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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... became graced with many gifts , among them laughter . This crew went the extra mile in effective service , yet they always leavened hard work with humor and good fun . Somehow our fate could not seem grimly serious after Bob Burke ...
... became central to the definition of being American, public opinion came to assume normative significance, and leaders could not survive who would not, to use Patrick Henry's phrase, “bow with utmost deference to the majesty of the ...
... American Revolution and 1845 , the population of the United States grew at a staggering rate : two and a half million became 3 twenty million in seventy years . This unprecedented growth was Introduction: Democracy and Christianity.
... became a mass enterprise . The eighteen hundred Christian ministers serving in 1775 swelled to nearly forty thousand by 1845. The number of preachers per capita more than tripled ; the colonial legacy of one minister per fifteen hundred ...
... became significant actors on the reli- gious scene , there was increasing confusion and angry debate over the pur- pose and function of the church . A style of religious leadership that the public deemed " untutored " and " irregular ...
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 |