Description

David Brainerd is simultaneously one of the most enigmatic and recognizable figures in American religious history. Born in 1718 and known for his missionary work among the Indians (as well as for being expelled from Yale), Brainerd and the story of his life entered the realm of legend almost immediately upon his death at the age of twenty-nine.

Much of his reputation is based on the picture of Brainerd constructed by Jonathan Edwards in his best-selling Life of David Brainerd. This new biography seeks to restore Brainerd to the context of the culture in which he lived. Combining archival research with the most recent scholarship on the Great Awakening and Indian missions, John A. Grigg argues that Brainerd was shaped by two formative experiences. On the one hand, he was the child of a prosperous, well-respected Connecticut family that was part of the political and social establishment. On the other, he was a participant in one of the more fundamental challenges to that establishment-the religious revivals of the 1740s. Brainerd's work among the Indians, Grigg argues, was a way to combine the sense of order and tradition inherited from his family with his radical experiences in the revival movement. Moving beyond biography, Grigg also examines how the myth of Brainerd came to be. He argues that both Edwards and John Wesley crafted their versions of Brainerd's life in order to address specific problems in their own churches, and he examines how subsequent generations of evangelicals utilized Brainerd for their own purposes.

The Lives of David Brainerd is the first truly scholarly biography of Brainerd, drawing on everything from town records and published sermons to hand-written fragments to tell the story not only of his life, but of his legend. The David Brainerd who emerges from this work is a man who is both familiar and remarkably new.

Features

• The first scholarly biography of an important figure in American religious history
• Thoroughly researched, citing seldom-seen resources

Reviews

"John Grigg has given us a lucid and well-documented study of a remarkable person in the history of American evangelical Christianity: a student rebel, revivalist preacher, and missionary among native tribes whose early death turned him into a heroic yet contested figure. Drawing on original manuscripts, ethnographic studies, and the vexed politics of Anglo-Indian colonial relationships, The Lives of David Brainerd judiciously probes significant issues in this history of Christian missions to American Indians. It sparks consideration not only of Brainerd's life, but also of the uses to which it has been put throughout the twentieth century. This book engages the reader from beginning to end."
-- Mark Valeri, Ernest Trice Thompson Professor of Church History, Union Theological Seminary, Virginia

"Brimming with new insights, John Grigg's biography of David Brainerd is the most important and satisfying account of the eighteenth-century missionary and his legacy since Jonathan Edwards's original Life . Treated here neither as colonial saint nor twisted soul, Brainerd becomes a more believable and compelling figure, the product of his well-ordered Connecticut upbringing, participation in the evangelical Awakening, and encounters with Delaware Indians. Grigg shows us anew why Brainerd's is a life worth knowing."
--Richard Pointer, author of Encounters of the Spirit: Native Americans and European Colonial Religion

"David Brainerd is an icon--the missionary martyr--not only in the world of Protestant missions but also among scholars. A work of many years' labor tracking down the scattered pieces of his subject's life, John Grigg's study sets a new standard. Grigg looks at Brainerd in the context of his times, bringing to bear the latest approaches of colonial religious history. Just as important, he examines Brainerd's continuing reputation--the Lives , not just the Life -- from the 18th century to today. Scholars across many disciplines, pastors and seminarians, and fans of Brainerd will value this new resource."
-- Kenneth P. Minkema, Jonathan Edwards Center, Yale University

"David Brainerd, the well-known diarist and colonial missionary to Native Americans, is one of those figures whose fame has outstripped solid investigation of his life. But no more. For the first time, John Grigg has succeeded in situating Brainerd solidly in his own times. He has also illuminated the rich, complicated history of later uses made of Brainerd's much-noticed life. Grigg's comprehensive research has resulted in a very fine book."
-- Mark A. Noll, Author of America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln

Product Details

288 pages; 5 ht, 4 lines; 6 1/8 X 9 1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-537237-3ISBN10: 0-19-537237-9

About the Author(s)