The Spiritual Labour of John Barnard

An Eighteenth-Century Artisan Constructs His Piety

Bibliographic Data

ID4517633
AuthorsErik R Seeman (0000-0002-1603-3371, corresponding author)
Year1995
Volume5
Issue2
Pages181-215
Publication date1995-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligion and American Culture A Journal of Interpretation (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1052-1151 • E-ISSN: 1533-8568
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1525/rac.1995.5.2.03a00030
OpenAlexW4230448710
LanguageEN
References cited26

John Barnard (1654-1732) was a carpenter. Not only did this Bostonian build houses, but he also constructed, throughout his life, a spiritual edifice. As a carpenter, Barnard used the tools and materials available to him and, within the architectural conventions of his day, built homes according to his individual judgment as a craftsman. Similarly, though in a less self-conscious manner, Barnard fashioned a cosmology out of the varied building blocks available to him in the religious culture of colonial Boston: sermons, godly books, pious conversation, and prayer. As is evident from his 184-page spiritual journal kept between January 1716 and October 1719, Barnard was the active constructor of a personal piety

Art · Art history · Conversation · Piety · Prayer · Sociology · Historical Architecture and Urbanism · History · Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies · Philosophy · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment · Religious studies

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