Table Of ContentReligion in American History
Religion in American History Edited by Amanda Porterfield and John Corrigan
© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd except for editorial material and organization © 2010 Amanda Porterfield and John Corrigan
ISBN: 978-1-405-16137-4
Religion in American History
Edited by
Amanda Porterfield
and John Corrigan
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
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This edition first published 2010
© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd except for editorial material and organization © 2010 Amanda Porterfield
and John Corrigan
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has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Religion in American history / [edited by] Amanda Porterfield and John Corrigan.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4051-6137-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-1-4051-6138-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. United States–Religion. 2. United States–Church history. I. Porterfield, Amanda, 1947–
II. Corrigan, John, 1952-
BL2525.R4653 2009
200.973–dc22
2009001950
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Set in 10/13pt Galliard by SPi Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
Printed in Singapore by Fabulous
1 2010
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Contents
List of Figures vii
How to Use This Book ix
Notes on Contributors x
Introduction 1
Amanda Porterfield and John Corrigan
Part I Exploration and Encounter (1492–1692) 9
1 Politics 11
Amanda Porterfield
2 Cosmology 29
John Corrigan
3 Community 49
Sarah Rivett
4 Practice 69
Tracy N. Leavelle
Part II The Atlantic World (1692–1803) 89
5 Politics 91
Jon Sensbach
6 Cosmology 109
Stephen A. Marini
7 Community 134
Kenneth P. Minkema
8 Practice 151
Martha L. Finch
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vi Contents
Part III American Empire (1803–1898) 171
9 Politics 173
Mark A. Noll
10 Cosmology 190
Robert Fuller
11 Community 210
Heather D. Curtis
12 Practice 229
Christopher White
Part IV Global Reach (1898–Present) 247
13 Politics 249
Charles H. Lippy
14 Cosmology 266
Kathryn Lofton
15 Community 285
Peter W. Williams
16 Practice 302
Candy Gunther Brown
Acknowledgments 321
Index 323
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Figures
1.1 New England in 1675, at the outbreak of King Philip’s War 14
1.2 William Penn’s treaty with the Indians when he founded
the province of Pennsylvania in North America, 1681. Painting
by Benjamin West 19
2.1 A tale of religion, place, and power, Theodor deBry’s
Columbus Landing in the Indies pictured Europeans claiming
place with a cross alongside a regal Columbus receiving gifts
brought by indigenes 32
2.2 Cotton Mather, in The Wonders of the Invisible World (1693),
reported on “remarkable curiosities” in New England just
as the witch trials in Salem came to an end 47
3.1 Pocahontas in English garb. Note the Anglicized “Rebecca”
intended to replace “Matoaka” and “Pocahontas” 56
4.1 John Vanderlyn’s Columbus landing in the Bahamas, 1847.
Vanderlyn’s Indians cower at the fringes of the piece,
witnessing to the perception that Columbus’ landing was
a protrusion of European civilization into an otherwise
uncivilized wilderness 70
4.2 The first book published in New England, The Whole Booke
of Psalms, more commonly known as “The Bay Psalm Book,”
was one of the most important elements of both private
and public religious practices 74
5.1 The Salem witch trials provide an enduring example of
American history of violence in the name of religious devotion 96
5.2 Tennent’s The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry, published
by Benjamin Franklin in 1740, represented the “New Lights’”
criticism with stodgy orthodoxy and the injustices of
ecclesiastical and popular hierarchies 101
6.1 Abigail Williams’ testimony to the charge of witchcraft
leveled against Reverend George Jacobs, Sr. 111
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viii List of Figures
6.2 Rev. George Whitefield’s American tours during the Great
Awakening drew large crowds from all walks of colonial life 115
7.1 A New Orleans slave market. In the relatively relaxed
environment of New Orleans, slaves developed relationships
at markets which could open doors to new work prospects 146
8.1 Shaker worship services often involved “all the faculties
of soul and body” 158
8.2 George Washington as a Master Mason, 1856, by Emanuel
Gottlieb Leutze, American oil on canvas 158
9.1 Alexis de Tocqueville remarked in Democracy in America
on the peculiar place of religion in American politics 179
9.2 Harriet Beecher Stowe. Along with her brother, Henry Ward
Beecher, Stowe was a well-known religious figure from the North,
willing to sacrifice black civil rights to contribute to the
“redemption” of the Reconstruction-era American South 185
10.1 The institution of slavery was without question the most divisive
issue facing white churches in the Age of Empire 196
10.2 The Oneida Community, Mansion House, where Noyes
and his followers practiced “complex marriage,” a marital
structure where each adult member was a spouse to every
other adult member 197
11.1 Participants in the Ghost Dance of 1890 believed that shirts
like this one rendered their wearers bulletproof 215
12.1 Phrenologists mapped out personality traits and dispositions
on the human head 232
12.2 Henry Wood’s affirmations for developing right habits for
thinking and believing 241
14.1 Billy Sunday with his wife and four children 267
14.2 Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 268
14.3 Billy Sunday with his wife and four children 271
14.4 Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 271
15.1 Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X represented two
divergent attitudes on how best to realize civil rights
for African-Americans 293
16.1 Hasidic Jewish men 312
16.2 Healing room 318
16.3 Healing room testimonials 318
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How to Use This Book
Think of this book as a kaleidoscope, with four sections, each divided into four parts.
The book can be opened and read as it is, following each section in chronological
order, or turned to follow one topic, and then another, across chronological periods.
The book will reward readers who take the time to read it in both ways. It will also
reward those who play with the structure and read it in their own ways.
Like the colorful shapes in a kaleidoscope, many of the events and people described
appear repeatedly, in different contexts and relationships to one another. This kaleido-
scopic approach reflects the interplay of religious traditions in American history, and
purposively avoids a mono-narrative in order to reveal multiple patterns and perspec-
tives. The book’s divisions into sections and topics provide an organizational frame-
work that readers can use to study religion’s significant role in American history. The
short introductory section to each chapter situates that chapter in the context of
others and broaches themes that are of particular importance in the chapter.
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Notes on Contributors
Candy Gunther Brown is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana
University at Bloomington.
John Corrigan is the Lucius Moody Bristol Distinguished Professor of Religion and
Professor of History at Florida State University.
Heather D. Curtis is an Assistant Professor of Religion at Tufts University.
Martha L. Finch is an Associate Professor of Religion at Southwest Missouri State
University
Robert Fuller is a Caterpillar Professor of Religion at Bradley University.
Tracy Neal Leavelle is an Associate Professor of History at Creighton University.
Charles H. Lippy is the LeRoy A. Martin Distinguished Professor of Religious
Studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Katherine Lofton is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies
at Yale University.
Stephen Marini is the Elisabeth Luce Moore Professor of Religion at Wellesley
College.
Kenneth P. Minkema teaches American Religious History at Yale University.
Mark A. Noll is the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of
Notre Dame.
Amanda Porterfield is the Robert A. Spivey Professor of Religion at Florida State
University.
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Notes on Contributors xi
Sarah Rivett is an Assistant Professor of English at Princeton University.
Jon Sensbach is Professor of History at the University of Florida.
Christopher White is an Assistant Professor of Religion at Vassar College.
Peter W. Williams is the Distinguished Professor of Comparative Religion and
American Studies at Miami University.
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