NMCC’s Raymond published
in scholarly journals
David Raymond
PRESQUE ISLE – The research and writings of a Northern Maine Community College faculty member grace the pages of the recent editions of four publications.
NMCC humanities instructor David Raymond’s work examining the dispute that erupted during the birth of the American Foreign Mission movement following the defection of Adoniram Judson from the Congregational Church to the Baptist Church appears in two prominent Baptist publications.
In “The Controversy over Adoniram Judson’s Famous ‘Change of Sentiments,’ 1813-1820,” published in the Spring 2010 edition of Baptist History & Heritage, Raymond explains the conflict surrounding Judson’s defection to the Baptists. In a separate article, “Judson’s ‘Famous Change of Sentiments’ Reconsidered,” published in the Summer 2009 American Baptist Quarterly, he explains the Congregationalists’ view that Judson’s defection was motivated more by poor relations with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions than by any sort of theological awakening. Together, these papers call for a revised view of the origins of the Baptist foreign missions movement in America.
Part of Raymond’s research on Judson was supported through funding provided by the NMCC Foundation. The incentive grant for faculty scholarship was developed by the Foundation to encourage the work of instructors in fostering and contributing to a climate of scholarship benefiting the comprehensive community college.
A third Raymond article, which explores the role of work in the life and thought of Henry David Thoreau, appears in a recent edition of The Concord Saunterer. The publication is an annual, peer-reviewed journal of Thoreau Scholarship, which contains in-depth essays about Thoreau, his times and his contemporaries, and his influence today.
In this paper, Raymond traces the evolution of Thoreau’s philosophy of work through his writings, especially his classic work of literature Walden and his essay “Life Without Principle,” and his work as a handyman, bean farmer, and surveyor. What emerges is one of the most comprehensive and balanced perspectives on work in American history.
His fourth work is forthcoming in the Spring 2011 edition of the Maine History Journal. “Echoes of a Distant Thunder: The Unitarian Controversy in Maine, 1734-1835” traces the history of this famous conflict within the Congregational churches, explaining Maine’s part in this famous controversy that resulted in the formation of a separate Unitarian denomination.
