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
Results 1-5 of 72
... denominations . By 1820 Methodist membership numbered a quarter million ; by 1830 it was twice that number . Baptist membership multiplied tenfold in the three decades after the Revolution ; the number of churches increased from five ...
... denominational clus- ter , the Christians and the Disciples of Christ , had an estimated four thousand preachers , equalling the number of clergy serving Presbyterian denominations . The Congregationalists , which had twice the clergy ...
... denominations as " sectarians . " The fundamental history of this period may be , as Roland Berthoff suggests , a story of things left out . 1o Churches and religious movements after 18oo operated in a climate of withering ...
... denominations ; the clash of theo- logical debate ; the outworking of ethnic and regional patterns ; the dy- namics of recurring revival ; or the flourishing of popular religion outside Christian institutions . The theme of democratic ...
... denominational frame- works to develop large followings by the democratic art of persuasion . These are inherently interesting personalities , unbranded individualists , who chose to storm heaven by the back door . Widely diverse in ...
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 |