The Democratization of American Christianity

by Nathan O. Hatch

• ISBN13: 9780300050608
• ISBN10: 0300050607
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1991-01-23
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

Looks at changes in the Christian church just after the American Revolution, and explains how the desire for democracy led to the rise of new religious movements

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
I. CONTEXT
Introduction: Democracy and Christianity	3	(14)
The Church in an Age of Democratic Revolution; A Passion for Equality; Populist Leaders and Democratic Movements
The Crisis of Authority in Popular Culture	17	(32)
Ferment over Who Should Rule at Home; Revolt against the Professions; Backcountry Dissent; Blurring of Worlds; Individualization of Conscience; Inversion of Authority
II. MASS MOVEMENTS
Storming Heaven by the Back Door	49	(18)
Wreckers, Architects, and Builders; The Withering of Establishments; ``A Sea of Sectarian Rivalries''
Thundering Legions	67	(58)
The Christian Movement; The Spartan Mission of Francis Asbury; The Independent Conscience of John Leland; Black Preachers and the Flowering of Afro-American Christianity; The Populist Vision of Joseph Smith
III. AUDIENCE
The Sovereign Audience	125	(37)
The Triumph of Vernacular Preaching; Creating a Mass Religious Culture in Print; Inventing American Gospel Music
The Right to Think for Oneself	162	(31)
The Quest for the Ancient Order; The Crusade against Calvinist Orthodoxy and Control; Sola Scriptura; America, Democracy, and the Millennium
IV. LEGACY
Upward Aspiration and Democratic Dissent	193	(17)
The Leaven of Democratic Persuasions; The Allure of Respectability; Firebrands of Democracy
Epilogue: The Recurring Populist Impulse in American Christianity	210	(10)
Redefining the Second Great Awakening: A Note on the Study of Christianity in the Early Republic	220	(7)
Appendix: A Sampling of Anticlerical and Anti-Calvinist Christian Verse	227	(17)
Notes	244	(61)
Index	305