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American Literature Videos 58 videos

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American Literature: A Model of Christian Charity 2918 Views


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Description:

What is American Exceptionalism? Who was John Winthrop? Why are we asking you so many questions? Do you feel uncomfortable? Good. Our work here is done. 

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

....model of Christian charity

00:33

As you can tell I'm not a great [Statue of liberty cheerleading]

00:42

cheerleader but I am pumped about my country as were many of the first

00:46

European settlers they talked about their new country as if it was better

00:50

than every other country on earth because who wouldn't want a present [Boy riding a rocking horse]

00:54

rocking horse am i right? The concept of one country being fundamentally superior

00:58

to all others is known as exceptionalism an American had it in spades...Where did

01:05

that idea come from well part of it was well founded the colonists were breaking

01:09

away from the old outdated forms of government

01:12

you know like monarchies where there's a king and everyone else just sort of

01:16

bows down, old outdated ways of thinking like the belief that there was no such

01:20

thing as individual freedom everybody was just another cog in the machine and [Cogs and a brain appear]

01:24

old outdated technologies yeah the whole two-story outhouse was always doomed for

01:31

failure these settlers were forging a new path they weren't interested in the way

01:35

things were structured back in merry old England where the royal class oppressed

01:38

the lower classes by writing their own rules there could be free thought

01:42

scientific advancement, a government by and for the people so yeah pretty

01:47

exceptional except they may have let it go to their heads of it like is it [Puritans head expand and explode]

01:52

really a good idea to start assuming your way is the only way... countries do

01:56

business together all the time would you want to do business with the

01:59

country who thought your skills resemble that of a mule deer... [People's heads transform into deer]

02:02

probably also don't want to close yourself off from advancements made by

02:05

other nations and if you're exceptional why would you ever listen to what anyone [Soviet Union speaking with U.S]

02:10

else has to say so yeah maybe some thin ice

02:13

one guy who had hopped on board of America's the greatest bandwagon was

02:17

John Winthrop he had good reason to want to believe that America was top banana [John places banana on top of christmas tree]

02:22

on the yum-yum tree he was one of the Puritans responsible for founding the

02:26

Massachusetts Bay Colony so of course it would reflect well on him if that colony

02:31

really did become the new gold standard for civilized societies...Winthrop was

02:35

born a wealthy guy he was even known lord back home in England... So you [Man massaging John]

02:39

might think he would actually be opposed to the sort of free thinking open

02:43

society that excited so many other settlers and you'd be right he was

02:47

conservative he did not welcome change the class structure already in place

02:51

Winthrop was jazzed that his colony and the new world, but not because it would

02:55

afford people any sort of freedom aside from the freedom of Puritans to not get

03:00

persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church like they were brutally in England he [Catholic written on an outhouse]

03:05

was a Puritan through and through and his vision of America embraced it as a

03:09

place where people could continue to be Puritan without a closed-minded king who

03:13

forced his subjects to follow Catholic teachings and practices or else.. Beyond

03:17

that though, Wintrop was strongly authoritarian ie he wanted the members [Colonists carrying Wintrop]

03:22

of his colony to honor and obey him like he was a demigod and wasn't too

03:26

concerned about them having personal freedom like the freedom to choose their

03:29

own religion or the freedom to climb any sort of social ladder or the freedom to [Man climbing hill and Wintrop kicks man back down]

03:34

roam the streets nude that last one still not okay...

03:37

Anyway he wanted to rule this colony with an iron fist just like King Charles [Wintrop raises his iron fist]

03:42

in England only his was a Puritan iron fist so it was obviously better, that was

03:48

his reasoning anyway..Wintrop is best known for his sermon a model of

03:51

Christian charity in it he laid down the law here's how everyone should treat

03:55

each other and why...kind of like Moses and the tablets or Jesus and the writing on

03:59

all those cocktail napkins his disciples left behind the sermon covers how the [Man struck by an arrow]

04:03

few people who have been lucky enough to embark on the American Colonization

04:06

journey have been handpicked by God.... So lets zero in on the second half of the

04:11

sermon yup it's summary time check out this

04:14

part starting with from hence we may frame these conclusions go ahead and hit

04:18

pause and hit play when you're ready....

04:40

okay let's break the puppy down there are three things we'll need to do let's [Puppy on an operating table]

04:44

lay them out here first then dig into each one individually one read the

04:48

passage done and then highlight the five most important words terms or concepts

04:53

two - underline the most important sentence in a paragraph to home in on the main

04:58

idea, then write a note in the margin about why it might be the most important

05:01

sentence and three - next to each passage jot down in your own words what the

05:06

author's main point is like is it that all Christians get ice cream on [Statue of liberty gives Christian man an ice cream]

05:09

Thursdays or that we should be charitable by donating to the

05:12

out-of-work child actor fund or that checkered and polka-dotted clothing

05:16

clash we shall see okay so first up we highlight the five most important words

05:21

terms or concepts there's the idea that true Christians are of one body seems

05:26

important so we'll highlight that one then there's the idea that love holds

05:30

the body together bones and skin probably have something to do with a - [Skeleton appears below passage]

05:33

but again probably highlighter worthy next without love Christians are

05:37

imperfect kind of like Nestle Tollhouse cookies without those little chocolate [Cookie and chocolate chips disappear]

05:41

thingies....Then it's important for those in a community to unite taking part in each

05:45

other's lives and last being part of a community will only cause the community

05:49

members to want to be a greater part of the community great so now we've drawn

05:54

attention to some of the most important concepts at Wintrop covers in a sermon

05:57

as we review them let's look for words that keep popping up pay attention to [Words appear]

06:01

thoughts that Wintrop seems to repeat or at least thoughts that are related

06:05

somehow authors don't repeat things by accident when they say something twice

06:09

it's important when they say something twice it's important.... next, think about

06:13

how all important concepts might all be pieced together to give us a single [Person completing jigsaw]

06:17

cohesive main idea... which brings us to our second task

06:21

underline the most important sentence to dial in on the main idea and write a

06:24

note in the margin about why it might be the most important sentence...So we

06:28

[Judge bangs the gavel] don't want to pick a sentence willy-nilly we're looking for a sentence

06:33

that best summarizes everything Wintrop addresses how do we know we found

06:37

the main idea well every other sentence in the passage should reference it and

06:41

hopefully support it in someway...We've got options but this one seems to

06:45

encapsulate a lot of Wintrop's focus we must delight in each other make each

06:50

other's conditions our own rejoice together mourn together labor and suffer

06:54

together always having before in our eyes our commission and community in the

06:58

work as members of the same body... There's a lot in there about working together

07:03

sharing the highs and lows saving the light in the sense of

07:05

community but always keeping in mind the grander purpose of that community and

07:09

the notion that they all share one body in other words they're stronger as a [Team of guys walk over a man]

07:12

team rather than as individuals so seems like we're running on a pretty good main

07:17

idea here it encompasses all the things Wintrop is trying to convey to his

07:20

audience throughout his speech and it all seems to boil down to a shared

07:23

definition of community so how do we restate the main idea in our own words [Man writing our own words on board]

07:27

how about something like Christians, while individuals are of one body are all held

07:33

together by love all part of the community that is made stronger by the

07:36

empathy of its members... everything Windsor was trying to say

07:40

without leaving out anything significant I could have written this speach...So

07:45

now we know what Wintrop's speech means but what does it give us why should we

07:50

give a flying hoot...well for one thing it helps us see how we as a country got from where [USA as a baby shaking a rattle]

07:54

we started subjects of an oppressive monarchy in search of some more personal

07:58

freedom to where we are today all the things Wintrop emphasizes the sense of

08:03

community, considerations of our neighbors, the importance of love these

08:06

are all ideals we still value it also shows us how religion expression has [People of different religions in the woods]

08:10

evolved over time... Wintrop may have been just about Puritanism as much as King

08:15

Charles was about Catholicism but at least he planted the seeds of the idea

08:19

that we could break away from the mainstream religion to each do our own [Religious churches appear in a field]

08:23

thing

08:24

i.e religious freedom probably not what Wintrop was going for but oh well okay

08:29

so we did a good job summarizing this part of the sermon time for you to take

08:32

a crack at the rest simply follow the same set of rules we followed to summarize

08:36

this section and as you go along if you come across a word that looks unfamiliar [Statue of liberty dancing as cheerleader]

08:40

look it up!

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