Egerton Ryerson Biography

Improved Essays
He was a teacher, a philosopher, a journalist / publisher, a politician, an educational reformer per excellence, a Methodist bishop, one of the sons of Joseph Ryerson and a father of two children. “Adolphus Egerton Ryerson was born on March 24, 1803 into a prominent loyalist family in Charlottesville, Norfolk County, in what is now southwestern Ontario” (Claude W.D,2002, para1) (https://library.ryerson.ca/asc/archives/ryerson-history/ryerson-bio/). Egerton was a passionate reader of the classics and he was on a deeply religious training promoted by his father’s Anglican conservatism and his mother’s Methodist radicalism. Compelled to choose between the two different denominations¬- Anglican and Methodist, he chose Methodism, a choice which …show more content…
Quoting from Egerton’s letter to his brother, the Rev, George Ryerson, at the time of his itinerary preaching, J. Harold Putman posited in his work” Egerton Ryerson and Education in Upper Canada” that “we get a glimpse of the young preacher's ideas upon the preparation of sermons (J. Harold Putman, 1912 and 2010 para4). According to J. Harold Putman, Egerton stated in his letter that “On my leisure days I read from ten to twenty verses of Greek a day besides reading history, the Scriptures, and the best works on practical divinity, among which Chalmers have decidedly the preference in my mind both for piety and depth of thought. These two last studies employ the greatest part of my time” (J. Harold Putman, 1912 and 2010 para4). Talking about his preaching, Egerton argued that “My preaching is altogether original. I endeavour to collect as many ideas from every source as I can: but I do not copy the expression of anyone, for I do detest seeing blooming flowers in dead men's hands. I think it my duty and try to get a general knowledge and view of any subject that I discuss beforehand; but not unfrequently I have tried to preach with only a few minutes' previous (J. Harold Putman, 1912 and 2010 para4

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Writing Style of Olaudah Equiano in Comparison to Johnathon Edwards Olaudah Equiano had published his narrative during the same time period as many prominent Puritans like Jonathon Edwards and Ann Bradstreet. However; his writing differs greatly from theirs. Equiano views God as shepherd rather than an omnipotent being waiting to condemn all of humanity to hell. Equiano writes a narrative detailing his journeys from salve to freeman while Edwards creates a religious sermon meant to scare the congregation into repenting. The most drastic difference between the two of writers is their use of imagery.…

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Who Is Elbert Frank Cox?

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Elbert Frank Cox was born on December 5th 1895 to parents Eugenia D Talbot and Johnson D Cox. His father was already a principal at a high school and took classes at Evansville College and graduated at Indiana University. Elbert was no stranger to success. He was fortunate to live in mixed ethnicity group even though the schools were still segregated. In high school he showed talents mathematics but that wasn’t his first love.…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Great Awakening was introduce in a series of religious revivals in the North American British colonies. Also, during the 17th and 18th centuries, these “Awakenings” is a great way in how colonists found new meaning the religions of the day. In fact a handful of preachers made names for themselves. A religion would be a difficult thing to reconcile with empiricism, since much of the religion depends on faith and belief in a higher power. However, in the 17th and 18th centuries people started to find the need for getting back in touch with their religion.…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Unmasking a Foolish Consistency by Yerika Germosen In Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson claims that “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds”. To determine this quote’s meaning and significance it’s important to first analyze its author’s way of thinking and purpose. Being a transcendentalist and having a religious backbone affected Emerson’s perspectives. He encouraged others to accomplish their vision, even if there are oppositions and to listen to the voice inside.…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the eighteenth century, many Europeans decided to leave their home country of England to travel to this new, unknown, and mysterious land called the New World. One of the key reasons so many decided to leave their home country was to escape from the religious persecution and mistreatment they received from the Church of England. Not everyone agreed on religion, or what was considered the most acceptable form of religion. Thomas Paine and Jonathan Edwards are two individuals who believed in the same God, but had two very different perspectives on the purpose and the practice of religion. Jonathan Edwards is considered to be one of the most well-known preachers of the Great Awakening period, which was considered to be a “spirit of…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Despite having the same basic understanding of the world through Christianity and predominantly Calvinism, John Cotton and Jonathan Edwards both depict varied versions of what Luther regards as the spiritual and bodily natures that we, as Christians, exhibit. While John Cotton’s Christian Calling emphasizes our bodily nature as he focuses on the outward acts of faith such as expressing our faith in accordance to our obedience to the Lord’s will, Johnathan Edwards’ opposes this viewpoint in Religious Affections as he depicts a greater emphasis on our spiritual nature through thoroughly experiencing grace in our heart; Luther reconciles that our bodily nature expresses our spiritual nature. Cotton’s emphasizes that our bodily nature is a crucial…

    • 1250 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Benjamin Franklin was born to a large family, at a young age he was taken out of school to work. Looking back at this later, he regrets his lack of formal education. His abhorrence to the field of work he was placed in allowed him a realm of discovery to find a field that better suited him. Olaudah Equiano was a young boy happily living in a tribal part of Africa. Equiano was uprooted from all that he knew, he writes that he had been “the greatest favourite of his mother, and was always with her”(Equiano 23-24).…

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Winthrop and Jonathan Edwards were some of the earlier American writers and they had some little characters in common in terms of their ways of writing. They were backers of the same principles adopted by Christianity but they had many differences in the ways they adopted different styles of writing. The differences in the styles of writing can be explained by the situations faced by each one of them in terms of time in which each wrote the essays. Edwards had a feeling that the new world was built upon ideal principles which were slipping away while Winthrop wrote in order to describe the progressions of the new religion as well as social experiences of the new religion.…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The first Great Awakening and the Second Great Awakening were a really important factor in the way it helped shaped christian thinking and ideas by the fierce movement It created. Each Awakening had leaders who were notable in history, with George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards being two of the most important and crucial names associated with the First Great Awakening and Nathaniel Taylor and Charles Finney in the Second Great Awakening. The religious excitement that was the Second Great Awakening created a positive impact in the US, emphasizing the democratization of American Protestantism as well as removing barriers of race, class, gender, and age. The Second Great Awakening leveled church hierarchies, provided African slaves with…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Divine Dramatist, written by Harry S. Stout contains an overview of the life of George Whitefield and accounts the rise of modern evangelism. The claim that the author makes is that George Whitefield is rightly labeled Anglo-America’s first modern celebrity. Throughout his book, Stout explains how the genius and passion of Whitefield helped the church. Specifically, in the eighteenth century, as there was a growing desire to see the inherited ideas of sermons come alive in ways that would compel the rapidly changing landscape of America. The book is comprised of an introduction as well as fifteen chapters outlining the life, work, and impact George Whitefield had on evangelicalism.…

    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In recent decades, concerns for the state of Earth’s ecosystem and biodiversity has dramatically risen. The race to slow and possibly reverse the process of the destruction on Earth is one with differentiating views dependent upon beliefs. In “Letter to a Southern Baptist Minister” by Edward Wilson, he writes to a Baptist minister proposing that religion and science should join forces to save Earth’s ecosystem and creation from continued pauperization. Wilson does an excellent job of establishing this unheard of claim with a rogerian approach and reinforces it with rhetorical appeals.…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethos, Logos, and Pathos in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan theologian who was a primary figure during the Great Awakening. Edwards delivered his fiery sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” to his puritan congregation in 1741 using powerful images of heaven and hell and a sense of urgency to convince sinners to come to Christ. To achieve his desired purpose of urging sinners to receive God’s grace before it is too late, Edwards employs ethos, logos, and pathos. Edwards uses ethos to appeal to his congregation to convince them to turn from their wicked ways.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1-The American enlightenment was a development to organize the human limit for a reason as the most elevated type of human accomplishment. The most conspicuous of the Enlightenment thinkers were John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. This ideas inspired both harmony and conflict with religious leaders. Settlements faced off regarding how the Enlightenment idea of “natural rights” may impact their activities as pilgrims under the tenet of the British crown. Also America’s first college, Harvard was founded in 1636 and nine colleges were founded during the colonial period.…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Winthrop and Jonathan Edward’s sermons both relate to the puritan ideas; both create a call to action telling the people exactly what they should do in order to be considered faithful puritans. They are trying to influence people to view their ideas and believe in them. Although there are major significant similarities there are also extreme differences in the sermons due to the huge time gap between when these sermons were expressed to the people. The enlightenment time period, and the aging and evolving of the colonies both had a magnificent contribution on the tone, and drive of each sermon. John Winthrop’s sermon “A Model of Christian Charity” conveyed in 1630 at the very beginning when colonies were just starting to form, the wide…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nevertheless, I knew that I would achieve some form of catharsis if I took this assignment as seriously as a possibly could. From watching the persuasive speech, it is a recurring theme in my process of watching myself speak that I am much more sympathetic of myself after given said speech. What I immediately notice is that certain planned maneuvers such as the introduction weren’t always as clear as I wanted them to be. The flash cards that I help up might have been more effective if I had less content on them.…

    • 1189 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays