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Jeffery L. Irvin <jirvin6878@gmail.com> The University of Toledo My main research interest is intellectual history with an emphasis on the comparative approach to culture and ideas. My masters degree was completed in American history and focused on the development of Christian millennial views prior to the start of the U.S. Civil War. With this work I established a connection between the Civil War and American exceptionalism, rooted in the differing eschatological views of northern and southern clergy. My Ph.D. work has continued this comparative approach. My dissertation focused on the economic views of English and Portuguese proponents of mercantilism in the seventeenth century. In my analysis I concluded that the English and Portuguese took decidedly different economic and political courses due to the varying influence of the Catholic Church, the Crusades, and the penetration of what has been designated the Enlightenment. This had far-reaching effects for Portugal, which began Europe’s expansion to Asia and the Americas. Had the political and religious reforms that were occurring in England at the time been exported to Portugal, they too might have participated more fully in the development of the world-economic system that had been established as a direct result of their efforts in the sixteenth century. Unfortunately, Portugal continued to adhere to a seigneurial and religious tradition that ultimately retarded their ability to adapt to the changing world-system. I am presently working on a book that is based on my master's thesis. The working title is "The Rise of the 'White Christian Republic': Prophecy, Politics, and Race in Antebellum America". This book explores the development of national identity around the concepts of whiteness, Christian faith, and the modern belief in representational government. These ways of identifying one's self during the early American republic ultimately manifested in a race-based American Exceptionalism, which has had far-reaching consequences up to the present day. |
| List Affiliations: | Advisory Board Member for H-Portugal Former List Editor for H-Portugal Former Review Editor for H-Portugal Former Web Editor for H-Portugal |
| Interests: | African American History / Studies American History / Studies Early Modern History and Period Studies Economic History / Studies History of Science, Medicine, and Technology Intellectual History Religious Studies and Theology |
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Bio: _______________________________________________________ Ph.D., December 2008 The University of Toledo Toledo, OH General Field: Early Modern Europe Major Field: European Expansion Minor Field: Colonial America Dissertation Title: “Paradigm and Praxis: Seventeenth-Century Mercantilism and the Age of Liberalism” Advisor: Dr. Glenn J. Ames _______________________________________________________ M.A., August 1996 The University of Toledo Toledo, OH Field: American History Advisor: Dr. William H. Longton Thesis Title: “Millennialism and Slavery from the Perspective of Four Southern Antebellum Ministers: James Henley Thornwell, James Robinson Graves, William Gannaway Brownlow, and Samuel Davies Baldwin” _______________________________________________________ B.A., March 1992 The University of Toledo Toledo, OH Major: History Minor: Business |
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