Biblia Americana: America's First Bible Commentary. A Synoptic Commentary on the Old and New Testaments. Volume 1: Genesis

by Cotton Mather, Reiner Smolinski (Editor)

Overview

Volume 1 (Genesis) of Cotton Mather' Biblia Americana (1693-1728) 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? 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.Published in North America by Baker Academic, Grand Rapids

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801039003
Publisher:	Mohr Siebeck
Publication date:	12/31/2010
Series:	Biblia Americana , #1
Pages:	1360
Product dimensions:	7.20(w) x 10.40(h) x 3.10(d)

About the Author

Cotton Mather, The leading New England theologian of his period, Mather was both a defender of Reformed orthodoxy and an intellectual innovator, who propagated the Pietist renewal of Protestantism and embraced ideas of the Early Enlightenment. Best known for his Magnalia Christi Americana (1702), he published more than 400 works in various fields including church history, natural theology, and medicine.Reiner Smolinski, Born 1954; 1987 Ph.D. in English/American Studies from The Pennsylvania State University; Professor of Early American Literature and Culture at Georgia State University (Atlanta).

Table of Contents

PART I: Editor's Introduction
I 1: Description of the entire project, volume division, co-editors
I 2: Biographical essay of Mather's life and career as a theologian with focus on his published and unpublished works
I 3: Contents of "Biblia Americana"
I 4: "Biblia Americana" as a Synoptic Commentary, use of Principal Sources, Mather's reading (as evidenced in Biblia Americana), his private library, Harvard library (to 1728), and access to other published and unpublished sources
I 5: Note on the Text, description of holograph MS, its condition, quires of paper, watermarks, paper makers, binding, rebinding.
I 6: Editing the MS and Editorial Principles
PART II
T: Text of Biblia Americana
A: Appendices and Tables
1: Manuscript Cancellations of Significant Material
2: Use of Excerpts from Primary Sources (percentages)
3: Biblical Citations and References
B: Bibliographies
Primary Works
Secondary Works
Indexes