James Davenport (clergyman)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

James Davenport (1716–1757) was an American Congregational
clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
and itinerant preacher noted for his often controversial actions during the
First Great Awakening The First Great Awakening (sometimes Great Awakening) or the Evangelical Revival was a series of Christian revivals that swept Britain and its thirteen North American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. The revival movement permanently affecte ...
.


Background and early life

Davenport was born in Stamford, Connecticut, to an old
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
family. Davenport’s great-grandfather, Reverend John Davenport, was a founder and first minister of
New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
. He attended
Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
where he was ranked at the top of the class in 1732. Davenport and his friends were determined to become preachers even though most Yale graduates were pursuing law, politics, or business. They started clubs that would attest the changing character of the Yale student body, and frequently found themselves in adversary positions with the university. This is the beginning of Davenport's mistrust with established institutions. He was ordained as a minister by the Congregational Council of Southold, Long Island in October 1738.


Preaching career and controversies

It was around this time that he met
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
revivalist Gilbert Tennent and English evangelical George Whitefield. The success of Whitefield's style of revival preaching convinced Davenport that
God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
was calling him, and in 1741 - having by chance opened his Bible to
1 Samuel 14 1 Samuel 14 is the fourteenth chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samue ...
, where Jonathan and his armor-bearer attack the Philistine camp, and taken this as a sign - he left his congregation to become an
itinerant An itinerant is a person who travels habitually. Itinerant may refer to: *"Travellers" or itinerant groups in Europe * Itinerant preacher, also known as itinerant minister *Travelling salespeople, see door-to-door, hawker, and peddler *Travelli ...
. His actions during this time often caused him to run afoul of both ecclesiastical and
civil authorities Civil authority or civil government is the practical implementation of a state on behalf of its citizens, other than through military units (martial law), that enforces law and order and that is distinguished from religious authority (for exampl ...
. Davenport often denounced fellow clergymen for their conduct, such as when he labeled
Joseph Noyes Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
, the pastor of
New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
, a "wolf in sheep's clothing." Throughout New England he used this stratedy, of condemning his fellow clergymen, to gain popularity. Davenport is also noted for his "Bonfires of the Vanities", the public burnings he organized in
New London New London may refer to: Places United States *New London, Alabama *New London, Connecticut *New London, Indiana *New London, Iowa *New London, Maryland *New London, Minnesota *New London, Missouri *New London, New Hampshire, a New England town ** ...
. As with those of
Girolamo Savonarola Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, , ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of ...
, Davenport urged his followers to destroy immoral books and luxury items with fire. He often said that he could distinguish people who were saved versus people who were damned just by looking at them. In June 1742, Davenport and fellow preacher Benjamin Pomeroy were arraigned before the Colonial Assembly at Hartford, Connecticut, charged with disorderly conduct. Pomeroy's case was dismissed, but Davenport was declared to be under "enthusiastical impressions and impulses, and thereby disturbed in the rational faculties of his mind." No punishment was meted out, but Davenport was sent back to his former parish of Southold. On March 7, 1743, Davenport exhibited perhaps his most bizarre behavior yet, in an incident which garnished him lasting fame—or infamy. The day before, he had led a crowd to burn a large pile of books; this day he called them to throw their expensive and fancy clothing onto the fire, so as to prove their full commitment to God. Davenport—leading by example—removed his pants and cast them into the bonfire. One woman in the crowd quickly grabbed his pants out of the blaze, and handed them back to Davenport, entreating him to get a hold of himself. "This act broke Davenport's spell," wrote historian Thomas Kidd. Davenport had gone too far, charisma or no, and the crowd quickly dispersed. After the bonfire ended, Davenport was charged with "having the devil in him", and he replied, "He tho't so too", and added "that he was under the Influence of an evil Spirit, and that God had left him" (49) According to the ''Boston Weekly Post Boy'' of 28 March 1743, Davenport had exhibited signs of physical distress along with his unorthodox behavior, symptoms that at the time would have been interpreted as evidence of demonic possession. In 1744, after publicly acknowledging his missteps and apologizing to ministers around the colony, Davenport published a letter titled, "Confession and Retraction," appearing in pamphlets and in and in newspapers, including the publication ''Christian History.'' The letter claimed he had "fallen into the snare of the devil," confessing to being led astray by impulses and the "false spirit," and spoke of a desire to distinguish the “Appendage from the Substance or Essence, that which is vile and odious from that which is precious, glorious, and divine” (Davenport).


Later life

In the late 1740s and 50s, Davenport struggled to reposition himself in the clerical mainstream. It was hard for him to convince his fellow ministers that he could be taken seriously after being judged insane by two tribunals in Connecticut and Massachusetts in 1742. Moving to Plainfield Connecticut in 1744 as a supply minister proved difficult, as he departed in 1745, unable to find support from the Old and New Lights of the area, receiving criticism from both sides. In 1749 the New York Synod appointed him to a committee that assigned visiting clerics to northern colonies. Though his career saw improvements in 1750 as a minister in Hanover, Virginia, his preaching differed from that of his earlier sermons—less fiery, less experimental, and without song.Cray, R. (1996). James Davenport's Post-Bonfire Ministry, 1743-1757. ''The Historian,'' ''59''(1), 59-73. Retrieved May 21, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24449793 On 27 October 1754, Davenport became pastor of Maidenhead and
Hopewell, New Jersey Hopewell is a borough in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. This historical settlement is located within the heart of the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 1,918, a decreas ...
, an office he held until his death on 10 November 1757. He was buried in the Old Cemetery lot of the Pennington (N.J.) Presbyterian Church.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davenport, James 1716 births 1757 deaths People from Stamford, Connecticut American Congregationalist ministers 18th-century American clergy Yale College alumni