The Delight Makers: Anglo-American Metaphysical Religion and the Pursuit of Happiness (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780226823331)

An ambitious history of desire in Anglo-American religion across three centuries.

The pursuit of happiness weaves disparate strands of Anglo-American religious history together. In The Delight Makers, Catherine L. Albanese unravels a theology of desire tying Jonathan Edwards to Ralph Waldo Emerson to the religiously unaffiliated today. As others emphasize redemptive suffering, this tradition stresses the "metaphysical" connection between natural beauty and spiritual fulfillment. In the earth's abundance, these thinkers see an expansive God intent on fulfilling human desire through prosperity, health, and sexual freedom. Through careful readings of Cotton Mather, Andrew Jackson Davis, William James, Esther Hicks, and more, Albanese reveals how a theology of delight evolved alongside political overtures to natural law and individual liberty in the United States.

Author: Catherine L. Albanese
ISBN-10: 0226823334
ISBN-13: 9780226823331
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Language: English
Published: 01/18/2023
Pages: 384
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.57lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.00d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 09/01/2023