Early American Ships' Logs as Theological Texts: Divining the Sacred amidst the Mundane (and Maritime)

Abstract

Logbooks can reveal human struggles over deep theological issues such as providence and salvation. While many sailors may not have been learned men, toiling at sea in environments that they could not control gave them ample opportunity to wonder about God’s existence and his role in their lives, making them theologians in practice, if not in fact.