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 35
... established 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 ...
... establish their identity as a counterestablish- ment . The Christian movement , the Methodists , and the Mormons all commonly referred to all other Protestant denominations as " sectarians . " The fundamental history of this period may ...
... of ordinary people . In America , established religious institutions linked to the upper classes remained too weak to make a whole society accept their language and analysis . The field remained open for the 8 / Context.
... established traditions , the tam- ing effects of respectability upon insurgents , and , in reaction , the fresh appeal of democratic firebrands . Religious populism has remained a creative , if unsettling , force at the fringes of major ...
... establish a new charitable society . The organization's immediate aim was to provide scholarships for poorer young men to attend Yale ; its ultimate goal was to spread proper religious instruction across the expanding republic . On this ...
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 |