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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... Populist Leaders and Democratic Movements 2. The Crisis of Authority in Popular Culture Ferment over Who Should Rule at Home ; Revolt against the Professions ; Backcountry Dissent ; Blurring of Worlds ; Individualization of Conscience ...
... Populist Impulse in American Christianity Redefining the Second Great Awakening : A Note on the Study of Christianity in the Early Republic Appendix : A Sampling of Anticlerical and Anti - Calvinist Christian Verse Notes Index 162 193 ...
... - respect and collective self - confidence . Like the Populist movement at the end of the nineteenth century , these movements took shape around mag- netic leaders who were highly skilled in communication and group 4 Context.
... 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 respectable and institutionally ...
... populist leader- ship . Meanwhile , in America , Francis Asbury claimed it was his duty to condescend to people of low estate , and Peter Cartwright , dispensing with the trappings of respectability , recast the gospel in a familiar ...
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 |