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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... continued scholarly development . I am also grateful to three splendid colleagues in the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts . Under their influence , our offices became graced with many gifts , among them laughter . This crew ...
... government , a " midget institution in a giant land , " had almost no internal functions . 11 And a rampant migration of people continued to snap old networks of personal authority . American churches did Introduction 17.
... continued loyalty to the civil government . Officials continued to remind them that religious liberty was a privilege dissenters enjoyed at the discretion of magistrates . At the same time , Methodists confronted a pe- riod of social ...
... continued to argue for " the benevolence and dignity of the people " and to assail the tyranny of the Federalists and the legal profession . Yet by the late 179os he had identified another threat to democracy . He redirected his fire ...
... continued as hundreds of poor families , many of whom had settled these lands during and imme- diately after the war , refused to acknowledge the claims of nonresident proprietors and land speculators . Pennsylvania's " Wild Yankees ...
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 |