Saturday, November 3, 2018

The Peabody Sisters, Megan Marshall, c. 2005

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Peabody sisters: huge connection. The former marries Sophia, the third of the three sisters.

Great-grandparents: General Palmer (Revolutionary War) marries a Cranch. The Cranch family, mainly the aunts play a big role in Eliza's life (the mother). General Palmer, 1716 - 1788.

Grandmother: Elizabeth Hunt ("Betsy" marries Joseph Pearse -- suicide -- the son of General Palmer and the Cranch woman)

Mother: Eliza, 1777 (?) -- 1853
exact date unknown; birth not recorded; family on the run during the Revolutionary War.
married weak Dr Nathaniel Peabody

The three sisters: Elizabeth (precocious); Mary (beauty); Sophia (invalid, but nor really -- married Nathanial Hawthorne

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Elizabeth, the oldest of the three sisters; greatly affected by religion

Calvinists prevailed at the time

Anti-Trinitarians: Christ was human, not divine

Unitarians: one unified Godhead

Page 91: Socinians -- most extreme supporters of the notion that Christ was human, not divine. Even New England Unitarians were afraid of being labeled Socinians. Elizabeth accepted their view. This is classic, from the book:

"It has never seemed credible to her that Christ's suffering on earth was a mere 'pageant' enacted by an immortal being -- she wanted to beleive that his martyrdom was real, and to take inspiration from his human example."

That puts the "Passion Play" into perspective. Elizabeth would have called it a "play within a play."

Wow. Hamlet.

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It seems the biggest memory I have of literature in high school were the sermons / religious writings of the preachers / theologians in the 18th / 19th century US. I don't recall ever hearing the word "transcendental." If our teacher had spent as much time on Shakespeare, my education in literature would have been much better.

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At age 13, she read the New Testament 30 times in three months -- each time to research a point of doctrine. Agreement with her parents that if she read nothing but the Bible over the entire summer, she could "convert" to whatever religion she wanted. The parents lost the bet, as it were.

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William Ellery Channing

Harvard; 18 y/o -- commencement address
Church in Boston
first to use personal experiences in his sermons
great influence on Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, and others

See also this post on Unitarianism.


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