A Discourse On Foreknowledge Predestination And Election

A Discourse on Foreknowledge, Predestination, and Election

A Literate South

A provocative examination of literacy in the American South before emancipation, countering the long-standing stereotype of the South’s oral tradition Schweiger complicates our understanding of literacy in the American South in the decades just prior to the Civil War by showing that rural people had access to a remarkable variety of things to read. Drawing on the writings of four young women who lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Schweiger shows how free and enslaved people learned to read, and that they wrote and spoke poems, songs, stories, and religious doctrines that were circulated by speech and in print. The assumption that slavery and reading are incompatible—which has its origins in the eighteenth century—has obscured the rich literate tradition at the heart of Southern and American culture.

On Predestination

This work by the Irish churchman, John Scotus Eriugena, discusses the foundational principles of philosophy as a means to explore and understand true religion, asserting that true philosophy is inherently linked to true religion. It highlights the necessity of using philosophical methods-divisoria, definitiva, demonstrativa, and resolutiva-to address and refute heretical beliefs, particularly those propagated by figures like Gotescalcus. The author argues for the importance of being well-prepared in defending the truth against falsehoods, suggesting that heresies can paradoxically serve to awaken the faithful and encourage a deeper pursuit of truth within the Catholic Church.