Salvation in America: Puritan Conversion Narratives as American Media
Listen to the lecture “Salvation in America: Puritan Conversion Narratives as American Media” in the media player below or directly on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Listen on Spotify or Apple Media.
Transcript of lecture:
As a reminder, the learning goals of the lecture are:
…for learners to be able to describe the debate over the “American-ness” of the conversion narratives and explain why it might be considered an oral medium.
Discussion questions and forum:
- Read one of the conversion narratives from Thomas Shepard’s notebook (these are collected in God’s Plot: Puritan Spirituality in Thomas Shepard’s Cambridge, edited by Michael McGiffert. The narratives are not extremely long). Do you notice any of the themes from this lecture? What comments might you make about what kind of communications medium it is?
- Can you think of any media, genres, or inventions from history that people say are distinctly “American”? Why would it be distinctly “American” and/or why would it not be?
Respond to these discussion questions (or other topics of your choosing, relating to the lectures) here: