The Democratization of American ChristianityA provocative reassessment of religion and culture in the early days of the American republic "The so-called Second Great Awakening was the shaping epoch of American Protestantism, and this book is the most important study of it ever published."—James Turner, Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Winner of the John Hope Franklin Publication Prize, the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic book prize, and the Albert C. Outler Prize In this provocative reassessment of religion and culture in the early days of the American republic, Nathan O. Hatch argues that during this period American Christianity was democratized and common people became powerful actors on the religious scene. Hatch examines five distinct traditions or mass movements that emerged early in the nineteenth century—the Christian movement, Methodism, the Baptist movement, the black churches, and the Mormons—showing how all offered compelling visions of individual potential and collective aspiration to the unschooled and unsophisticated. |
From inside the book
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... Bible in America : Essays in Cultural History ( New York , 1982 ) . I am grateful to this journal and to the American Antiquarian Society and Oxford University Press for permission to use this material . I am indebted to Mike Loux and ...
... rushed to biblical prophecy for help in understanding the troubled times that were upon them.9 Amidst such acute uncertainty , many humble Christians in America began to redeem a dual legacy . They yoked strenuous 6 / Context.
... bible was like a sealed book , so mysterious I could not understand it , and in order to hear it explained , I applied to this person and that book ; but got no satisfactory instruction , I frequently wished I had lived in the days of ...
... biblical literalism , of evangelical and Jeffersonian rhetoric . At the same time , this environment accelerated this splintering of Christianity , what George Rawlyk calls " a fragmenting evan- gelical ethos . " 77 As increased numbers ...
... Bible for himself with attention and diligence . 91 In 1771 Rich moved with his two brothers to Warwick , Massachu- setts , a rural town in the hill country along the New Hampshire border . Here he experienced conversion but also began ...
Contents
3 | |
17 | |
49 | |
67 | |
The Sovereign Audience | 125 |
The Right to Think for Oneself | 162 |
Upward Aspiration and Democratic Dissent | 193 |
The Recurring Populist | 210 |
A Sampling of Anticlerical | 227 |
Notes | 244 |
Index | 305 |
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The Democratization of American Christianity Nathan O. Hatch,Professor Nathan O Hatch Limited preview - 1989 |