The Democratization of American Christianity

by Nathan O. Hatch

Publisher:

Yale University Press

, 1989

Overview

In this provocative reassessment of religion and culture in the early days of the American republic, Nathan O. Hatch argues that during this period American Christianity was democratized and common people became powerful actors on the religious scene. Hatch examines five distinct traditions or mass movements that emerged early in the nineteenth century—the Christian movement, Methodism, the Baptist movement, the black churches, and the Mormons—showing how all offered compelling visions of individual potential and collective aspiration to the unschooled and unsophisticated.

Key Features

• Argues that during this period American Christianity was democratized.
• Examines five distinct traditions or mass movements emerged early in the nineteenth century.
• Adds popular religious culture to denominationalism.

Praise for The Democratization of American Christianity

Professor Hatch’s amply documented study captures a wide range of the many-sided demands for equality and freedom that have characterized American Protestant Christianity, and the disdain for deference and patronage—nowhere more so than among black preachers.... The Democratization of American Christianity constitutes vital reading for those who would understand just what experience of the United States has done to Christian belief and practice

—Bryan Wilson, Times Literary Supplement

This study sheds important new light on early American social history. It extends a central theme that historians have used to explain political history into a new arena. It offers fresh ideas about the development of the evangelical movement that are important for all students of history to understand. In short, this book makes an important new contribution to social history.

—Richard G. Miller, History: Reviews of New Books

A superb treatment of Christianity during the volatile period of the early American Republic, which every student of American religious history must read, savor, and incorporate into his or her thinking of American religion and culture.

—Timothy E. Fulop, Journal of the American Academy of Religion

Product Details

• Title: The Democratization of American Christianity
• Author: Nathan O. Hatch
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Print Publication Date: 1989
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Pages: 312
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: United States › Church history--19th century; Democracy › Religious aspects--Christianity--History of doctrines--19th century
• ISBNs: 9780300050608, 0300044704, 0300050607, 9780300044706
• Resource ID: LLS:DMCRTZTNCHRSTNT
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-01-15T22:32:24Z

About Nathan O. Hatch

Dr. Nathan O. Hatch served as President of Wake Forest University for 16 years and retired in 2021. While leading Wake Forest, U.S. News and World Report named Wake Forest 23rd among 281 national universities – the highest ever ranking for the University.

Dr. Hatch is an active leader in American higher education and in local and community affairs. He has served on the board of the American Council on Education and was Chair of the Division I Board of Directors of the NCAA. He is a past chair of the board of directors of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

Dr. Hatch grew up in Columbia, S.C., where his father was a Presbyterian minister. A graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois, he received his master’s and doctoral degrees from Washington University in St. Louis and held post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard and Johns Hopkins universities. He joined the faculty at Notre Dame in 1975. He was named provost, the university’s second highest-ranking position, in 1996; a Presbyterian, he was the first Protestant to ever serve in that position at Notre Dame.

He is regularly cited as one of the most influential scholars in the study of the history of religion in America. He received national acclaim for his 1989 book, The Democratization of American Christianity, in which he examines how the rise of religious groups in the early 19th century helped shape American culture and foster democracy. The book was chosen in a survey of 2,000 historians and sociologists as one of the two most important books in the study of American religion.