Fear

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From A Greek-English Lexicon (Liddell-Scott) (1957)

  λιάζομαι, aor. ἐλιάσθην, Ep. 3 pl. λίασθεν Hom.: 3 sing. plqpf. λελί- αστο Mosch. 4. 118 (for Act. v. sub fin.):—Ep. Dep. of dub. origin (whence also d-AiagTos), -- κλίνω, to bend, incline ; and so, 1. mostly of persons, to go aside, withdraw, recoil, shrink, ἐς ποταμοῖο λιασθείς Od. 5. 462; ἀπὸ πυρκαϊῆς ἑτέρωσε λιασθείς 1]. 23. 231; νόσφι λιασθείς τ. 349., 11. 80; ὕπαιθα λιάσθη he shrank beneath his attack, 15. 520, cf. 21. 255; δεῦρο λιάσθης hither has thou retired, 22. 12; παρὰ κληῖδα λιάσθη ἐς πνοιὰς ἀνέμων, of a Vision, disappeared by the key-hole, Od. 4. 838 ; ἐλιάσθην πρός σε I have come away to thee, Eur. Hec. 100, ubi v. Herm. 2. to sink, fall, πρηνὴς ἐλιάσθη 1]. 15. 543; λιαζόμενος προτὲ γαίῃ 20. 420, cf. 418; ἐν γῇ Mosch. 4. 118. II. of things, ἀμφὶ δ᾽ dpa σφ: λιάζετο κῦμα retired, drew back, Il. 24.96; πτερὰ πυκνὰ λίασθεν (for ἐλιάσθησαν) the dying bird’s thick wings dropped, 23. 879,—where Aristarch. read λίασσεν it dropped its wings, though the Act. is not used except impf. λίαζον in Lyc. 21. λίαν [v. fin.], Ion. and Ep. λίην; a monosyll. form Ay restored by Bgk. in Theogn. 352 from Hesych.: Adv.: (v. sub Ac- and Adw B). ‘Very, exceedingly, Hom., who uses it like the later ἄγαν, with an Adv., A. ἕκας Od. 14. 496; οὐδέ τι A. οὕτω Not so very much, 13. 238: with an Adj., λίην μέγα 3. 227., 16. 243; λίην τόσον 4. 371; A. λυπρός

• From A Greek-English Lexicon (Liddell-Scott) (1957)

  ταρβέω, (τάρβος) intr. to be frightened, alarmed, terrified, 1]. 2. 268, etc., Od. 7. 51, etc.; θάρσεο .. φρεσί, μηδέ τι τάρβει 1]. 24. 171, cf. 21. 288, Od. 18, 330, etc.; 7. φόβῳ Soph. Tr. 176, Eur. H. F. 971:---τ. μὴ .. Od. 16.179, Soph. O. T. rot, Tr. 297, etc.; τ. ἀμφί τινι Ap. Rh. 3. 459; τ. εἰπεῖν Eur. Bacch. 775 :—absol., οὐδέ τι θυμῷ ταρβεῖ οὐδὲ φοβεῖται neither skews fear nor turns to flight, Il. 21. 575, cf. Eur. Phoen. 361; τὼ μὲν ταρβήσαντε καὶ αἰδομένω βασιλῆα στήτην 1]. 1.331; πῶς δ᾽ οὐχὶ ταρβεῖς τοιάδ᾽ ἐκρίπτων ἔπη ; Aesch. Pr. 932, cf. 698, Pers. 685 ; ο. inf., τὸ ταρβεῖν a state of fear, Eur. Or. 312 ; μή με ταρβήσας προδῷς from fear, Soph. Ph. 757; ταρβήσασ᾽ ἔχω Id. Tr. 37; τεταρβηκώς fear-stricken, Eur. 1. A. 857. II. c. acc. to Sear, dread, ταρβήσας χαλπόν 1]. 6. 469; πληθύν 1 1.405; and so, τίς κέ σ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἄλλος ᾿Αχαιῶν ταρβήσειεν 17.586; so Aesch. Pr. 960, Theb. 35, Soph, Tr. 723, etc. 2. to stand in awe of, revere, σέβας, χρησμούς Aesch. Eum. 700, 714, cf. Soph. O.C. 292.—Poét. word, rare in Prose, as Epicur. ap. Diog. L. 10. 128, Plat. Ax. 370 A, Plut. τάρβη, 77, =sq., Suid. τάρβος, cos, τό, Sright, alarm, terror, Il. 24. 152, 181, inaigsnetcers περίφοβόν μ᾽ ἔχει τ. Aesch. Supp. 736; ἐν χρόνῳ ἀποφθίνει τὸ τ. Id. Ag. δ58 ; ἀμφὶ τάρβει (ν. ἀμφί B. IV. 2); foll. by an acc., ζωπυροῦσι τ. tov .. λεών fear of .. (cf. δέος 1), Id. Theb. 280. 2. awe, reverence, τινός for one, Id. Pers. 696. II. an object of alarm, a fear or alarm, ἔχεις τι θάρσος τοῦδε τοῦ τάρβους πέρι; Soph. El. 412; πόλει τάρβος ἦσθα Eur. Bacch. 1311.—Poét. word, rare in Prose, as in Aretae. Caus. M. Diut. 1. 6, Plut. 2. 666 B. (Hence tapB-éw, rapB-aréos ; cf. Skt. zarg, targ-dmi (minor); O.Norse pjark-a (inerepare); A.S. prac-ian (terrere).) ταρβοσύνη, ἡ, Ep. for τάρβος, Od. 18. 3.42. ταρβόσυνος, 7, ov, affrighted or affrighting, φόβος Aesch. Theb. 240. ταρβύζω, =TapBéw, Hesych., who cites ταρμύζομαι in same sense. τἄργα or τἄργα, Att. crasis for τὰ ἔργα. Tapyatvw, --ταράσσω, Hesych. Tapyavy, 7, =capyavy, plaited work, Hesych. τἀργᾶνον, τό, vinegar, bad wine, Lat. lora, Phoenix ap. Ath. 495 E. Tapyavdopar, Pass. : 1. (rapyavov) to be turned into vinegar, οἶνος τεταργανωμένος Plat. Com. Incert. 0. ΤΙ. (ταργάνη) to be plaited or entwined, Hesych., E. M. τἀργύριον, Att. crasis for TO ἀργύριον ; τἀργυρίου for τοῦ apy-, etc. τάρες, gen. τάρων, shortd, for τέτταρες, Amphis Πλάν. 1. 113 cf. Tap- τημύριον. τἄρϊχεία, Ion. —yly, 7, α preserving, pickling, in pl., εἰς ταριχείας φαῦλοι Arist. H. A. 8. 30, 6, cf. Meteor. 2. 3, 36. 11. ai Tapi- xetae prob. factories for salting fish, not (as Wessel.) a place for mum- mies, Hdt. 2. 15, 113, cf. Strab. 140, Poll. 6. 48. τἄρτχ-έμπορος, ov, a dealer in salt fish, Diog. L. 4. 46.

• From The Sexual Outlaw (1977)

  I SIT PARKED in my car in Greenstone Park. It's past midnight. I'm alone, these moments. The tide of hunters has flowed elsewhere for now. Soon, cars will drive up, and the hunt will resume as always. I feel the presence of the night. So strange to be alone here now. When the hunt is raging, the darkness doesn't hang ominously on the trees, and you don't wonder how many shouts of loneliness the quiet stifles. You don't notice—… A car is driving up the curve of the road, its lights carve sliding shadows out of the darkness before I see it. It passes mine slowly—two men in it—and then parks parallel to mine a few feet away in the concrete arc. Both men look at me and smile. Instinctively I start my car and begin to back up; I'm not sure why, because it isn't rare for hunters to cruise in pairs. The two look wrong, like plainclothes cops, relentlessly drab despite mustaches. If they are cops, they'll hassle me, ask me for I.D.; what are you doing here?—don't you know this is a queer park? I back my car up farther. Smiling even more broadly at me, the driver opens the door to get out. He's out of the car, a burly man in a sweater. Now they'll flash a light, badges, nag me with questions, knowing all along why I'm here. Suddenly reality alters. The burly man is running at me with a bully club! His hateful face is frozen in a smile. I hear crazy broken laughter. The man on the passenger side has rushed out with his own raised menacing club. And he too is laughing loudly, the sound insane and roaring. In a moment of thundering comprehension, I realize that I may be murdered by gay-haters who periodically raid sex areas. It has happened in this very park. I continue backing up my car as quickly as I can on the one-way circle. But I can't maneuver fast enough in reverse in the declining arc. The two strange laughing forms, clubs poised to shatter windows and me, advance closer. In the cold flood of my headlights, they look like giant puppets raging out of control. The bodies thrust murderously toward me in striding gaits, elongated shadows askew and ugly. My car almost cascades down the side of the hill. I brake abruptly. The evil dancing forms are almost on me. Smashed windows, bones— …! The decision is made without thought. Only these moments, focused tightly in threatening closeup of them and me, exist. I shift the gears into forward, gun the engine, and plunge toward the bounding puppet forms. Will they try to jump my car? I dash forward. Don't let me run them down!—let them jump aside! No, not the crush of bones and spattering flesh! I force myself to look straight ahead. I hear—feel— metal-tipped sticks crash savagely on the rear of my car.

• From The City of God

  Chapter 2. --That There is No Entity [526] Contrary to the Divine, Because Nonentity Seems to Be that Which is Wholly Opposite to Him Who Supremely and Always is. This may be enough to prevent any one from supposing, when we speak of the apostate angels, that they could have another nature, derived, as it were, from some different origin, and not from God. From the great impiety of this error we shall disentangle ourselves the more readily and easily, the more distinctly we understand that which God spoke by the angel when He sent Moses to the children of Israel:"I am that I am. " [527]For since God is the supreme existence, that is to say, supremely is, and is therefore unchangeable, the things that He made He empowered to be, but not to be supremely like Himself. To some He communicated a more ample, to others a more limited existence, and thus arranged the natures of beings in ranks. For as from sapere comes sapientia, so from esse comes essentia,--a new word indeed, which the old Latin writers did not use, but which is naturalized in our day, [528] that our language may not want an equivalent for the Greek ousia. For this is expressed word for word by essentia. Consequently, to that nature which supremely is, and which created all else that exists, no nature is contrary save that which does not exist. For nonentity is the contrary of that which is. And thus there is no being contrary to God, the Supreme Being, and Author of all beings whatsoever. [526] Essentia. [527] Ex. iii. 14. [528] Quintilian calls it dura.

• From The City of God

  Chapter 36. --Of the Oracle and Blessing Which Isaac Received, Just as His Father Did, Being Beloved for His Sake. Isaac also received such an oracle as his father had often received. Of this oracle it is thus written:"And there was a famine over the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; but dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of. And abide in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee:unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all this land; and I will establish mine oath, which I sware unto Abraham thy father:and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all this land:and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because that Abraham thy father obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts, my commandments, my righteousness, and my laws. " [955]This patriarch neither had another wife, nor any concubine, but was content with the twin-children begotten by one act of generation. He also was afraid, when he lived among strangers, of being brought into danger owing to the beauty of his wife, and did like his father in calling her his sister, and not telling that she was his wife; for she was his near blood-relation by the father's and mother's side. She also remained untouched by the strangers, when it was known she was his wife. Yet we ought not to prefer him to his father because he knew no woman besides his one wife. For beyond doubt the merits of his father's faith and obedience were greater, inasmuch as God says it is for his sake He does Isaac good:"In thy seed," He says, "shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because that Abraham thy father obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. "And again in another oracle He says, "I am the God of Abraham thy father:fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. " [956]So that we must understand how chastely Abraham acted, because imprudent men, who seek some support for their own wickedness in the Holy Scriptures, think he acted through lust. We may also learn this, not to compare men by single good things, but to consider everything in each; for it may happen that one man has something in his life and character in which he excels another, and it may be far more excellent than that in which the other excels him. And thus, according to sound and true judgment, while continence is preferable to marriage, yet a believing married man is better than a continent unbeliever; for the unbeliever is not only less praiseworthy, but is even highly detestable. We must conclude, then, that both are good; yet so as to hold that the married man who is most faithful and most obedient is certainly better than the continent man whose faith and obedience are less. But if equal in other things, who would hesitate to prefer the continent man to the married?

• From American Religious History (2001)

  II. The ideals of the revolutionaries were, in many instances however, compatible with the ideals of Christians. A. Republican or “Whig” theory, derived from a Renaissance tradition, informed the revolutionary generation. B. These republican ideals often paralleled Christian ideals. 1. Both saw history as a cosmic struggle between good and evil. 2. Republicans feared tyranny; Christians feared sin. 3. The republican ideal of virtue was analogous to the Christian ideal of godliness. 4. Many people were both republican and Christian. 5. Both honored Cromwell’s Puritan soldiers, who fought against royal tyranny in the 1640s. III. Supporters of the Revolution argued that they fought in a godly cause, and many Christians joined the war effort in that belief. A. Colonists suspected that the Quebec Act would introduce Catholicism into the colonies. B. They were afraid that Anglican bishops would introduce ecclesiastical tyranny. C. Thomas Paine was a skeptic (or even an atheist), but he justified declaring independence in Common Sense on biblical grounds. D. John Witherspoon explained that even men fighting in a righteous cause are sinners and must suffer for it. IV. Loyalists were equally sure that theirs was the righteous path. A. They explained the danger and ungodliness of joining the rebellion. 1. Jonathan Boucher enjoined a religious duty of obedience to authority. 2. Miles Cooper, president of King’s College (Columbia University), predicted that revolution would lead to anarchy. 3. Samuel Seabury feared the tyranny of the mob. B. Loyalist members of the clergy were sometimes forced to separate from their pro-revolutionary flock; Philip Reding closed his church rather than violate his oath of allegiance to the king. ©2001 The Teaching Company. 31

• From American Religious History (2001)

  magnetism” sent by her enemies, rather than age and infirmity, were the cause of her demise. Charles Grandison Finney (1792–1875). Fiery, Connecticut-born preacher who lacked academic theological education but became the foremost revivalist of his day. Dramatically converted while working as a lawyer, Finney preached passionate revivals along the course of the Erie Canal in upstate New York, culminating in immense revivals at Rochester in 1830 and New York City in 1832. He alarmed contemporaries by declaring that revival preaching was a science and that the conversion of sinners could be induced by rhetorical and oratorical effects. Finney popularized the “anxious bench,” on which potential converts sat and, under acute psychological pressure, became the center of attention. He specialized, too, in prolonged meetings that intensified the drama of his preaching. A perfectionist and a reformer, he insisted that converts show by their actual conduct in the world that their lives had changed. He believed, indeed, that complete elimination of sin was possible. Leaving the Presbyterian Church, whose guardians disapproved of his “new measures,” Finney became professor of theology at Oberlin College, a center of the antislavery movement, in 1835 and, later, its president (1851– 1866). He pioneered in creating a coeducational school environment and in campaigning against Freemasons, whose secret society he regarded as a threat to the nation. Archbishop John Hughes (1797–1864). Catholic Archbishop of New York during the era of mass Irish immigration and widespread political anti-Catholicism. Hughes, born in Ireland, emigrated as a teenager and trained for the priesthood in Maryland. After working as a parish priest in Philadelphia and speaking and writing in the polemical wars over whether Catholics could be good Americans, he became bishop in 1838 and rapidly asserted his authority over New York. He worked to Americanize German and Irish Catholic immigrants; seized control of church property, which until then had usually been held by lay trustees; and demanded of Protestants that Catholics be granted equal treatment. Hughes campaigned to exclude Protestant prayers and the Protestant King James translation of the Bible from New York’s public schools. Dissatisfied with the outcome of the controversy, he then ordered New York Catholics to create a parallel educational system of their own to ensure the preservation of young Catholics’ faith. When anti-Catholic rioting broke ©2001 The Teaching Company. 117

• From American Religious History (2001)

  V. Members of the peace churches, Quakers and Mennonites, protested against the fighting. A. They were persecuted for declining to support the war effort. B. They tried to explain why fighting is wrong. VI. Chaplains served the Continental Army. A. Some chaplains were shocked by the soldiers’ profanity, Sabbath breaking, and drunkenness. B. Soldiers were often equally shocked by the poor quality of the chaplains’ preaching. 1. Washington was dismayed by poor quality and absenteeism. 2. Chaplains sometimes had to uphold morale in face of severe difficulties. C. Some religious soldiers regarded their role in the war as fulfilling a divine mission. D. Chaplains attended the sick and wounded, urged soldiers to avoid sin, and preached sermons justifying the Revolution. The book of Judges was put to relevant use for sermon themes. VII. Millennial sects saw the war as evidence of the “End Times” foretold in the book of Revelation. They were among the earliest utopian religions in America, trying to make themselves perfect in readiness for Christ’s Second Coming. A. They interpreted events as “signs of the times” leading to the Apocalypse. The “dark day” May 19, 1780, in northern New England appeared as a millennial portent. B. Jemima Wilkinson of Rhode Island led the Universal Friends. C. Shadrach Ireland declared himself immortal and created a millennial commune in Massachusetts. VIII. The Constitution enshrined free exercise and non-establishment of religion at the federal level. A. Some states, including Massachusetts and Connecticut, retained established churches. B. Large numbers of Anglican loyalists had fled, eroding their church’s power and membership. ©2001 The Teaching Company. 32 C. Jefferson’s proudest achievement was disestablishment in Virginia. D. America’s small Catholic population was now rewarded for its loyalty to the Revolution. Essential Reading: Jon Butler, Awash in a Sea of Faith, ch. 7. Mark Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada, ch. 5–6. Supplementary Reading: Sydney Ahlstrom, Religious History of the American People, ch. 23. Charles H. Lippy, Being Religious, American Style: A History of Popular Religiosity in the United States, ch. 3. Questions to Consider: 1. How effectively did advocates of different views of the Revolution support their views from scripture? 2. Why did many of the revolutionaries criticize established churches? ©2001 The Teaching Company. 33 Lecture Eight The Second Great Awakening

• From American Religious History (2001)

  D. Perhaps the fear of nuclear annihilation drove citizens to church in unprecedented numbers. 1. The Partisan Review symposium described the revival as a symptom of a collective failure of nerve. 2. Religious intellectuals, notably Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich, denounced the illusion of perfectibility and embraced existentialism. E. The fact that America’s Cold War adversary, the Soviet Union, was explicitly atheist, gave Americans an incentive to emphasize that they represented a Judeo-Christian way of life. F. In 1954, Congress approved the addition of “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. G. Will Herberg demonstrated the sociological functions of the revival in Protestant, Catholic, Jew (1955). H. In a famous conversation, Reinhold Niebuhr urged Herberg not to become a Christian but to rediscover the riches of his Jewish heritage. I. The phrase “Judeo-Christian tradition” became a popular way of muting an ancient division. II. After the New Deal, government took care of many social service tasks previously undertaken by religious groups. Churches’ functions narrowed, but they picked up some new ones, including psychological counseling. A. Freud, in The Future of an Illusion (1927), had been dismissive of religion. B. Clergy found a demand for counseling among their parishioners. 1. Hell, and God the vengeful judge, were in decline, except in hard-line evangelical churches. 2. The hazards of clergy-counselors’ work are amusingly recounted in John Updike’s fiction. C. A series of religious/psychological bestsellers shared the market in the late 1940s and 1950s. 1. Norman Vincent Peale, Joshua Loth Liebman, and Fulton Sheen all contributed to this literature. 2. Sheen, a Catholic priest, was an unexpected TV success with “Life Is Worth Living” in the mid-1950s. ©2001 The Teaching Company. 80

• From The City of God

  For we need not say that if that philosopher had thought nothing of those things which he thought he was forthwith to lose, life and bodily safety, he would not have been so terrified by his danger as to betray his fear by the pallor of his cheek. Nevertheless, he might suffer this mental disturbance, and yet maintain the fixed persuasion that life and bodily safety, which the violence of the tempest threatened to destroy, are not those good things which make their possessors good, as the possession of righteousness does. But in so far as they persist that we must call them not goods but advantages, they quarrel about words and neglect things. For what difference does it make whether goods or advantages be the better name, while the Stoic no less than the Peripatetic is alarmed at the prospect of losing them, and while, though they name them differently, they hold them in like esteem? Both parties assure us that, if urged to the commission of some immorality or crime by the threatened loss of these goods or advantages, they would prefer to lose such things as preserve bodily comfort and security rather than commit such things as violate righteousness. And thus the mind in which this resolution is well grounded suffers no perturbations to prevail with it in opposition to reason, even though they assail the weaker parts of the soul; and not only so, but it rules over them, and, while it refuses its consent and resists them, administers a reign of virtue. Such a character is ascribed to AEneas by Virgil when he says,

• From American Religious History (2001)

  Scope: As America became a commercial and industrial nation, it adapted its institutions and ideas to fit new social realities. Several new religious movements catering to the urban middle class, including Mary Baker Eddy’s Christian Science and Ellen White’s Seventh Day Adventists, linked spirituality to reforms in diet. Both supported the rapidly growing temperance movement, which also had female leaders in Frances Willard and Carry Nation. The women’s suffrage movement, too, was suffused with evangelical fervor. Clergy in the old denominations feared that Christianity itself was becoming “feminized.” One of their methods of regaining manly ground was through the person of Jesus himself, and a literature in which Jesus was the main character (sometimes frankly fictional and sometimes pseudo-biographical) flourished. Women and men could write such books, however, and each muscle-flexing Jesus from a male author was met by a meek and sensitive “gentle Jesus” from the distaff side. Outline I. Several religious movements linked spirituality and health. A. Sylvester Graham (1794–1851) campaigned against alcoholism and for nutritional reform. 1. He lectured young men on the need for chastity. 2. He invented what he thought of as the ideal food, graham crackers. 3. His nutritional ideas influenced the transcendentalists at Brook Farm and Fruitlands. B. Ellen White incorporated his ideas into Seventh Day Adventism. 1. This new denomination incorporated elements of Millerism. 2. White experienced numerous divine visions. 3. She founded a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan. 4. Among her disciples were John Harvey Kellogg (of corn flake fame), J. C. Penney, Montgomery Ward, and John D. Rockefeller. ©2001 The Teaching Company. 55

• From Augustine: A New Biography (2005)

  Before Augustine, we know nothing of Hippo to suggest cultural or intellectual activity, apart from the anomaly of a statue of the historian Suetonius found there. It was a businessman’s town, a small stage, and unlike today’s cities in many ways. The stretch of class distinction was even wider than we see now, with abject slaves chained, sometimes literally, to their work, rich men and their grand retinues, and precious little egalitarian sentiment to counter such realities. Women were generally confined and excluded from public life. The greatest difference, however, probably lay in the comparative absence of the extraordinary overlay of meaning that marks modern communities. Today we see an urban street and know that every building is a conscious construction, with a sign on every door and every street and every parking place, and with explicit names and numbers that docket and control and define the space. The interpreter and the imagination have little to do but rebel. Ancient cities were naïve by comparison, with islands of overdetermined meaning proclaimed to the viewer in a limited number of public buildings, by inscriptions on stone designed to advertise the dignity of the donor who had them carved, and in the annual round of festivals and spectacles. Games in the circus and gossip in the forum could take people outside themselves, but not much else did, apart from church. Not long before Augustine’s days there, a predictable round of public processions and ceremonies, often culminating in sacrifices in temples, had diverted the urban public. Augustine remembered those days with horror and spoke ill of them, but others must have recalled them fondly. For in 391, the emperor Theodosius had forbidden all public sacrifice and “pagan” ritual. The ban had left empty spaces and times in every Roman city. The stench of butchery and barbecue that had regularly filled the public spaces of the cities faded away. The underlying order of the community came from the preverbal ties of family and community and belonging, an order invisible to a visitor but ineluctable to the resident. Christianity was the official religion and public practice, but Christians were divided and there were many in the city whose adherence to Christianity fell far short of what the bishop would like to have seen.

• From Augustine: A New Biography (2005)

  Think about human fragility, my brothers: run while you are alive, so you can live. Run while you are alive so you won’t really die. Don’t fear the discipline of Christ. He cries out, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light,” in the very chapter we were talking about a little while ago: “Learn from me that I am gentle and humble at heart, for my yoke is gentle and my burden is light.” [Matthew 11.30] And you come back and say, “I don’t want to be faithful yet”?277 “I can’t”? What’s this “I can’t,” unless Christ’s yoke is rough and his burden heavy? So your flesh is telling you the truth and Christ is lying? He says, “It’s gentle,” and your vanity says, “It’s rough.” He says, “It’s light,” and your vanity says, “It’s heavy.” Trust Christ instead, because it’s his yoke that’s gentle and his burden that’s light. Don’t tremble, give it your unfearing neck. The yoke will be gentle to your neck the more faithful your neck can be. So, brothers, know that we’ve said and admonished these things to your charity for two reasons: so no one will ask for this and be sad if they don’t get it, and so each of you, O catechumens, while you are alive, shall watch out so you don’t perish in real death and leave you and mother church unable to provide you this help, however much it is. THE BISHOP TRIES TO OFFER COMFORT On other days, the bishop meant to be far more forthcoming and comforting. Here is one of those days, probably in 406 or 407, delivering one of the ten sermons he gave on the brief and uplifting first epistle of John.278 The “love” of which he speaks here comes to his hearers in the Latin word caritas, a word particularly common among Christian writers, particularly common in translating scripture, with somewhat less erotic overtone than the customary Latin amor. One could equally well, and equally misleadingly, translate caritas as “charity” or “affection.” “There is no such thing as fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” [1 John 4.17] But there’s another text, one that seems to contradict this one if you don’t understand it carefully. It’s in a Psalm: “The fear of the master is pure, abiding forever and ever.” [Psalms 18.10] The problem Augustine sets for himself is a false one. That the apostle and the psalmist should say things that are at variance with one another is scarcely surprising, but once Christianity insisted on pulling many diverse texts together into one body of scripture and then on arguing that every text of scripture is in agreement with every other text, an endless supply of such contradictions presented themselves.

• From American Religious History (2001)

  Scope: The first large Jewish migration to America came from Germany in the mid-19th century, comprising people who belonged to the Reform tradition and were already well assimilated to modern urban life in a predominantly Christian society. They established synagogues that were outwardly similar to Protestant churches and some even switched their Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. The second wave of migration, by contrast, came from Orthodox communities in eastern Europe and Russia, most of which lived by farming in the Jewish “Pale” of settlement, had suffered bouts of severe persecution, had fled from pogroms, and had had little contact with the outside world. The impact of their migration to New York and other industrial cities was immense; they found it difficult to preserve the distinctive characteristics of their faith while adapting to new economic and social realities. The Conservative movement of the 1880s and after was a creative Jewish response to life in the United States, a way of remaining culturally and religiously distinct without making daily life in America too difficult. Many Jews, however, substituted socialism or Zionism for their old religious faith. Outline I. In numerous ways, American Jews’ way of life marked them out as distinct from the predominantly Christian community. A. They had an unbroken historic tradition dating back several thousand years. 1. A conception of God acting in history. 2. No other biblical peoples could be found in 19th-century America. B. They had suffered centuries of persecution at the hands of Christians who regarded them as the killers of Christ. A sense of being God’s chosen people helped to preserve them in the face of persecution. C. From Friday night to Saturday night was the Jewish Sabbath. ©2001 The Teaching Company. 62

• From American Religious History (2001)

  II. Despite numerous internal differences, most North American Indians’ religions shared several characteristics. A. They believed in a powerful and benign “Great Spirit” and a powerful evil spirit or devil. 1. Techauretanego built sweat lodges, where he prayed to the Great Spirit for protection and health. 2. Cabeza de Vaca heard about the visits of “Evil Thing.” B. They also believed in lesser spirits, inhabiting animals, rivers, the Sun, the wind, the trees, and fire. 1. A Narragansett Indian explained to Roger Williams that fire must be a god because of its life-giving character. 2. Father Paul LeJeune described Indians’ faith in animal spirits’ dream visits to sleeping hunters. C. Everyday activities were surrounded by rituals, which were designed to propitiate and win favor from the spirits. 1. Alexander Henry, an English hunter who helped a group of Iroquois kill a bear, watched the women apologizing to it and blowing tobacco smoke into its nostrils. 2. A Montagnais Indian explained to Father LeJeune that the spirit of a beaver visits the cabin of the man who killed it to ensure respectful treatment of its remains. 3. Lewis and Clark witnessed a sex ritual designed to win favor from buffalo spirits. D. Native Americans understood suffering in a religious context. Their religious rituals, to mark stages in the life cycle, often involved induced hunger or pain; artist George Catlin witnessed self-torturing ceremonies among the Mandans and Sioux on the Great Plains. E. They believed in an afterlife. 1. Canadian Indians reasoned with Jesuit Father Joseph Jouvency that hell could not be a place of perpetual fire, because there was not enough firewood. 2. A Huron woman warned her husband not to convert to Christianity, because if he went to the Christian heaven, he would find only Frenchmen there and would miss his friends and relatives. ©2001 The Teaching Company. 14

• From The City of God

  But the philosopher availed himself of the reply of Aristippus the Socratic, who, on finding himself similarly bantered by a man of the same character, answered, "You had no cause for anxiety for the soul of a profligate debauchee, but I had reason to be alarmed for the soul of Aristippus. " The rich man being thus disposed of, Aulus Gellius asked the philosopher, in the interests of science and not to annoy him, what was the reason of his fear? And he willing to instruct a man so zealous in the pursuit of knowledge, at once took from his wallet a book of Epictetus the Stoic, [339] in which doctrines were advanced which precisely harmonized with those of Zeno and Chrysippus, the founders of the Stoical school. Aulus Gellius says that he read in this book that the Stoics maintain that there are certain impressions made on the soul by external objects which they call phantasiae, and that it is not in the power of the soul to determine whether or when it shall be invaded by these. When these impressions are made by alarming and formidable objects, it must needs be that they move the soul even of the wise man, so that for a little he trembles with fear, or is depressed by sadness, these impressions anticipating the work of reason and self-control; but this does not imply that the mind accepts these evil impressions, or approves or consents to them. For this consent is, they think, in a man's power; there being this difference between the mind of the wise man and that of the fool, that the fool's mind yields to these passions and consents to them, while that of the wise man, though it cannot help being invaded by them, yet retains with unshaken firmness a true and steady persuasion of those things which it ought rationally to desire or avoid. This account of what Aulus Gellius relates that he read in the book of Epictetus about the sentiments and doctrines of the Stoics I have given as well as I could, not, perhaps, with his choice language, but with greater brevity, and, I think, with greater clearness. And if this be true, then there is no difference, or next to none, between the opinion of the Stoics and that of the other philosophers regarding mental passions and perturbations, for both parties agree in maintaining that the mind and reason of the wise man are not subject to these. And perhaps what the Stoics mean by asserting this, is that the wisdom which characterizes the wise man is clouded by no error and sullied by no taint, but, with this reservation that his wisdom remains undisturbed, he is exposed to the impressions which the goods and ills of this life (or, as they prefer to call them, the advantages or disadvantages) make upon them.

• From American Religious History (2001)

  2. They tried to get favorable legal status from the proprietor. He forestalled them, ensuring lay dominance, as in Virginia. 3. They also won a steady stream of converts from among the Protestant indentured servants. 4. Their death rate from malaria, yellow fever, and other diseases was very high. D. Religious neglect was as common in Maryland as in Virginia. E. Toleration and Catholic proprietorship both ended in 1689, following the anti-Catholic Glorious Revolution. 1. Anti-Jesuit laws tried to stamp out “popery.” 2. Catholicism persisted but in private. IV. Quakers also contributed to the early religious diversity of the colonies. A. Quakerism, founded by George Fox, was the radical wing of the Puritan movement in 17th-century England. 1. Fox believed in direct divine communication with Christ through the “inner light.” 2. He visited the colonies in 1672 and made numerous converts. B. The established church feared Quakers, because they appeared to dispense with all forms of hierarchy and ministry. C. In the late 1650s, Massachusetts passed laws to exclude Quakers and hanged three offenders. D. Quaker convert William Penn founded Pennsylvania in 1682. 1. His father was an admiral and a war herohe was a pacifist. 2. His colony was meant as an inspirational example of rational planning, religious tolerance, and representative government. 3. The colony was vexed when the Quaker belief in pacifism clashed with the need to defend itself. 4. The moral and spiritual intensity of the first generation declined as Philadelphia developed a Quaker merchant aristocracy. E. Quaker John Woolman (1720–1772) was one of the first to speak out against slavery. V. A variety of other European Protestants settled in the middle colonies. A. These included Dutch Calvinists in New York; Swedes in the Delaware River valley; and German Lutherans, Moravians, and Mennonites in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. ©2001 The Teaching Company. 24 B. Thomas Dongan was amazed to discover, when he went to New York in 1683, Dutch Reformed, a few Anglicans, a few Catholics, “singing Quakers,” “ranting Quakers,” pro- and anti-Sabbatarian Baptists, French Huguenots, Congregationalists, Jewish merchants from the West Indies, and German Lutherans. VI. In retrospect, we can see the way in which these numerous groups contributed to America’s eventual religious diversity and mutual tolerance. At the time, almost no one favored diversity on principle, but circumstances eventually forced them into it. Essential Reading: Sydney Ahlstrom, Religious History of the American People, vol. I, ch. 12–14. Mark Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada, ch. 3. Supplementary Reading: Jon Butler, Awash in a Sea of Faith, ch. 1–3. Jay P. Dolan, The American Catholic Experience, ch. 3. Questions to Consider: 1. Why were different Christian groups so resistant to the idea of religious tolerance? 2. Why were Quakers unpopular among other Christian groups? ©2001 The Teaching Company. 25 Lecture Six The Great Awakening

• From American Religious History (2001)

  II. Conservative evangelicals preserved the old belief in individual salvation through conversion. They denigrated the collective salvation idea of the Social Gospel. A. Conversion was central to the ministry of evangelist Dwight Moody (1837–1899). 1. Moody abandoned social work when he concluded that it distracted his listeners from the gospel. 2. He believed the world was deteriorating and that he must try to save a remnant from the coming catastrophe. 3. He established Bible conferences and an institute at Northfield, Massachusetts. B. Moody’s successor as leading evangelist was Billy Sunday (1862–1935). 1. Sunday, an orphan, had a first career as a professional baseball player. 2. He used baseball metaphors in his entertaining sermons. 3. He drew vivid verbal pictures to distinguish right from wrong and mixed faith with patriotism. C. Not all evangelicals turned away from social work. The Salvation Army specialized in charitable work and in “rescuing” sinners from working-class places of entertainment. 1. Its members set Christian words to popular songs. 2. Its uniforms, brass bands, and pseudo-military drill gave members a sense of pride, purpose, and unity. 3. It developed out of the Holiness movement. III. Many American evangelicals interpreted the biblical books of Daniel and Revelation to mean that Christ’s Second Coming was imminent. A. Dispensational premillennialists denied human perfectibility and awaited the rapture. 1. John Nelson Darby, from Britain, popularized his method of scriptural interpretation in America. 2. “Dispensations” were eras in the earth’s history, each of which ended in catastrophe. 3. The theory offered an explanation for the worrying transformation of society. B. Elaborate diagrams were necessary to chart the connections between historical events and biblical predictions. ©2001 The Teaching Company. 67

• From American Religious History (2001)

  II. Many slaves in the north were liberated during and after the Revolution. A. Revolutionaries’ denunciation of the British for “enslaving” them clashed against their own enslavement of African Americans. B. The rapidly growing Baptist and Methodist denominations were distinctly anti-slavery in the late 18th century. 1. Harry Hosier, a black preacher, traveled and preached with Francis Asbury. 2. Another black preacher, “Uncle Jack,” was bought out of slavery by admiring whites in his Virginia parish. C. The emotionalism of the Second Great Awakening was compatible with the emotionalism of African dance and musical traditions. D. The straightforwardness of Methodist preaching was also an attraction. Emphasis on an inner, personal experience made illiteracy no bar to conversion. E. Racial prejudice persisted, however, and prompted black separation. 1. Richard Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1814. 2. Whites destroyed the African Methodist Church in Charleston after the Denmark Vesey rebellion in 1822. III. About 90 percent of all African Americans were slaves before the Civil War. A. Southern states’ slave codes tried to prevent black literacy, so black Christianity was largely oral. B. Its informal theology treated the earth as a place of suffering and heaven, across the “Jordan,” as a place of rest and reward. C. Slaves often attended their masters’ churches but held separate religious meetings of their own in brush arbors or slave quarters. They risked punishments for holding such meetings. D. Folk religious traditions, possibl y of African origin, persisted. 1. Many slaves believed in ghosts and haunting. 2. Conjuring, with the use of magical objects, potions, and powders, offered the hope of exemption from punishment or attraction to members of the opposite sex. ©2001 The Teaching Company. 48

• From American Religious History (2001)

  Essential Reading: Spencer Klaw, The Life and Death of the Oneida Community. Richard and Joan Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise. ©2001 The Teaching Company. 41 Supplementary Reading: Richard Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Origins of Mormonism. Jan Shipps, Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition. Questions to Consider: 1. Why were many people so strongly attracted to the new Mormon faith while others reacted violently against it? 2. How do persecution and migration influence religious groups? ©2001 The Teaching Company. 42 Lecture Ten Catholicism Scope: Maryland had been founded as a Catholic colony in the 1630s, but religious toleration for Catholics had ended in the Glorious Revolution in 1690. Only a tiny minority of English Catholics had remained in the colony, though one, Charles Carroll, signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. A flow of Irish Catholics began arriving in America in the 1820s and 1830s in search of work. In 1846, however, the flow became a flood, when Catholic Ireland suffered a catastrophic crop failure and famine. Tens of thousands arrived in Boston, New York, Montreal, and Philadelphia, exhausted, starving, and often suffering from hunger- related infectious diseases. Protestants in America’s eastern cities hated and feared the Catholic Irish. The history of the years 1830–1860 was punctuated by bitter anti-Catholic polemics, allegations of sexual orgies between priests and nuns, and convent burnings and street warfare in Boston and Philadelphia. Catholic leaders, such as Archbishop John Hughes of New York, fought back and insisted that Catholics, despite their religious loyalty to the pope, could also be loyal citizens of a democratic America. Outline I. The Catholic population at the time of the Revolution, mainly of English descent, was small and reticent. A. Charles Carroll was the only Catholic signatory of the Declaration of Independence. B. John Carroll, his brother, became the first Catholic bishop in America. C. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 brought a French Catholic population into the nation. II. A steady flow of Irish immigration in the 1820s and 1830s turned into a flood after the 1846 potato blight and famine. A. Refugee Irish immigrants arrived hungry and often sick. ©2001 The Teaching Company. 43