Cotton Mather
Autor de The Wonders of the Invisible World: The Trials of Witches
Sobre El Autor
Cotton Mather was born on February 12, 1663 and died on February 13, 1728. He was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister and author. He is also remembered for his scientific role in early hybridization experiments and his stance as an early proponent of inoculation in mostrar más America. Cotton Mather wrote more than 450 books and pamphlets, and his literary works made him one of the most influential religious leaders in America. Mather set the moral tone in the colonies for people to return to the theological roots of Puritanism. The most important of these, Magnalia Christi Americana (1702), comprises seven distinct books, many of which depict narratives to which later American writers, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Harriet Beecher Stowe, would look in describing the cultural significance of New England for later generations after the American Revolution. His literary works include: Boston Ephermeris, Pillars of Salt, Bonifacius, and The Christian Philosopher. (Bowker Author Biography) mostrar menos
Obras de Cotton Mather
God's Call to Young People: A Call to the Rising Generation to Know and Serve God While They Are Still Young (Family… (2001) 29 copias
Magnalia Christi Americana; Or, the Ecclesiastical History of New England (Milestones of Thought in the History of… (1971) 13 copias
Magnalia Christi Americana: or, the ecclesiastical history of New-England from its first planting in the year 1620.… (1853) 6 copias
Ratio disciplinae fratrum Nov-Anglorum : a faithful account of the discipline professed and practised in the churches… (1972) 5 copias
Biblia Americana: America's First Bible Commentary. a Synoptic Commentary on the Old and New Testaments:… (2018) 3 copias
Biblia Americana: America's First Bible Commentary. A Synoptic Commentary on the Old and New Testaments. Volume 1:… (2010) 3 copias
The Witchcraft Delusion in New England (Vol. 1-3): Its Rise, Progress, and Termination (Complete Edition) (2020) 3 copias
COTTON MATHER: Magnalia Christi Americana (1702), Volume 1 (of 2) (The Library of Early American Literature) (2020) 3 copias
Biblia Americana: America's First Bible Commentary. A Synoptic Commentary on the Old and New Testaments. Volume 5:… (2016) 3 copias
Essays to Do Good: Addressed to All Christians, Whether in Public or Private Capacities (Classic Reprint) (2012) 3 copias
A Poem and an Elegy 2 copias
Parentator. Memoirs of remarkables in the life and death of the ever-memorable Dr. Increase Mather 2 copias
Directions for a Candidate of the Ministry (The American Puritans Series) (Volume 2) (2021) 2 copias
Decennium luctuosum: an history of remarkable occurrences in the long war which New England hath had with the Indian… (1699) 2 copias
Biblia Americana: America's First Bible Commentary. A Synoptic Commentary on the Old and New Testaments. Volume 4:… (2013) 1 copia
Essays to Do Good Addressed to All Christians Whether in Public or Private Capacities (2003) 1 copia
The Witchcraft Delusion in New England (The Esoteric Library) (The Witchcraft Delusion in New England: Its Rise,… (2016) 1 copia
The Negro Christianized An essay to excite and assist the good work, the instruction of Negro-servants in Christianity.… (1706) 1 copia
Hannah Swanton, the Casco Captive, or the Catholic Religion in Canada and Its Influence on the Indians in Maine… (2012) 1 copia
Magnalia Christi Americana, Vol. 2 of 2: Or the Ecclesiastical History of New-England, From Its First Planting in the… (2017) 1 copia
Magnalia Christi Americana, Or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England: From Its First Planting, in the Year 620,… (2019) 1 copia
Strange Phenomena of New England, in the Seventeenth Century: Including the "Salem Witchcraft," "1692" (Classic… (2017) 1 copia
The Witchcraft Delusion in New England, Vol. 2 of 3: Its Rise, Progress, and Termination (Classic Reprint) (2015) 1 copia
What Shall I Do to Be Saved? 1 copia
The right way to shake off a viper. An essay, on a case, too commonly calling for consideration 1 copia
Token for Children 1 copia
Magnalia christi americana 1 copia
manuductio ad ministerium 1 copia
Obras relacionadas
The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present (2020) — Contribuidor — 83 copias
White Slaves, African Masters: An Anthology of American Barbary Captivity Narratives (1999) — Contribuidor, algunas ediciones — 41 copias
Witches, Wraiths, and Warlocks: Supernatural Tales of the American Renaissance (1971) — Contribuidor — 38 copias
American Literature: The Makers and the Making (In Two Volumes) (1973) — Contribuidor, algunas ediciones — 25 copias
Pause to Wonder: Stories of the Marvelous , Mysterious and Strange (1944) — Contribuidor — 12 copias
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
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- Mather, Cotton
- Género
- male
- País (para mapa)
- USA
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Estadísticas
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- 120
- También por
- 18
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- 860
- Popularidad
- #29,751
- Valoración
- 3.6
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- 3
- ISBNs
- 103
Thus, I picked up a reprint of Cotton Mather’s tract, Wonders of the Invisible World Being An Account of the Trials of Several Witches Lately Executed in New England. It was a very difficult read, as the Kessinger Press edition I have is a direct copy of a 1692 book published in London. The reproduction is quite poor, with entire paragraphs unreadable because the letters are “washed out”; there’s also the ubiquitous medial “s”, that looks like an “f” (especially disconcerting when Mather discusses witches supposedly suckling their familiars).
Further, this isn’t an organized discussion of the trials – rather it’s a collection of various things Mather threw together on the general theme of witchcraft and the Devil. Thus there are some observations on witch hunting technique (“heavier than a duck” is not mentioned), some sermons Mather gave on the Devil, accounts of individual trials (there were 19 witches involved; Mather only discusses five – Bridget Bishop, Susanna Martin, Elizabeth How, Martha Carrier, and “G.B.”) “G.B.” is George Burroughs, whose fall from grace (he was a former Salem minister) so incensed Mather that he refused to give his full name. Mather seems quite sure that these five were guilty as charged. He doesn’t say much about the others (although he does describe Giles Corey, who was pressed to death refusing to plead, as a “poor man”, with the implication that he was unfortunate rather than financially destitute). The section that seems to confirm the partial rehabilitation of Mather in Salem Possessed is at the beginning, and is Mather’s commentary on “spectral evidence”.
“Spectral Evidence” was apparently considered definitive proof of witchcraft. A “specter” was the appearance of a living person (as opposed to a dead person, who would be a ghost) in a place where the person couldn’t physically be. All the specters cited are engaged in tormenting or at least annoying somebody; the accounts Mather gives makes it pretty clear that most of the specters are what would now be called hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations; the witch appears in the victim’s bedchamber and sits on his chest, “greatly oppressing” him. The victim is paralyzed, but is eventually able to stir or cry out, whereupon the specter disappears. Mather’s caution is that maybe, just maybe, God might permit the Devil to make a specter of an innocent person, since it would certainly delight the Devil to have an innocent accused and executed. He doesn’t go on from there, but it could be the thin edge of the wedge; if the Devil can falsify spectral evidence, then presumably he could also falsify mad cows, mysteriously dead chickens, poorly behaved children, sour beer, miscellaneous aches and pains, and all the other evils inflicted by witches. Rather shallow evidence for changing Mather’s image from inquisitor to civil right activist; but perhaps.
The book is quaint enough, and inspires me to read a little more about the Mathers.… (más)