History of American Christianity

History of American Christianity

Profile of the Nation • The Geography of the Nation • U.S. a land of small geographical beginnings. • Began as slender fringe of 13 states along the Atlantic coast who declared independence in 1776. • But the colonists actually inhabited a fringe of a fringe. • Settlement in Georgia was limited to the coastal lowlands and up one bank of the Savannah river.

Profile of the Nation • The Geography of the Nation • U.S. a land of small geographical beginnings. • Massachusetts’ district of Maine was mostly wilderness. • Western Virginia above the Shenandoah was unsettled. • Central, western, and northern New York had not been opened to settlement. • By 1840 13 more states—mostly east of the Mississippi River—had been added to the new nation.

Profile of the Nation • The Geography of the Nation • Earlier, 1889 & 1890, the empty spaces of the northern frontier had been filled when the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, and Washington were added. • Utah remained a missing patch until 1896. • Not until 1959 did Alaska & Hawaii become part of the US.

Profile of the Nation • The Ethnography of the Nation • At the outset the US was also limited in the diversity of its population. • At the end of the colonial period the white population was 85% from the British Isles. • By the late 20th c. the US population was drawn from every continent and almost every country in the world. • 27 million had distant antecedents in Africa.

Profile of the Nation • The Ethnography of the Nation • Much more recent are the 15,000,000 Hispanics. • Mexican (8,700,000) • Puerto Rican (2,000,000) • Cubans (800,000) • Rest from other Latin American countries. • Texas: In 1845 admitted as a state, the Mexican population was far outnumbered by the newer arrivals.

Profile of the Nation • The Ethnography of the Nation • 1850 census reported a Texas population of 212,595 with the note that annexation “only brought back into the Union those who had migrated thither a short time before.” • So, it was left to California to introduce an established Spanish presence into the nation. • In this land of minorities, in addition to the Scots, Welsh, English and Irish, major segments of the population were drawn from every area of Europe.

Profile of the Nation • The Ethnography of the Nation • Descendants of the early French Huguenots constitute a remote French Connection. • 4 million Americans are from east & south Asia and the Pacific islands. • A medley of peoples also have come from the Near East or the Middle East. • And, returning to the beginning, 1 ½ million Native Indians remain on the periphery of the “white man’s world.”

Profile of the Nation • From Religious Diversity to Pluralism • There was diversity from the beginning but mostly in terms of a common faith diversely expressed. • By the 20th c., however, the diversity was so expanded that it was renamed “pluralism” as a term more apt description of a nation become a sampler for all the religions of the globe.

Profile of the Nation • From Religious Diversity to Pluralism • Apart from obvious concentrations of specific religious groups in early NE, Penn & Virginia, differences within and between separate denominations were not so noticeable in the early years of the republic. • Traveling itinerants in the colonial period, including “the grand itinerant,” George Whitefield, blurred the boundaries between the colonies and often between the churches.

Profile of the Nation • From Religious Diversity to Pluralism • It was not until the 1830s that a north side and a south side of religion began to develop and to divide the republic. • In spite of this cleavage, Protestants north & south in the 1850s were able to join in sponsoring “union prayer meetings.” • Real rel. pluralism began to emerge in a small way with the innovating groups produced by the indigenous religious ferment of the 1830s & 1840s.

Profile of the Nation • From Religious Diversity to Pluralism • From outside, the mounting ride of immigration from abroad following the revolutions of 1830 & 1848 (and the Irish potato famine) were crucial. • Immigration increased decade by decade until it reached its peak in the years preceding the outbreak of war in 1914. • Finally, the full spectrum of religious belief became apparent with the major influx of peoples from Asia after WW II.

Profile of the Nation • Regionalism in Religion • Following the Civil War regional differences in religious faith were accentuated. • The old South remained a bastion of an evangelical Protestantism untouched by changing patterns brought about by growing urbanization and immigration. • Immigration also created enclaves of Catholics and Lutherans that became “empires”—centers of predominant regional strength. • The concentration of Lutherans in Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas is an example of such regional strength.

Profile of the Nation • Regionalism in Religion • There were also urban areas of Jewish and Roman Catholic concentration. • By 1950 the most tightly knit regional religious bastion was the intramountain Mormon empire that had spilled over from Utah to neighboring states. • Some historians cite southern Appalachia as an example of regional religion. • The mountains isolated the area from outside influence. • So that, in the 20th c., holiness & pentecostal preachers found a ready harvest there.

Profile of the Nation • Regionalism in Religion • The Pacific coast, esp. California, is another example. • In the 1920s & 1930s it gained a reputation as the new “burned over district.” • A profusion of religious novelties flourished; interest in the new and exotic spread up and down the coast. • Why? Perhaps the infusion of ethnic groups from many parts of the world? • Perhaps they were more far-removed and cut off from former religious traditions.

Profile of the Nation • Regionalism in Religion • Why? Perhaps the influx of refugees from the “dust bowl” in the 1930s helped bring about a pervasive restless and rootless spirit. • Perhaps the impact of immigrants from the Orient helped develop receptivity to religious novelty. • Hispanics (Chicanos) and Asians after WW II added another element to an already cosmopolitan region. • Perhaps the attractive power of Hollywood helped set the tone.

Profile of the Nation • Pluralism & Regionalism Not Whole Story • Despite regionalism & pluralism, at a deeper level was an underlying unity. • Churches of many kinds were Americanized (reduced to a common pattern) in many ways. • Was a “national faith”—belief in providence & the mission of America—shared by Catholics and Jews as well as Protestants. • Some would say that this “national faith” allowed Martin Luther King to touch the conscience of much of the nation with the civil rights movement.

The American Context • There is little that Americans can claim as exclusively our own. • Our language • Our tables of weights & measures • Our familiar proverbs and nursery rhymes • Even after our independence we remained a part of a larger society--- • Reading European poets • Studying their philosophers • Listening to their composers • In almost every respect we have been a part of Europe—in religion as in literature, law, philosophy, art or science.

The American Context • The religious heritage link to the British Isles is immediately apparent to the visitor. • In any English city one passes Anglican (Episcopal), Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Roman Catholic churches. • May also find a Quaker meetinghouse, see the Salvation Army on the street, or be handed a Plymouth Brethren tract. • But American churches have also come from German, Dutch, etc., Reformed churches and from the Mennonites, Moravians and others from Europe. • More recent than the above is the immigration from central and eastern Europe that has swelled the RC and Jewish populations in the US.

The American Context • England: Bridge from the Old to the New • The most obvious condition factor in American religious life has been its English beginnings. • The 13 colonies were English colonies. • The vast proportion of the population was of English stock. • The Amer. Rev. was fought—so the colonists said—to defend and preserve their rights as Englishmen. • 1. Protestant Predominance. • English meant first that they would be predominately Protestant in background. • Even the non-English minorities were almost wholly Protestant. • Only in Maryland were there many RCs, and still a minority. • Only with 19th c. immigration did RCs become numerically significant. • As a consequence, even non-Protestant groups tended to take on a somewhat Protestant coloration in America.

The American Context • England: Bridge from the Old to the New • 1. Protestant Predominance. • As a consequence, even non-Protestant groups tended to take on a somewhat Protestant coloration in America. • The earnest “moralism” of American RCs has often been attributed to the influence of Protestant culture. • This often brought charges of undue “Americanism” from European Catholics, which implied adoption of Protestant presuppositions. • Reform Judaism adopted even the forms of Protestant Sunday worship. • 2. The Puritan Heritage. • American Protestantism was English Prot. with a difference. • At home the majority was Anglican; Pres., Baptists, etc., were in the minority. • In America, this was reversed.

The American Context • England: Bridge from the Old to the New • 2. The Puritan Heritage. • American Protestantism was English Prot. with a difference. • The character of Amer. Prot. was largely the common faith of English Puritanism. • The American people have had their fundamental rootage in a Puritanism which they have found most easy to identify in terms of New England. • Philip Schaff (1844)—”The reigning theology of the country . . . is the theology of the Westminster Confession.” • Schaff’s only error may have been in identifying Puritan influence so exclusively with New England. • Presbyterians shared the Puritan theology. • Baptists had also adopted a modified form of the Westminster Confession as their statement of faith. • Even American Anglicanism has been described as Calvinistic Low Church Anglicanism.

The American Context • England: Bridge from the Old to the New • 3. Religious Diversity. • That the colonies were English explains the multiplicity of religious bodies. • By contrast there would have been uniformity in French or Spanish domains. • A deliberate policy of religious toleration was adopted by English colonial authorities. • In no colony other than Virginia was there an attempt to impose a pattern of religious uniformity. • One important factor determining the tolerant attitude was the economic advantage to be gained by toleration. • Those who suffered from disabilities at home could be induced to leave the homeland for the prospect of greater freedom abroad.

The American Context • England: Bridge from the Old to the New • 3. Religious Diversity. • The policy of toleration was clear in the grants made to Lord Baltimore and William Penn. • But, the clearest statement is in communication from the Lords of Trade in London to the Council of Virginia: “A free exercise of religion . . . is essential to enriching and improving a trading nation; it should be ever held sacred in His Majesty’s colonies.”

The American Context • A New Beginning in a New Land • The necessities and opportunities of life in the New World brought changes of emphasis and modifications of practice. • Leaders of the churches found themselves far more dependent upon the laity and therefore forced to concede to the laity far great powers than had been true at home. • The vast sea between the Old and New Worlds removed many inhibitions, leaving them free to experiment. • The mere fact that a new beginning could be made often produced the attitude that the changes were “the Lord’s doing.”

The American Context • A New Beginning in a New Land • 1. The Importance of the Laity. • The Protestant Reformation’s emphasis on the priesthood of believers and the appeal to scripture tended to elevate the laity. • But further, making a new beginning in the New World often meant that the individual clergyman had to recruit their own congregations out of a population that was largely unchurched. • They had to enlist support among the laity both for the formation and maintenance of the congregations they served. • Laity began to exercise a decisive voice in church affairs because everything was dependent on a vote of the majority.

The American Context • A New Beginning in a New Land • 1. The Importance of the Laity. • A consequence of lay predominance in church affairs was the strong support that was given to what was later described as “local autonomy.” • In Virginia (and other southern colonies) where the laity gained control of local “vestries,” there was vigorous opposition to the attempt to establish an episcopate in America. • So, whatever the denomination and whatever the polity that was professed, all colonial churches tended to be characterized by a strong emphasis upon local autonomy and lay control.

The American Context • A New Beginning in a New Land • 2. The Breakdown of the Parish System. • Conditions in the New World also caused the breakdown of the parish system of organization and the transformation of the churches into “gathered” churches. • For almost 1000 years in western Europe it had been assumed that every member of society was also a member of the church. • Within the larger society, for the purposes of worship, instruction and discipline, people were divided geographically into parishes. • This was the basic unit of church life, established and maintained by the state. • This was a marked contrast to a self-supporting congregation whose membership was defined by voluntary affiliation. • Only in Virginia and in NE did a parish system, designed to embrace the whole community, function with any success.

The American Context • A New Beginning in a New Land • 2. The Breakdown of the Parish System. • While the practice in most areas for generations, by the early national period the necessity was laid on the churches to win support and gain recruits by voluntary means. • No longer could they depend on people being automatically members of the church and subject to its discipline. • Churches had to utilize all their powers of persuasion if they were to maintain and perpetuate themselves. • The methods they devised were many and varied: revivals, mission societies, Sunday schools, publication of tracts, etc.

The American Context • A New Beginning in a New Land • 3. The Possibility of Thoroughgoing Reform • It is not surprising that religious radicals and left-wing groups should have come to the New World in large numbers. • The non-established churches of Europe naturally welcomed the opportunity to make a new beginning free from the restraints they had at home. • This was the attraction that enticed the Mennonites and Moravians to risk the hazards of beginning life in the American wilderness. • It was also what appealed to a hardy band of Pilgrims who settled at Plymouth in 1620. • William Penn could never have launched his “holy experiment” in England. • He had to begin anew where there was “room.” • America was for all such groups was a land of opportunity where there was a “wide door of liberty.”

The American Context • A New Beginning in a New Land • 4. The Sense of Expectancy • A new beginning breeds an eager expectancy. • The specific understanding of the past that illumined God’s activity in the present and which had been made the common possession of all Englishmen was John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. • Building on Foxe’s understanding they pictured their venture in the new world as “an errand into the wilderness.” • Their role, said John Winthrop, was to be “a city set on a hill” to demonstrate before “the eyes of the world” what the result would be when a whole people was brought into open covenant with God.

The American Context • A New Beginning in a New Land • 4. The Sense of Expectancy • They were to provide the world with a working model of a godly society. • William Penn was just as convinced that God intended his “holy experiment” to be an “example to the nations.” • This understanding of the decisive role America was to have was popularized in the 18th c. by the leaders of the Great Awakening. • Jonathan Edwards saw the Awakening as proof that God’s final work of redemption would begin in America. • This mood of eager expectancy was to continue to be characteristic of American religious life.

The American Context • A New Beginning in a New Land • 5. The Outsiders • There were two segments of the population which were unable to share the eager expectation. • The native Americans quickly became strangers in the land. • In similar fashion captives brought from Africa as slaves were outsiders who had little reason to view the future as pregnant with the possibility of all things being made new. • Some Indian missions were successful, but this was not the typical outcome of the encounter between the colonist and the first Americans. • A few Blacks gained visibility in churches of their own around the time of the Revolution. • But in large part a century and a half elapsed before native Americans or Blacks became real participants.

The American Context • Transplanted Churches • Where to start? • The most satisfactory solution would seem to be to provide a survey of the founding and the religious complexion of each of the colonies. • Then, to deal with each of the English-speaking denominations in roughly chronological order before giving attention to the significant, but much less numerous, groups of Continental origin.

The American Context • Transplanted Churches • Religious Characteristics of the Different Colonies • The 13 colonies came into being as a result of 2 great waves of English colonizing separated by 20 years (1640-1660) of English civil wars and Cromwell’s reign. • Virginia, the NE colonies and Maryland, were products of the early years. • After 1660 the region between NE and Maryland on the coast was closed by the capture of New Netherlands (New York) from the Dutch in 1664 and the founding of New Jersey in 1674 & of Penn & Delaware in 1681 & 1682. • The southern frontier was extended by the settlement of Charleston in 1670; this was later divided into the royal colonies of South & North Carolina.

The American Context • Transplanted Churches • Religious Characteristics of the Different Colonies • Georgia, the last of the 13 colonies, was founded in 1733. • The Southern Colonies. • 1. Virginia, the earliest, was unique in several respects. • Only there did the Anglicans have a clear majority. • Only there was Anglicanism established from the beginning. • Only there was conformity to the Church of England enforced. • Repeated legislation required everyone to attend church. • Not always enforced but the intention was that there would be no toleration of dissent. • Quakers arrived as early as 1660, the threat to Anglican predominance came later as new population flowed into areas beyond the tidewater region.

The American Context • Transplanted Churches • Religious Characteristics of the Different Colonies • Georgia, the last of the 13 colonies, was founded in 1733. • The Southern Colonies. • 1. Virginia. • Many of the new settlers to the Shenandoah area were Scots from northern Ireland. • The potential Presbyterian strength from the Scotch-Irish was marshaled effectively by Samuel Davies, who was later president of Princeton. • From 1754 the preaching of Shubal Stearns brought phenomenal growth among the Baptists. • Anglicanism suffered because of its identification with the ruling aristocracy from the tidewater region.

The American Context • Transplanted Churches • Religious Characteristics of the Different Colonies • Georgia, the last of the 13 colonies, was founded in 1733. • The Southern Colonies. • 2. North & South Carolina, Georgia. • Religiously, these 3 colonies had little in common with Anglicanism beyond a nominal establishment of A. as the official faith. • Religious toleration was granted from the first and the population was not homogeneous. • In NC settlement was haphazard; early settlers were runaway servants from Virginia. • For a time Quakers were the largest group. • Later the Scotch-Irish migration down the Appalachian chain brought Presbyterian strength.

The American Context • Transplanted Churches • Religious Characteristics of the Different Colonies • Georgia, the last of the 13 colonies, was founded in 1733. • The Southern Colonies. • 2. North & South Carolina, Georgia. • Baptists were active and growing by the later colonial period. • Strong German areas (Lutheran & Moravian) were found in NC and Georgia. • Only in SC was there significant Anglican strength south of Virginia. • 3. Maryland. • M. had many affinities with the middle colonies, both geographic and otherwise.

The American Context • Transplanted Churches • Religious Characteristics of the Different Colonies • 3. Maryland. • Was founded in 1634 by the second Lord Baltimore. • He was Roman Catholic and was as interested in finding a place where RCs to settle as in making the colony financially profitable. • For both reasons he followed a forthright policy of religious toleration. • For the first couple of decades RCs were the only ones who benefited from the toleration. • The non-RCs were Anglicans and it was an English colony who “supreme governor” was the Eng. king.

The American Context • Transplanted Churches • Religious Characteristics of the Different Colonies • 3. Maryland. • The RCs were a minority of even the first group that sailed for the new colony; in order not to jeopardize the charter they were to give no offense to the Protestants. • On shipboard “all acts of the Roman Catholic religion” were “to be done as privately as may be” and they were to be “silent upon all occasion of discourse concerning matters of religion.” • By 1677 both RCs and Anglicans were reported to be minorities by comparison to Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptists and Quakers. • By 1702 Anglicanism was established, though the rights of other minorities were to be safeguarded.

The American Context • Transplanted Churches • Religious Characteristics of the Different Colonies • 3. The New England Colonies. • Plymouth, the first NE colony, was almost immediately overshadowed by and in 1691 absorbed into Massachusetts Bay Colony. • Its religious history differed little from its larger neighbor. • Both were established by Puritans (Congregationalists): • Plymouth by separatists. • Massachusetts Bay by non-separatists. • But the difference in the New World was not of great importance. • In 1629, when life became difficult under William Laud (later Archbishop of Canterbury), a group of non-separatists obtained a charter from Charles I.

The American Context • Transplanted Churches • Religious Characteristics of the Different Colonies • 3. The New England Colonies. • For some reason the usual clause in the charter requiring headquarters to be in Eng. and under immediate control of the king was omitted. • With both charter and the entire company in America, the effect was in effect an independent republic. • It was not until 1684 that the original charter was revoked and a royal governor appointed. • With such freedom, the early MB settlers were in no mood to permit dissent. • As early as 1635 the first of a long succession of heresy trials imposing banishment for dissent was held.

The American Context • Transplanted Churches • Religious Characteristics of the Different Colonies • 3. The New England Colonies. • But conformity was difficult to enforce and the loss of a charter made it impossible to proceed independently of English authority. • In 1687 the Royal Governor forced the Puritans to permit the Old South meetinghouse to be utilized for Anglican worship. • New Hampshire was little more than an extension of MB. • This was also largely true of Connecticut and the smaller colony of New Haven that it later incorporated. • Rhode Island was different.

The American Context • Transplanted Churches • Religious Characteristics of the Different Colonies • 3. The New England Colonies. • Rhode Island was different. • It had become a refuge for many of those expelled for religious dissent, e.g., Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. • Fearing the leading of God’s spirit would be corrupted by sinful man, Williams pushed for complete religious freedom. • On this basis he was successful in bringing together dissimilar religious groups to form the colony of Rhode Island. • Baptists were initially the largest group, but were eventually surpassed by the Quakers.

The American Context • Transplanted Churches • Religious Characteristics of the Different Colonies • 3. The Middle Colonies. • When the English took over New Netherlands (New York) in 1664, the colony had the greatest variety of religions in America. • The Dutch Reformed church was the largest single group and continued through the 1600s to have more adherents than all other groups combined. • But, there were also French Calvinists, German Lutherans, Puritans from NE, Quakers, Mennonites, Baptists, some RCs and a few Jews. • English governors considered Dutch Reformed ministers to be entitled to support from public funds, but the policy of toleration was continued.

The American Context • Transplanted Churches • Religious Characteristics of the Different Colonies • 3. The Middle Colonies. • New Jersey had a checkered development. • To attract more settlers, laws provided for freedom of conscience. • In 1674 West NJ was sold to two Quakers who let William Penn become one of the proprietors. • It was not until 1702, when it became a royal colony, that the two sections were reunited. • Delaware was purchased by William Penn from the Duke of York in 1682 and was administered jointly with Pennsylvania until given a separate Assembly in 1704.

History of American Christianity