Snyder, K. Alan. Defining Noah Webster: A Spiritual Biography. Washington, DC: Allegiance Press, 2002.
Noah Webster was in interesting man in interesting times. A young man during the American Revolution, he became interested in politics and went on to know many of the statesmen of that era, especially amongst his fellow Federalists . He was published the first magazine of original material in America and edited a Federalist newspaper, sometimes drawing fire from his own party for his evenhanded reporting. He is best known for writing educational materials, readers, texts, and especially his dictionary.
K. Alan Snyder covers this biographical fare in Defining Noah Webster. He is more interested in the philosophical and religious arc of Webster’s life and how his views changed, especially after his conversion to Christianity.
Webster was raised in the Congregational church of his family in Connecticut and attended Yale, which was still ostensibly a religious college at the time. (Incidentally, later in life he would help to establish Amerherst because, among other things, he found Harvard, itself originally a seminary, to be too liberal.) As he reached adulthood and had to fend for himself, he turned away from the faith and sought guidance in literature and philosophy. He is hardly the only Enlightenment-era youth to seek to perfect himself through reason .
Snyder sees Webster falling under the influence of Scottish Common Sense philosophy. After reading his book, I can’t tell you much about Common Sense philosophy, though Snyder provides just enough to follow how it appears in Webster’s activities and writings in the early part of his career. The major themes are that reason must be guided by conscience, and that as a person matures and develops reason, reason should take the drivers seat and direct his other faculties. Thus, Webster’s educational views include inculcating moral values. Common Sense also viewed political philosophy as part of moral philosophy. Webster valued character in politicians and thought foolish put public trust in people whose private morals were questionable.
While Webster’s views were not opposed to Christianity, his real faith through much of his career as an educator, author, politician, and public figure was in reason, not in Christ. As he saw his country grow and become factious and reported the horrors that developed during the French Revolution, he became disillusioned with the idea that reason, even if guided by a trained conscience, could cure people of moral shortcomings.
Webster converted to Christianity at the age of about 50, to the delight of his wife and daughters. He did not make a disillusioned retreat to religion. He was born again and the experience changed his perspective on everything. The final chapters are the meat of the book. Snyder writes about how this conversion changed Webster’s views on politics and education and influenced his dictionary.
Webster remained a staunch Federalist. However, the reasoning behind his political views changed. He found the roots of republican government in the Bible-base wisdom of America’s Christian settlers. Solid character, especially Christ-like character, became an even more important requirement for elected officials.
Before his conversion, Webster steered clear of what he saw as the overuse of the Bible in readers. Afterward, he no longer trusted natural conscience and reason. People were too prone to error and selfishness. They needed revelation from God’s Word as a reliable to guide to what is right.
These Christian views are prominent in Webster’s dictionary, though largely removed from its successors. Webster traced etymologies with the notion of finding the true meaning of a word in its origins in an Adamic tongue. His illustrations of meanings frequently reflected his Christian views.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
His Excellency by Joseph J. Ellis
The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization by Anthony Esolen
Triumvirate by Bruce Chadwick
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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Connecticut. Sort by date Show all posts
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Sunday, December 21, 2014
A Professor, a President, and a Meteor by Cathryn J. Prince
A Professor, a President, and a
Meteor, a book by Cathryn J.
Prince, is a biography
of Benjamin
Silliman. Silliman helped to establish the United States
as a scientific
leader.
Silliman was part of the post-Revolutionary generation. His father, Gold
Selleck Silliman, was a general in the Continental
Army. Benjamin Silliman had hoped to make a name for himself in the law, but was
persuaded by a family
friend to pursue science, though it was not a career likely to lead to
prominence in America.
American science was not well regarded in those days, especially in Europe. A falling
star, and Silliman’s diligent and careful study, changed that.
In 1807,
a large meteor
fell over Weston,
Connecticut.
Silliman, a very young, new professor of chemistry at Yale, and his
colleague James
Kingsley, went as quickly as they could to the remote community. The carefully
interviewed witnesses, surveyed the location of meteorites, and collected
samples. Silliman took samples back to New Haven
to analyze them in his lab.
Silliman helped to establish that meteors originated in outer space.
Popular theories at the time were that they came for lunar or terrestrial
volcanoes or somehow formed in the atmosphere. The notion that something from
outer space could fall to Earth was radical.
Silliman other contributions to American science were his work as a
popularizer and mentor. He was an able teacher and able to communicate science
to a broad audience. His public lectures on science around the country were
very popular. He also helped to train a generation of American scientists. At
the beginning of his career, he had to go to Europe to study chemistry and geology, at the
end of his career and budding scientist could be educated in the U.S.
Silliman’s ability to reach the people of his day was his devotion to
his Christian
faith. He saw no serious conflict between his religion
and his science. He was able to stay out of debates with clergymen that would
have brought opposition to his scientific views.
In spite of the title, I found little reason to drag the president into
it. Thomas
Jefferson was in office at the time of the Weston Fall. Silliman, like
other New
England Federalists,
had little liking for his policies, nor did Jefferson much care for his
adversaries in the region. In addition, the president did not highly esteem
geology or astronomy,
instead preferring biological
sciences that he considered to have more practical application. Prince
brings up these difference in the book, but they never seem to add up to a
serious conflict between Silliman and Jefferson.
Prince, Cathryn J. A Professor, a President, and a Meteor: The
Birth of American Science. Amherst, NY:
Prometheus
Books, 2011.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
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