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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... divine spokesmen . Democratic or populist leaders associ- ated virtue with ordinary people and exalted the vernacular in word , print , and song.4 The canon of American religious history grows out of traditions that are intellectually ...
... divine love , " ravished with a divine ecstasy beyond any doubts or fears , or thoughts of being then deceived . " 2o What had been defined as " enthusiasm " was increasingly advocated from the pulpit as an essential part of ...
... divine : " There may be , perhaps , 15oo besides who are nominally ministers of the Gospel . But they are generally illiterate men , often not possessed of a good English education , and in some instances unable to read or write . By ...
... divine evidence in the soul and the effectiveness and power of demonstrated preaching . Freeborn Garrettson also interpreted Beecher's address as a direct attack upon the Methodists . He countered with membership statistics to show how ...
... divine . In order to understand the dynamics of this complicated struggle for religious author- ity , it will be helpful to consider the broader crisis of authority that dominated popular culture in the years after the Revolution ...
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 |