Includes bibliographical references (pages 357-361).
Summary
Examines how the spiritual beliefs and vision of America's founders shaped the country's history and culture and assesses the influence of the spiritual traditions of African slaves, Native Americans, and early mystical communities on colonial America.
"An eclectic mixture of autobiography, U.S. intellectual history, philosophical inquiry, and spiritual wonderment, this extended meditative essay examines "America as an Idea" by uncovering the latent wisdom of many of its shining lights: Benjamin Franklin, William Penn, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Walt Whitman. Needleman, a philosophy professor and author of Money and the Meaning of Life, reinterprets the lives of each of these leaders in the context of their strong spiritual beliefs and their contributions to unifying a deeply divided body politic. The author liberally quotes classical philosophers, historians, biographers, and the subjects themselves, and he often interjects his own life experiences and spiritual beliefs into his loosely structured narrative. Needleman also tackles what he considers to be America's two most grievous historical blemishes: the murder of Native American culture and slavery and suggests how America should confront these wrongs." [from the "Library Journal"]
Translation of Chronicon ephratense, enthaltend den lebens-lauf des ehrwürdigen vaters in Christo Friedsam Gottrecht ... zusamen getragen von br. Lamech [i. e. Jacob Gass?] u. Agrippa [i. e. Johann Peter Miller also known as Prior Jaebez] ... Ephrata: Gedruckt anno M. DCCLXXXVI. cf. Seidensticker, First cent. of German printing in America, p. 117, and Sache, The German sectarians of Pennsylvania 142-1800, p. 471.
Letter to Elizabeth Keifer detailing his research - Appraisal of Adam Koningmacher's estate - The Gibbons tract, Bird-in-Hand, Lancaster County, Pa. (map and text) - [Indenture:] James Gibbons to Moses Brinton - Founding of the German Baptist Sabbatarian Congregation, Conestoga, 172?-1732 Foreward - First early English land grants - Pennsylvania granted to William Penn,1681 - Founding of the German Baptist Sabbatarian Congretation Conestoga, 1721-1732 (map) - Conestoga German Baptist Congregaton (map) - Founding of the Germapn Baptist Sabbatarians at Conestogao 1721-1732 (text) - German Seventh Day Baptist branches: Virginia - Ephrata Borough limits and underlying Penn grants (map and text) - Cloister properties with surrounding properties with date warranted (map) - Disposal of various Cloister properties (map) - Approximate location of all Cloister buildings (map) - Chronology of land in Cloister - Acquisition of 27 1/2 acres and buildings by the state including inventory of personal property - Various names by which theGermanSabbatariaons and site were known.
" The account of Beissel's life in Pennsylvania provides an interesting narrative, in which events, difficulties, scandals, and near-scandals in the Cloisters, are skillfully interwoven with an interpretation of the thought and practice which lay behind them. The Ephrata experiment is seen as one of the first attempts in a long line of idealistic communities in America, and the problems of the community as well as of the leader receive due consideration." [from the foreward]
