The Democratization of American Christianity 0300050607, 9780300050608

Table of contents :
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
I. CONTEXT
1. Introduction: Democracy and Christianity
The Church in an Age of Democratic Revolution
A Passion for Equality
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
Inversion of Authority
II. MASS MOVEMENTS
3. Storming Heaven by the Back Door
Wreckers, Architects, and Builders
The Withering of Establishments
“A Sea of Sectarian Rivalries”
4. Thundering Legions
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
5. The Sovereign Audience
The Triumph of Vernacular Preaching
Creating a Mass Religious Culture in Print
Inventing American Gospel Music
6. The Right to Think for Oneself
The Quest for the Ancient Order
The Crusade against Calvinist Orthodoxy and Control
Sola Scriptura
America, Democracy, and the Millennium
IV. LEGACY
7. Upward Aspiration and Democratic Dissent
The Leaven of Democratic Persuasions
The Allure of Respectability
Firebrands of Democracy
8. Epilogue: The Recurring Populist Impulse in American Chstianity
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