The Uneasy Center: Reformed Christianity in Antebellum America / Edition 1

by Paul K. Conkin

Overview

Distinguished intellectual historian Paul Conkin offers the first comprehensive examination of mainline Protestantism in America, from its emergence in the colonial era to its rise to predominance in the early nineteenth century and the beginnings of its gradual decline in the years preceding the Civil War. He clarifies theological traditions and doctrinal arguments and includes substantive discussions of institutional development and of the order and content of worship. Conkin defines Reformed Christianity broadly, to encompass Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Methodists, Calvinist Baptists, and all other denominations originating in the work of reformers other than Luther. He portrays growing unease and conflict within this center of American Protestantism before the Civil War as a result of doctrinal disputes (especially regarding salvation), scholarly and scientific challenges to evangelical Christianity, differences in institutional practices, and sectional disagreements related to the issue of slavery. Conkin grounds his study in a broad history of Western Christianity, and he integrates the South into his discussion, thereby offering a truly national perspective on the history of the Reformed tradition in America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807844922
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	02/20/1995
Edition description:	1
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.78(d)
Lexile:	1380L (what's this?)

About the Author

Paul K. Conkin is Distinguished Professor of History at Vanderbilt University. His books include Puritans and Pragmatists: Eight Eminent American Thinkers and Cane Ridge: America's Pentecost.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

The book is remarkably lucid and learned. It will influence us for a long time.—Church History

A masterly synthetic work that should be required for students of American cultural history.—Journal of American History

Paul K. Conkin has produced a textbook for mainstream American Protestantism which will find its way into classrooms for years to come, and has set a standard of clarity and insight which it would behoove all American religious historians to emulate.—Reviews in American History

Clear, balanced and richly informative, [the book] not only engages current scholarship but also offers fresh readings of the pivotal primary texts and contexts.—Christian Century

A learned, thoughtful synthesis by a major historian.—North Carolina Historical Review

This beautifully written and seamlessly structured book is a major addition to the study of religion in America. . . . It will inform and delight very advanced undergraduates, graduate students, scholars, and thoughtful laypeople and pastors.—Georgia Historical Quarterly

With its attention to historical context and theological content, Conkin's book provides an important contribution to the assessment of the significance of the Reformed tradition in American culture and the meaning of its doctrines and religious practices in American Christianity.—Walter H. Conser, Jr., University of North Carolina at Wilmington

A rare treat—a synoptic, fascinating, and splendidly written general treatment of reformed theology in America that is as intellectually acute as it is historically probing.—Jon Butler, Yale University

Editorial Reviews

Clear, balanced and richly informative.

"Christian Century"

"Clear, balanced and richly informative.

"Christian Century""

A masterly synthetic work that should be required for students of American cultural history.

"Journal of American History"

Conkin . . . has set a standard of clarity and insight which it would behoove all American religious historians to emulate.

"Reviews in American History"

The book is remarkably lucid and learned. It will influence us for a long time.

"Church History"

From the Publisher