Papers from Hillsdale College
REL 319 -- Eighteenth Century Theology:
Jonathan Edwards and American Puritanism
Samuel Davies: An Annotated Bibliography
by Amy Anderson and Bob Artinian
Calhoon, Robert. "Davies, Samuel." The Blackwell Dictionary of Evangelical Biography, 1730-1860. Oxford: Blackwell, 1995.
This entry supplies a concise overview of Samuel Davies' life and accomplishments.
Dictionary of American Biography. New York: C. Scribner & Sons, 1928-58.
This piece gives a nice, short summary of Davies' life and accomplishments.
Gewehr, Wesley M. The Great Awakening in Virginia, 1740-1790. 1930; rpt. Gloucester, Massachusetts: Peter Smith, 1965.
This study is focused specifically upon the series of religious revivals that occurred in Virginia during the thirty or forty years preceding the American Revolution. With these revivals being cumulatively described as the "Great Awakening in Virginia," this book chronicles the specific role that Samuel Davies played in that season of the peculiar manifestation of the grace of God. An entire chapter ("Samuel Davies and the Consolidation of Presbyterianism in Eastern Virginia") is devoted to the details of how Davies' ministry was used to evangelize and organize Presbyterian churches in Virginia.
Gummere, Richard M. Seven Wise Men of Colonial America. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1967.
I was not able to obtain or read this book because it is in storage. However, Samuel Davies is one of the seven men included in this study of the colonial period, and it is reported that this investigative work focuses especially on the Greek and Roman influences that were evidenced in the labors of these particular colonial men. Almost certainly this book shall be concerned with the obvious classical aspects of Davies' oratory. In this work Davies is accompanied by Michael Wigglesworth, Thomas Paine, and others.
Julian, John. A Dictionary of Hymnology, Setting Forth the Origin of Christian Hymns of all Ages and Nations, Together with Biographical and Critical Notices of their Authors and Translators. London: J. Murray, 1892.
This work sets forth a miniature biography of Davies, and then provides the titles of a few of his hymns. The author goes on to discuss the popularity of these hymns at the time of their inception, and, respectively, comments on what notoriety they were receiving in the his (the author's) time.
Noll, Mark A. A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992, pp. 106-108.
Obviously, there is not a lot on Davies here, but it is a worthwhile book. Noll focuses on Davies' work with the slaves.
Pilcher, George William. Samuel Davies: Apostle of Dissent in Colonial Virginia. Knoxville: University of Tenn. Press, 1971.
This book is a beautifully written and extremely informative biography of Samuel Davies, covering his theology and giving, in addition, examples of even his poetry and other writing. It attempts to give a full, clear, and living portrait of the person of Samuel Davies, and succeeds in doing so. The vitality that this work both captures and exudes may account for its apparent status as the authoritative work on the life of Samuel Davies. For reference purposes it should also be noted that Pilcher appends an extensive bibliography at the close of this authoritative work.
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Last updated: 17 March 1998