Scheduled to appear in 10 volumes, this scholarly edition of Cotton
Mather's Biblia Americana (1693-1728) makes available for the first
time the oldest comprehensive commentary on the Bible composed in
British North America. Combining encyclopaedic discussions of
biblical scholarship with scientific speculations and pietistic
concerns, Biblia represents one of the most significant untapped
sources in American religious and intellectual history. Mather's
commentary not only reflects the growing influence of Enlightenment
thought (Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, and Newton) and the rise of
the transatlantic evangelical awakening; it also marks the
beginnings of historical criticism of the Bible as text in New
England. Volume 1 (Genesis) of Cotton Mather's Biblia Americana is
particularly valuable because Mather addresses some of the most
hotly debated questions of his age: Are the six days of God's
creation to be taken literally? Can the geological record of the
earth's age be reconciled with biblical chronology? Were there men
before Adam? How many animals fit into Noah's Ark? Was Noah's Flood
a local or global event? Why are the religions of the ancient
Canaanites, Egyptians, and Greeks so similar to the revealed
religion of Moses? Did God dictate the Bible to his prophets, and
how many (if any) of the books of the Pentateuch did Moses write?
Such questions were as relevant during the early Enlightenment as,
indeed, they are to many believers today. Edited, introduced,
annotated, and indexed by Reiner Smolinski, Mather's commentary on
Genesis is as rich in its critical texture as it is surprisingly
modern in its answers to many central concerns of the Christian
faith.
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