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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... Respectability ; Firebrands of Democracy 8. Epilogue : The Recurring 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 ...
... respectability , recast the gospel in a familiar idiom . Most important , they welcomed hundreds of common people into the ministry , creating a cadre of preachers who felt and articulated the interests of ordinary people . In America ...
... respectability . By 184o populist dissent had diminished in American Christianity , but the democratic revo- lution had left a permanent imprint on the denominational landscape . Chapter 7 considers the threefold process that shaped ...
... respectability had difficulty standing up to these aggressive measures , the contrast between them easily resembling " flat tranquility against passion ; dry leaves against the whirlwind ; the weight of gunpowder against its kindled ...
... respectability . For all this fragmentation , one could not have designed a system more capable of Christianizing a people in all of its social , geographic , and ethnic diversity . The collective dynamism of these groups is related to ...
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 |