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 30
... equally potent traditions sent American Christianity cascading in many creative directions in the early republic . Church authorities had few resources to restrain this surge of movements fueled by the passions of ordinary people ...
... equally with others , that their property shall be managed by skilful agents , their judicial causes directed by learned advocates , and their children , when sick , attended by able physicians ; they were satisfied to place their ...
... equally fierce preacher of dissent who championed the cause of backcountry folk in three states . A Yale graduate of 1764 , Ely pastored a church briefly and unsuccessfully in Somers , Connecticut , took part in the Battle of Bennington ...
... equally independent path . Unsatisfied with the views and creeds of those around him , Jones resolved to launch his own " serious investigation . " Accordingly , he " took the Bible , and that alone , and without consulting any ...
... . " 1o2 In an equally radical attack on the oppression of the poor , the Roger- ene Quaker Timothy Waterous wrote a pamphlet entitled The Battle - Axe , which he printed on a homemade press after no printer 44 / Context.
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 |