"A Model of Christian Charity": A History of the Reception of John Winthrop's 1630 City on the Hill Sermon

FAIN: FA-58221-15

Abram C. Van Engen
Washington University (St. Louis, MO 63130-4862)

This project is a biography of John Winthrop's sermon "A Model of Christian Charity." Nearly four centuries after it proclaimed New England a "city upon a hill," this sermon has become a foundational text of American history and literature. Yet in its own day, it went unrecorded, unpublished, and almost entirely unnoticed. Found and first published in 1838, Winthrop's sermon gradually became important, achieving status as an American classic only in the mid-twentieth century. This study asks how it rose and with what effects. Ever since its rebirth, I show, competing interpretations of the text have offered contending visions of American community and purpose. Drawing on studies of American exceptionalism, the history of emotions, book history, and the history of reading, my biography of Winthrop's sermon becomes, finally, a history of "the meaning of America" as it has emerged from--and been contested in--rediscoveries, reinventions, and reinterpretations of America's literary past.

Media Coverage

Is America Still the ‘Shining City on a Hill’? (Review)
Author(s): David Frum
Publication: The Atlantic
Date: 1/5/2021
Abstract: David Frum gave a glowing review of the book in The Atlantic.
URL: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/is-america-still-the-shining-city-on-a-hill/617474/

Associated Products

"A Medieval Puritan Welcomes the Early American Enlightenment: What Bible Commentaries Can Offer Post-secular and Literary Studies" (Article)
Title: "A Medieval Puritan Welcomes the Early American Enlightenment: What Bible Commentaries Can Offer Post-secular and Literary Studies"
Author: Abram Van Engen
Abstract: na
Year: 2017
Access Model: subscription
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Early American Literature 52.2 (2017): 423-441
Publisher: University of Notre Dame

"National Purpose" (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: "National Purpose"
Author: Abram Van Engen
Abstract: Keynote address for symposium at Appalachian State University
Date: 9/1/2017
Conference Name: Sustaining Democracy: Existence, Persistence, Resistance

"We Shall Be as a City upon a Hill: John Winthrop's Bible and the Making of American Exceptionalism" (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: "We Shall Be as a City upon a Hill: John Winthrop's Bible and the Making of American Exceptionalism"
Author: Abram Van Engen
Abstract: Paper at Rare Book School Symposium at University of Arkansas
Date: 7/1/2017
Conference Name: Rare Book School Symposium

"Missionary Impulses and Historical Societies: The Political Theology of American History in the Early Republic" (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: "Missionary Impulses and Historical Societies: The Political Theology of American History in the Early Republic"
Author: Abram Van Engen
Abstract: na
Date: 11/1/2016
Conference Name: Missouri Regional Seminar on Early American History

Post-Exceptional Puritanism (Article)
Title: Post-Exceptional Puritanism
Author: Abram Van Engen
Author: Sarah Rivett
Author: Cristobal Silva
Abstract: This is a co-edited special issue of the journal American Literature, called "Post-Exceptional Puritanism." We began this project in 2016 and it will appear, most likely, in 2019. We are organizing and editing the issue, as well as writing the introduction.
Year: 2016
Access Model: subscriptions only
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: American Literature
Publisher: American Literature (Duke University Press)

Religious Affections in Colonial North America (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Religious Affections in Colonial North America
Author: Abram Van Engen
Author: Caroline Wigginton
Abstract: This was a special conference, co-organized by myself and Caroline Wigginton and hosted by the Huntington Library, on the topic of religious affections in early America. (It flowed from my work on Winthrop's sermon and its language of sympathy.)
Date Range: January 27-28, 2017
Location: Huntington Library
Primary URL: http://www.huntington.org/religiousaffections/

Religious Affections in Colonial North America (Blog Post)
Title: Religious Affections in Colonial North America
Author: Abram Van Engen
Author: Caroline Wigginton
Abstract: An account of the intellectual rationale for our conference on religious affections at the Huntington Library.
Date: 01/25/2017
Primary URL: http://huntingtonblogs.org/2017/01/religious-affections-in-colonial-north-america/
Blog Title: Religious Affections in Colonial North America
Website: Verso: The Blog of the Huntington Library

Claiming the High Ground: Puritans, Catholics, and the City on a Hill (Book Section)
Title: Claiming the High Ground: Puritans, Catholics, and the City on a Hill
Author: Abram Van Engen
Editor: Bryce Traister
Abstract: An account of the way the phrase "city on a hill" was used in the seventeenth century, emphasizing how unusual it would have been for a Puritan to make use of a phrase predominantly deployed to defend the Catholic Church.
Year: 2017
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Book Title: American Literature and the New Puritan Studies
ISBN: 1107101883

The Salem Witch Trials (Article)
Title: The Salem Witch Trials
Author: Abram Van Engen
Abstract: An overview of the Salem witch trials, including an account of the scholarly debates and a look at some possible future directions.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: http://literature.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.001.0001/acrefore-9780190201098-e-139
Format: Other
Periodical Title: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature
Publisher: Oxford University Press

The Law and the Gospel (Article)
Title: The Law and the Gospel
Author: Abram Van Engen
Abstract: A review essay about Puritanism centered on Baird Tipson's book, Hartford Puritanism.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: http://common-place.org/book/vol-17-no-3-5-vanengen/
Access Model: open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: common-place.org
Publisher: common-place

Reagan called America a ‘city on a hill’ because taxpayers funded the humanities (Article)
Title: Reagan called America a ‘city on a hill’ because taxpayers funded the humanities
Author: Abram Van Engen
Abstract: An account of how taxpayer funding saved the New-York Historical Society, which in turn, unwittingly, saved Winthrop's "city on a hill" sermon and allowed Reagan to use it in formulating his political career many years later.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: https://theconversation.com/reagan-called-america-a-city-on-a-hill-because-taxpayers-funded-the-humanities-74721
Access Model: open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: The Conversation
Publisher: The Conversation (republished by Salon.com)

Clinton’s American exceptionalism puts a new twist on an old idea (Article)
Title: Clinton’s American exceptionalism puts a new twist on an old idea
Author: Abram Van Engen
Abstract: An account of Hillary Clinton's language of American exceptionalism.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: https://theconversation.com/clintons-american-exceptionalism-puts-a-new-twist-on-an-old-idea-65024
Access Model: open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: The Conversation
Publisher: The Conversation

City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism (Book)
Title: City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism
Author: Abram Van Engen
Abstract: In this illuminating book, Abram C. Van Engen shows how the phrase “city on a hill,” from a 1630 sermon by Massachusetts Bay governor John Winthrop, shaped the story of American exceptionalism in the twentieth century. By tracing the history of Winthrop’s speech, its changing status through time, and its use in modern politics, Van Engen asks us to reevaluate our national narratives. He tells the story of curators, librarians, collectors, archivists, antiquarians, and other often anonymous figures who emphasized the role of the Pilgrims and Puritans in American history, paving the way for the saving and sanctifying of a single sermon and its eventual transformation into an American tale. This sermon’s rags-to-riches rise reveals the way national stories take shape and shows us how they continue to influence competing visions of the country—the many different meanings of America that emerge from its literary past.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: http://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300229752/city-hill
Publisher: Yale University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 0300229755
Copy sent to NEH?: No

Prizes

Peter J. Gomes Memorial Book Prize
Date: 9/1/2021
Organization: Massachusetts Historical Society
Abstract: Abram Van Engen, professor of English, has won the Peter J. Gomes Memorial Book Prize for City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism (Yale University Press). The Massachusetts Historical Society awards the prize for the best nonfiction work on the history of Massachusetts published during the preceding year. The judges for this year’s prize praised Van Engen’s innovative analysis of the history of Puritan thought. “Because Van Engen thoughtfully analyzes how Pilgrims and Puritans have been remembered, misremembered, denigrated, and celebrated over the centuries,” they wrote, “this book will ultimately influence how New England ‘Pilgrims’ and ‘Puritans’ are presented in textbooks and taught in classrooms at every level. This is truly an influential book.”

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