Early American Protestantism

Thesis If individuality and pluralism are valued in American religion, equally valued is religious experience. So, how do we see distinctively American patterns of religious experience?  Question: what is distinctive about American Protestant experience?  How does this contrast with other American religions? How does it shape other American religions?

First Amendment, U.S. Constitution “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”  No mention of God or Creator in Constitution: why not?  Does first amendment protect religion as much (or more) as it protects the state?

Changes, 1630s to 1800  Proliferation of alternatives increases value of separation of church and state for religious people  Yields unintentional tolerance (not necessarily engagement)  It “anticipated more clearly the shape that the faith would take in later development of the United States and Canada” (55).  Revivals increase importance of personal experience of God  focus on individual, unmediated experience of salvation  Institution secondary, if necessary at all

Proliferation of Alternatives Baptists: “The life of the church should not be governed by the state” (56)  In 1600s New England  In 1600s-1700s southern colonies: challenge to Anglicans  After Great Awakening Rhode Island, Pennsylvania: Protestant Pluralism  Freedom of worship as a right, separation of church and state initiated: why?  Many minority groups: how to relate if there is no one majority? Non-church or para-church options weaken institutions  Leading founders and framers were often Deists  Revivals of (First) Great Awakening

Revivals of the Great Awakening (1730s-1740s) What is a revival?  Mass gathering (6,000-8,000) featuring an itinerant preacher not tied to a specific church community  Preaching focused on conversion, emotion New style; split clergy, seminaries, denominations  Later developments (Second Great Awakening) Altar call (early 1800s) Camp meeting

Results of Great Awakening Denominational shakeup and proliferation  Splits within denominations  Baptists, evangelicals emerge New model of religious leadership  Growth of lay activity; diminished elite clergy Beginnings of black churches  Autonomous; develop black leadership, empowerment Value on individual experience and “emotional personal faith”  Reaction to Enlightenment, Deism?