Content
Nathan O. Hatch makes sure that every reader knows his purpose for this book after the first sentence. “This book is about the cultural and religious history of the early American Republic and the enduring structures of American Christianity. It argues both that the theme of democratization is central to understanding the development of American Christianity, and that the years of the early Republic are the most crucial in revealing that process.”
Hatch’s entire argument hinges on the acceptance on one point. The point is that the American revolution provided not only independence from England, but also independence from a social hierarchy. By this he means that the abolishment of the control of the English throne also abolished the controlling forces in the church, such as the pope or church traditions as well. This lead to a mass movement of unorthodox denominations and churches rising from out of the ground. It was, in a sense, a new reformation not of theology of the church, but the structure of the church.
What Hatch tries to prove in the first couple chapters is that the era in which this second great awakening happened was the perfect time for all these new denominations to be springing out. It was a time when people were more interested in experience rather than orthodoxy. They were moving towards a life of Christianity rather than the words of it. He points out that Barton Stone was more interested in actions than words. He also points out another note that could be considered tangential, but it is a fundamental key of this entire era. The country during this time period was splitting and fracturing as the country was trying to find it’s identity, and what this democratization of Christianity brought was a sense of unity and morality to an chaotic time. It was a combination of the American spirit with church. Because of this, it created a passion that united people, even if they were not of the same denomination.
For his examples, Hatch looks at five distinct movements: the Christian movement, the Methodists, the Baptists, the black churches, and the Mormons. Throughout these different movements shows the spirit of America during the turn of the nineteenth century. A spirit where people scorned tradition and reveled novelty This ultimate effect on the church of this new desire was the replacement of orthodoxy with public opinion.
All of this change coincided with a time when print was exploding and people were trying to read as much as possible for the purpose of elevating themselves. Even though classes had seemed to have been eradicated in terms of it’s power in society over others, there was still a sense that education was a more nobler form of existence. This belief created an explosion in print and music as well.
Form and Function
The biggest strength of this book is it’s author. He understands what he is trying to do, and is explicit both in that intent as well as in what is not his intent. This provides clear guidelines not only for what he is trying to do, but what he can not be judged on for not doing. He carries this strength over into the organization of the book which is incredibly well organized and well presented. It’s basic formula is to tell what happened, then to give examples of how it happened, followed by who it happened to and how, and lastly how it had an impact on history.
This book is filled with example after example of him trying to illustrate his point, and he does so exceedingly well. The only issue I can find with the book is that sometimes his narrowness of view misses larger overall pictures. I think that he misses some of the influences of expansion into the western frontier and it’s effect on this mindset. The American attitude of “I can do anything” is derived from the pioneers who were forced to be able to do anything or else die. While that is not explicitly talked about, I could see hints of it in his writings. Whether or not he was cognizant of these allusions I am not sure, it just seems like there is another side of this story that was ignored.
Getting completely picky to find one negative, I would have to point out that Hatch also states that the greatest example of the Democratization of American Christianity was the ability for a African American to become a preacher. This is one of the few statements I find in this book that I find to be faulty. The truth of the matter is that African Americans were always the head of their own churches because they were the only ones in their churches. For true democratization to occur, the boundary lines of race would have had to have been crossed where an African American was preaching at a white congregation.
This book overall is impeccably well written with very straightforward goals and ambitions. Hatch does a remarkable job of achieving the goals that he sets out to do and he does it in a manner that is clear and concise while project a lot of information at the same time.
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Top reviews from other countries
Stan Mclean
Hatch. one of the very few Americans who has ...
Reviewed in Canada on November 30, 2014