CONSCIENTIOUS CLERGYMAN. JUNE 31, 1906. Four months before the Mitchell hosted the Talks at The Benedick, Bishop Potter delivered a sermon in which he stated: “If the city rector doe not take his Summer vacation of three, four, six. or eight weeks…he will go mad or be will deteriorate into what his constituents least desire, a mere machine.” A reporter from The New York Times named “ION” interviewed Rev. Percy S. Grant to get his opinion on the statement.... Read more
SILENCE. November 11, 1907. On October 21, 1907, a year after the first discussion at The Benedick, a meeting was held for the purpose of reorganizing and formalizing the “Philosophical Club” at Columbia University. At the meeting in which Woodbridge was elected honorary president, a committee of officers was elected, and the topic of merging with the Ethical Society was discussed. Max Eastman debated “The Relation of Ethics and Metaphysics,” which Dewey summarized before the topic was opened for discussion.... Read more
HAS THE CHURCH FAILED? July, 1907. The following discussion occurred sometime in the week of July 21-July 27, 1907, when New York was experiencing a heatwave. ⸻ Some weeks later Manhattan was scorching in a sudden breathless heat. Mitchell’s personal affairs had kept him in town longer than was his wont, till he had grown used to solitary dining in deserted clubs and restaurants. This afternoon, however, as he passed from the quivering glare of the streets to the dim... Read more
SIGNS OF THE TIMES. May 22, 1907. On Sunday, May 19, 1907, the Rabbi Stephen Wise delivered a sermon, “The Possibilities of Religious Fellowship,” at Church of the Ascension, in connection with The New York State Conference of Religion. Rabbi Wise opened the Free Synagogue in Manhattan a month earlier, and was, in some regards, a Jewish counterpart to Grant. Wise began his career as assistant Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York’s Upper West Side. From 1900-1906 Wise... Read more
ORGANIZATION AND RELIGION. April 17, 1907. “To put this evening’s subject in its proper connection with what has preceded,” said Mitchell, “it will be necessary to go back two meetings. You will remember that Miller, being then requested to open the discussion, gave us the choice of four topics, of which we promptly selected all. He complied so far as to present three of them, which formed a fairly connected sequence of different aspects of individual religious feeling. The fourth... Read more
THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT. April 27, 1907 The Brevoort Hotel New York, New York. Charles Johnston, Chairman of the Executive Committee, acting as Temporary Chairman, called the Convention to order at 11 A.M. “Fellow-members,” said Johnston, “it is always a pleasure to come together for our annual Conventions, and this year I feel that we have quite exceptional cause for happiness and thankfulness. Many things are happening to make this so. “To begin with, we have a new wave of... Read more
THE HISTORIAN’S VIEW. March 20, 1907. Near the end of winter, 1907, Grant met the Socialist preacher, Alexander Irvine whom he invited to preach on Sunday nights at the Chapel of the Comforter, the mission of the Church of the Ascension. Not everyone, however, was as accepting as Socialism as Grant. Helicon Hall c. 1906. On March 16, 1907, a mysterious fire broke out at the Helicon Home Colony which destroyed the entire compound. Montague was... Read more
MYSTICISM AND FAITH. February 20, 1907. February marks the first appearance of Max Eastman in the Talks. Calkins, who was presenting at The Society For Experimental Biology on February 20, 1907, could not attend. Crampton began his series of eight addresses, the Hewitt Lecturesof Columbia University at Cooper Union, which spanned February and March, 1907. As William James mentioned in his letter to Henry James, he attended a dinner with Twain before leaving New York: “Mark Twain…poor man, is... Read more
PRAGMATISM AND RELIGION. February 8, 1907. Harvard Hall. The Harvard Club Of New York. In late-January and early February, William James delivered his Pragmatism lectures at Columbia, which many of the Participants of the Talks attended. In a letter to his brother, Henry James, William James states: I dare say that you will be together in Paris when you get this, but I address it to Lamb House all the same. You twain are more “blessed” than... Read more
POWER, WORTH, AND REALITY. January 23, 1907. Days after the December talk, on December 29, 1906, Johnston delivered a lecture titled “Helping To Govern India,” at the American Political Science Association at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. In January 1907, Guy A. Tawney, a visiting professor who taught “The Principles of Science,” and Walter B Pitkin, a tutor in philosophy, resigned from the philosophy department at Columbia University. This necessitated a reorganization of the faculty positions by... Read more
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