings. Maybe their writings weren't controversial enough to raise eyebrows or maybe their ideas weren't as "catchy" to the people at that time. Either way, I do think they were/are unfairly neglected because of the bias of the time.
Samantha
Ponder for a moment how many Reformers were permanently silenced, declared a heretic, and their life's works destroyed by "The Man", and then ended up burned alive at the stake??? Don't ponder too long. History remembers the popular men, not the proper men.
DeleteI go along with Kent in that neither of Paley nor Butler was controversial nor illuminating enough to secure a place in all apologetic history sources. This is not to say that they did not contribute to the discussion in their own times but it was not enough to echo through the centuries.
ReplyDeleteThis is odd since Paley did influence Charles Darwin so he was known and read during his time. Maybe it was Darwin’s reference to Paley that led to his being relegated to the footnotes of history because of the controversial aspects of Darwin’s work. The religious establishment may have felt threatened that one of their own would have influenced such a radical as Darwin.
Jerry Taylor
I agree with everyone above me. Paley and Butler did make great strides to the Great Conversion. However i feel like they where not strong enough with what was going on during those times. Many people tried to expand or go beyond the world religion of that time which was heavy in the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church was running things all over. Whenever someone had a theology or a ideology that goes against them they where quick to getting rid of it. I think that was a main reason that these sources where not getting attention was because everyone was scared to go or even argue against some points of the catholic church. Both of these people did influence people in the future however.
ReplyDeleteI think that these writers are not talked about a lot because their writing tended to be very argumentative and insulting to the people back then. Along with this, I don't think they are a "dead end" in the great conversation. I think that their writings and theories could have been a good thing to add into the conversations from back then and even adding them to todays conversations would be a good thing because it makes people stop and think about their beliefs on a deeper level than just superficially.
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