Title: Redeeming America
Description: In the absence of a state-supported religion, the years 1820-60 saw tremendous expansion and influence of the Evangelicals in the United States. Johnson discusses the many ways in which these Evangelical sects attempted to shape American society. Generally drawn along socioeconomic lines, there were three major groups: Formalists (Congregationalists, Presbyterians), Antiformalists (Methodists, Baptists), and the African American groupings. Johnson discusses in serviceable but tedious prose how these groups varied in their beliefs on biblical authority, rebirth, the Second Coming, and Perfectionism. Slavery also divided Southern from Northern Evangelicals. By the time of the Civil War, changes in American society had altered the character and composition of the Evangelicals, and they were never again as powerful.
Subjects: Evangelicalism, Religious aspects, United States Civil War, 1861-1865, Church history, History
Places: United States
Time periods: 19th century, Civil War, 1861-1865