Institutional Individualism: Conversion, Exile, and Nostalgia in Puritan New England

by Michael Kaufmann

Book Overview

Traditional approaches to American history and letters see colonial religious institutions as a coercive force that produced an illusion of freedom aimed at achieving political dominance more than religious truth. Challenging these approaches, Michael Kaufman argues that modern notions of freedom arise out of an individual's affiliation with-rather than domination by-religious institutions. He posits a new way of seeing the paradoxical relationship...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0819563501
• ISBN13: 9780819563507
• Release Date: February 1999
• Publisher: Wesleyan
• Length: 167 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 8.9"