The Future of Freedom
The Birth of Independence in the Puritan Revolution
Polly Ha(Author)
Yale University Press
Will be published approx. on 23. March 2027
Book
Hardback
416 pages
978-0-300-29266-4 (ISBN)
Description
A re-founding of the history of independence and future of freedom through the eyes of ordinary men and women in the Puritan Revolution
Does human freedom stand a chance in the future? Drawing on fresh sources, Polly Ha shows how ordinary men and women in Independent congregations in early modern England and New England introduced new foundational layers for liberty. They informed prominent spokesmen such as John Milton and Roger Williams. In doing so, they expanded the moral, political, and temporal conditions for securing the future of freedom before Enlightenment assumptions reconfigured those terms. Such sources include:
* Hidden manuscripts documenting the earliest debates over independence
* Self-narratives by women, youths, and other unfamiliar authors
* Popular print, sermons, and commentaries
Challenging a series of myths surrounding the origins of the liberal West, Ha offers an alternative account of this pivotal moment in the history of liberty. In contrast to elites, these Independents began to apply freedom more universally, conscripting a broader range of participants across gender, age, race, and social hierarchies. They developed a deep historical consciousness and drew from sources that extended beyond the Latinate world. Spelling out exactly what was at stake in these debates, they shed further light on basic questions about what it meant to be human in the face of an uncertain future.
Does human freedom stand a chance in the future? Drawing on fresh sources, Polly Ha shows how ordinary men and women in Independent congregations in early modern England and New England introduced new foundational layers for liberty. They informed prominent spokesmen such as John Milton and Roger Williams. In doing so, they expanded the moral, political, and temporal conditions for securing the future of freedom before Enlightenment assumptions reconfigured those terms. Such sources include:
* Hidden manuscripts documenting the earliest debates over independence
* Self-narratives by women, youths, and other unfamiliar authors
* Popular print, sermons, and commentaries
Challenging a series of myths surrounding the origins of the liberal West, Ha offers an alternative account of this pivotal moment in the history of liberty. In contrast to elites, these Independents began to apply freedom more universally, conscripting a broader range of participants across gender, age, race, and social hierarchies. They developed a deep historical consciousness and drew from sources that extended beyond the Latinate world. Spelling out exactly what was at stake in these debates, they shed further light on basic questions about what it meant to be human in the face of an uncertain future.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-300-29266-4 (9780300292664)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Polly Ha is associate professor of early modern history in the Divinity School and History Department at Duke University, director of Transformative Ideas at Duke, and a McDonald Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Emory Center for Law and Religion.