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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... Scriptures drove them further asunder . Yet Americans continue to maintain their right to shape their own faith and to submit to leaders they have chosen . Over the last two centuries , an egalitarian culture has given rise to a diverse ...
... Scriptures , may be all comprehended without learning labour , or time . While they insist , equally with others , that their property shall be managed by skilful agents , their judicial causes directed by learned advocates , and their ...
... Scriptures . Some of them utter a strange mixture of sense and non - sense , truth and error , medicine and poison , with as much confidence as if all been [ sic ] inspired by infinite wisdom . No preachers less qualified , and none ...
... Scripture that bordered on a class analysis of society , Austin insisted that the people had always had an instinct for truth and virtue . The multitude had received Christ with great acclaim , with shouts of hosanna , while " the ...
... scripture . " 92 The experience of Caleb Rich illustrates well the pervasive crisis of authority within popular religion in America in the years after the Revolu- tion . His experience suggests the stages of a pilgrimage that confronted ...
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 |
Other editions - View all
The Democratization of American Christianity Nathan O. Hatch,Professor Nathan O Hatch Limited preview - 1989 |