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Keepers of the covenant : frontier missions and the decline of Congregationalism, 1774-1818

Author: James R Rohrer
Publisher: New York : Oxford University Press, 1995.
Series: Religion in America series (Oxford University Press)
Edition/Format:   Book : Biography : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:
In 1774 the Congregationalists were the largest religious group in America; by 1830 they ranked only fourth. Scholars have advanced various explanations for this decline. Most commonly, they have blamed an elite, reactionary clergy unable to adapt themselves to the democratizing culture of the western migration. This book challenges the reductiveness of that traditional interpretation. With hundreds of letters,  Read more...
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Details

Material Type: Biography
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: James R Rohrer
ISBN: 0195091663 9780195091663
OCLC Number: 30892132
Description: x, 201 p. ; 25 cm.
Series Title: Religion in America series (Oxford University Press)
Responsibility: James R. Rohrer.
More information:

Abstract:

In 1774 the Congregationalists were the largest religious group in America; by 1830 they ranked only fourth. Scholars have advanced various explanations for this decline. Most commonly, they have blamed an elite, reactionary clergy unable to adapt themselves to the democratizing culture of the western migration. This book challenges the reductiveness of that traditional interpretation. With hundreds of letters, diaries, field reports, and sermons at his disposal, James Rohrer examines the background and evangelistic style of the frontier missionaries to show that Congregational missionaries took the frontier seriously, adapting themselves to its requirements. They failed to flourish numerically, Rohrer argues, in part because they were too demanding in their ideal of the pure church. This finding flies in the face of the currently fashionable theory that strict, sectarian groups thrive precisely because they are stricter and more sectarian. As the first full-length treatment of the Congregationalist response to frontier democracy, Keepers of the Covenant will interest church historians and students of early republican America, as well as sociologists and anyone concerned with the decline of the Protestant mainline.

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