Synopses & Reviews
This richly detailed study of the rise of American Methodism and its social and cultural impact focuses on Methodist religious practice. Schneider shows how the forms of Methodist social religion laid the foundation for the adoption by many white middle-class Christians of an ideology of evangelical domesticity. Through practices such as class meetings and love feasts, Methodism cultivated a piety of self-sacrifice and strong individual moral agency. This individualistic piety thrived, nevertheless, in a deeply affectionate religious community understood as a family set against the world. This metaphorical family of God became the model for literal families in an ideology of the Christian home. Eventually the activities of the domestic circle superseded practices such as the class meeting as the preferred means to nurture Christian piety. Schneider describes from within the piety that fueled the growth and spread of institutions, the enlargement of memberships, and the emergence of strong leaders. He describes how Methodism replaced a model of family based on the sovereignty of the patriarch with a model based on a sacred circle of affection, thus influencing the place of women in society. His book is a deeply rewarding analysis that connects the inner life of a major religious group to an important aspect of American culture.
Synopsis
..". a seminal study of early 19th-century American Methodist theology and piety. It also presents an innovative and supple model for analyzing 19th-century religion in general." --Christian Century
..". an immensely insightful, probing, sophisticated, provocative essay of Methodism in transition... " --The Journal of Religion
..". a provocative contribution to revisionist interpretations of the history of American Methodism" --Methodist History
"A. Gregory Schneider has written an extraordinary book on early Methodism in the Ohio Valley. He made excellent use of social and psychological theories of identity and group behavior to shed new light on a much-studied religious movement." --Journal of American History
"Schneider has significantly enriched our understanding of American religion." --The Catholic Historical Review
" An] imaginative, brilliant, and profound case study of American Methodism.... Schneider's reading of Methodist discourse provides a truly innovative way of thinking about nineteenth-century American faith, gender, family, and culture." --Donald G. Mathews, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
This richly detailed study of the rise of American Methodism and its social and cultural impact focuses on Methodist religious practice. Schneider shows how the forms of Methodist social religion laid the foundation for the adoption by many white middle-class Christians of an ideology of evangelical domesticity.
Synopsis
"... a seminal study of early 19th-century American Methodist theology and piety. It also presents an innovative and supple model for analyzing 19th-century religion in general."
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [242]-252) and index.
About the Author
A. GREGORY SCHNEIDER is a Professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at Pacific Union College.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Catherine L. Albanese and Stephen J. Stein
Preface
Introduction: The Rise of Methodism and Domesticity
1. Patriarchy and the Culture of Honor
2. Republicanism and Reform
3. Migration: Persistence and Change
4. Experimental Religion and the Way of the Cross
5. The Salvation Machine and the Subversion of Patriarchy
6. Discipline and the Rhetoric of Separation
7. Fellowship and the Rhetoric of Testimony
8. Methodist Identity: The Way of the Cross versus the Culture of Honor
9. The Family of God
10. Ritualizing Families for God
11. The Christian Home in the Republic
12. Icons of Holiness and Instruments of Morality: Women in Their Sphere and Beyond It
13. The Family of God Gives Ground to the Salvation Machine
Notes
Bibliography
Index