Review

Author(s): Peter J. Gomes

Review by: Peter J. Gomes
Source: The New England Quarterly, Vol. 48, No. 1 (Mar., 1975), pp. 125-128
Published by: New England Quarterly, Inc.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/364917
Accessed: 23-01-2016 08:07 UTC

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 BOOK REVIEWS

Typologyand Early AmericanLiterature.Sacvan Bercovitch,Edi-

tor. (University of Massachusetts Press. 1972. Pp. 337. $12.00.)

This is a book of many precious parts and well-settledjudg-

ments,thefertileproductof theJournalofEarlyAmericanLitera-
ture and its able mentor and guiding light, ProfessorSacvan
Bercovitchof Columbia University.The book itselfis a somewhat
expanded versionof Volume V, Number i of theJournalof Early
AmericanLiterature,Special TypologyIssue of Spring,197o,and
nearlyall of the articlesin it are derived fromthe editorial re-
sourcesof the Journal.Enteringits ninthvolume, the Journalis
now a major forcein the fieldof earlyAmericanletters,and forit
we should be gratefulto itsfoundersin the Modern Language As-
sociationand its preserversat the Universityof Massachusetts.Its
editorial policy observesthat it "favorsno special criticalstance,
[but] does favorstudiesthat are humanisticand readable." Such
modest requirements,all too frequentlyhonored in the breach
ratherthantheobservance,are morethanattainedby theJournal,
and Bercovitch'sTypologyis vivid testimony to thesame.
Typology,as ProfessorBercovitch in his introductoryessay is
to
quick note,is more than interesting and often obscureliterary
allusions to the Old Testamentand antiquityby writersof early
New England. Scoring Perry Miller's lack of appreciation for
typology(poor Miller, what would we do without his scholarly
bones forour introductory mills?),Bercovitchassertsthata proper
assessmentof the place of typologyin New England letterswould
liberatethe local literatifroma new worldprovincialism,placing
themas thelegitimateheirsof an ancientand honorableEuropean
theologicaltradition.Unwilling to consign Puritan literatureto
anythingless than its rightfulgenealogy,Bercovitchand his col-
leagues spare neitherthemselvesnor theirreadersin a painstaking
analysisof theexegeticaltradition.The Puritanswho survivesuch
scrutinyturnout to be the heirsand the progenitorsof an amaz-
inglylivelyand diversetypologicaltraditionextendingin increas-
ing complexityfromthe synoptists of the New Testamentand the
earliestof the Church Fathers.In fact,as ProfessorThomas M.
Davis observes,"Typologyproperbeginswith the workof the au-
thorsof the New Testamentbooks." Such catholicityof scope has
125

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126 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY
now provideda whole new assortmentof apparatuswithwhich to
examine in minute detail what was thoughtto be a thoroughly
familiar (and predictable) subject. Of this, the editor observes,
"The essaysin thisvolume diverselyattestto the creativeenergy
of earlyNew England writing,to the remarkablenew avenues of
interpretation opened by an awarenessof exegeticaltradition,and
to the need forviewingthe culturewithinits Christian-European
context." He goes on to suggestthat the essaysshould serve as
"... a guide to a recentlyestablishedfieldof growingimportance
in American intellectual,cultural, and aesthetic history.They
constituteat once a fulfillment of over two decades of promising
researchand a stimulusforfutureinvestigations."
The problemof typologyand its use and abuse had long been
thecommonpropertyofliteraryhistorians.ProfessorKennethBal-
lard Murdock (to whom Vol. VI, No. 3, winter 1971-1972 of the
Journalis a tribute)provideda seminaldiscussionon the subject
in his now classicessay,"Clio in theWilderness"(ChurchHistory,
Vol. 24, 1955, 221-238). Noting that we might well tire of the
allegorical excessesof an Edward Johnsonand a Cotton Mather,
Murdockobservedthatthe readersforwhom theywroteprobably
didn't feel the same way. "For one thing,the reasonablywell in-
formedamong them knew somethingabout the then respected
science or art of typology,on which it is worthnoting,Cotton
Mather'suncle wrotean importantbook. Typologywas the 'dis-
coveringand expoundingin the recordsof personsand eventsin
the Old Testament prophetical adumbrationsof the Person of
Christor of the doctrineand practiceof the ChristianChurch.'"
Typologywas thusemployedto providea contextof antiquityfor
Christianityin generaland to affordto it the richesand treasures
of an Old Testament,abrogatedbut not by any means discarded.
Having foughtand vanquished the Marcionites,the Church was
now readyto "take possession"ofitsredeemedbook witha passion.
It was not a processof apologyforand explanationof thepresence
of Jewishscripturein themidstof a Christiancommunity.Typol-
ogy was to do for the Jewishscripturewhat Christwas to do for
the Jews themselves:provide a new birth and a new meaning
which transcendedthe old, making it indeed a part of the new
created order. Every word, everydescription,everysituation of
the Old Testamentis the fairobject of such reclamation,and in-
deed, if the "dumb reading" of scripturewhich the Puritans ab-
horredwas to be overcomein a biblicallyliteratecommonwealth,

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 BOOK REVIEWS 127
no featof exegesiswas too greatto entertain.Murdock,writingin
"Clio," observes,"Not manyof thelaityin colonial Bostonor New
Haven can have been experttypologists or explorersof the meta-
phorical possibilitiesof the Bible, but most of them must have
had enough knowledgeof typologicalwaysof thoughtto be more
interestedthan readersnow can be in the allegoriesand parallels
involvingboth the Bible and the classics,given to them by bi-
ographersand historians."But typologyis not simply the har-
monizationof the Hebraic and Hellenistic traditions.It involves
the divine and human as well. SummarizingSt. Augustineon the
subject of typology,ProfessorBerylSmalleyas cited by Professor
Manning in his essay on "Exegesis and the LiteraryCritic,"ob-
serves:"Since the Bible is the only book which has both a divine
and human authorship,only the Bible can have both a literaland
a spiritualsense." Augustine,whose harmonyof the Gospels was
an effortto assurethereadersthat"the writersin question do not
stand in any antagonismto each other,"was not unwillingto de-
vote his considerableenergiesto the entirecanon, an exercisein
whichhe was willinglyjoined by the sons of New England over a
thousandyearslater.
The book is arrangedchronologicallyand thematically. Thomas
M. Davis and StephenManningshareresponsibility fortheexegeti-
cal background,Davis speakingof the "Tradition of Puritan Ty-
pology," and Manning of "ScripturalExegesis and the Literary
Critic." William Bradford,Roger Williams, and Cotton Mather
are then consideredas "Three Aspects of SeventeenthCentury
New England Typology" by ProfessorsJasperRosenmeier,Rich-
ard Reinitz,and Mason I. Lowance, Jr.Of particularinteresthere
forits treatmentof thewoefullyneglectedHenryAinsworthis the
discussionof Bradford,whose repute as a typologistpales beside
his colleagues of the Bay. ProfessorRosenmeieracknowledgeshis
scholarlydebts,but unfortunately he was able to employneither
the verysignificantstudyof Bradfordby Alan B. Howard ("Art
and Historyin Bradford'sOf PlymouthPlantation," William and
Mary Quarterly,xxvni, April, 1971) nor ProfessorIsidore E.
Meyer'snewlyexpanded essay,"The Hebrew Exercisesof Gover-
nor William Bradford,"publishedby the PilgrimSocietyin 1973.
The thirdmajor sectionof the book is devoted to Edward Taylor
in essaysby ProfessorsRobert E. Reiter, Karl Keller, and Ursula
Brumm.Finally, thereis the "EighteenthCenturyand Beyond"
with a stimulatingessayby ProfessorMason I. Lowance on "Im-

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128 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY

ages or Shadows of Divine Things in the Thought of Jonathan

Edwards."
Among the most precious parts of the book is ProfessorBer-
covitch'sAnnotated Bibliographyextending some ninetypages
and providingan unparalleled resourceforfellowlaborersin the
field which he has cultivatedwith such competentcare. Unfor-
tunately,Bercovitchdoes not include any of his own significant
articlesin the book (his own essay,"Typology in New England:
The Williams-CottonControversyReassessed," in the American
Quarterly,Summer,1967,whichmightbe considereda formative
discussionin the field,would have been an admirable offering),
yet it is refreshingto note such scholarlyand editorial modesty.
His introductionand immenselyhelpful bibliography,however,
will place all studentsof New England lettersin his debt.
The onlycomplaintof anymomentabout thisbook concernsits
rathershoddydesign: stingymarginsand the annoyinghabit of
italicizedbut nonindentedblock quotes. So preciousa gem as this
deservesa much worthiersetting.(Also, lest people wonder,Alan
"Heinert" is indeed Alan Heimert.) PETER J.
PETER J.GOMES.
GOMES.

Literacyin Colonial New England: An Enquiry into the Social

Contextof Literacyin theEarly Modern West.By KennethA.
Lockridge.(New York: W. W. Nortonand Company,Inc. 1974.
Pp. xii, 164. $6.95.)
KennethLockridge'snew book setsout to testwidelyheld gen-
eralizationsabout the spread and impact of literacyin colonial
New England and elsewhere.He has sampled 3,126 wills for the
period 1660-1760 (approximatelyone-ninthof the total),checking
forsignaturesas opposed to marks.He findsa signaturerate of 6o
percent in 166o, rising to 70 percent in 171o, and 85 percent in
176o. An additional sample of some 300 wills fromSuffolkand
Middlesex Counties,Massachusetts,showsthe achievementof vir-
tual universalmale literacyby 1795, a level which distinguished
New England fromEngland and its othercolonies. From 166o to
171o literacywas closelycorrelatedwith wealth and urban resi-
dence, but after1710 thesevariables disappeared. These findings
counterthegenerallyheld thesisthatthewildernessstimulatedthe
earlyattainmentof universalliteracyin all the colonies. Accord-
ing to thisargument,thecolonistswereliberatedfromthepast and

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