Citizens of Zion: The Social Origins of Camp Meeting RevivalismUniv. of Tennessee Press, 1999 - 306 páginas One of America's most enduring forms of public worship, the camp meeting had its beginnings at the dawn of the nineteenth century during the "Great Revival" that swept the newly settled regions of the young republic. Camping out at religious gatherings brought people from diverse backgrounds into close and sustained contact, creating a small society governed by religious harmony. The culmination of this phenonenon came in 1801 at Cane Ridge Presbyterian meetinghouse in Kentucky, where more than ten thousand people gathered for a week of worship and fellowship. To trace the origins of the camp meeting, Ellen Eslinger follows Kentucky's development from its initial settlement in 1775 to the eve of the Great Revival. She describes how a region first characterized by border warfare during the Revolution quickly cast off its frontier beginnings. Even so, she demonstrates, settlers found it difficult to cope with challenges posed by economic competition, political partisanship, and cultural conflict. In this time of uncertainty, camp meetings brought a restored sense of community attachment, merging Christian and republican ideals to create a new model of American society. Citizens of Zion does more than explain a particular instance of religious revivalism; it explores the creation of a new form of worship that enabled people to relate more comfortably to a changing society through an intense collective experience. It explains how early camp meeting revivalism--as exemplified by the Cane Ridge gathering--differed significantly from both earlier evangelical forms and later manifestations. Camp meeting revivalism, Eslinger shows, eventually came to reflect the emerging liberal culture, but its early years reveal it as an important mechanism for reintegration into a rapidly transforming world. The Author: Ellen Eslinger is associate professor of history at DePaul University. |
Contenido
Settlement | 1 |
Development | 29 |
A Best Poor Mans Country? | 57 |
Ordering a Heterogeneous Society | 79 |
A New Political Culture | 107 |
Western Settlement and National Policy | 137 |
Spiritual Conditions on the Eve of Revival | 162 |
The Great Revival | 185 |
The Social Significance of Camp Meeting Revivalism | 213 |
Notes | 242 |
Bibliographic Essay | 297 |
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
Citizens of Zion: The Social Origins of Camp Meeting Revivalism Ellen Eslinger Sin vista previa disponible - 1999 |
Términos y frases comunes
According acres American appeared Association Baptists became Bourbon County Breckinridge called camp meeting Cane Ridge century Christian church claimed Clark Collection committees common congregations constitution court culture dated democratic Draper Coll early effect election evangelical example experience falling Family followed frontier George History House hundred important included Indian inhabitants Innes interest interview James John justice Kentuckians Kentucky Gazette Kentucky's land late later less letter Lexington Lyle major McGready Mercer County Methodist ministers Nicholas North noted occurred Ohio participants period Pioneer political population practice preaching Presbyterian present Press probably problem records region religion religious remained reported Revival River Rogers sacramental occasion seemed settled settlement settlers Shelby slavery slaves Smith social Society soon Spirit Stone Strode's Station Thomas tion Travels Univ Virginia West western York