Evangelizing the South
Subtitle: A Social History of Church and State in Early America
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Oxford University Press
Published: December 20, 2007
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 264
ISBN-13: 9780195309003
Subjects: Christian mission & evangelism; History of religion; Christian Ministry - Evangelism; Christianity - History - General; Sociology of Religion; Religion / Evangelism; Religion; Religion - Church History; Church and state; Church history; Social conditions; Southern States
Description: Monica Najar argues that early evangelicals successfully negotiated the various challenges of the eighteenth-century landscape by creating churches that functioned as civil as well as religious bodies. The evangelical church of the late eighteenth century was the cornerstone of its community, regulating marriages, monitoring prices, arbitrating business, and settling disputes. As the era experienced substantial rifts in the relationship between church and state, the disestablishment of colonial churches paved the way for new formulations of church-state relations. The evangelical churches were well-positioned to provide guidance in uncertain times, and their multiple functions allowed them to reshape many of the central elements of authority in southern society. They assisted in reformulating the lines between the "religious" and "secular" realms, with significant consequences for both religion and the emerging nation-state. -- Publisher description.