American Church History

Socio-Historians of Christianity from within and without white evangelical movements and churches have identified the place of Heterosexuality, family and sexual ethics as one of the central pillars of the Evangelical Church (e.g. Sophie Bjork-James, Kristin Kobe Du Mez, Frances Fitzgerald, Katherine Steward and Tanya Erzen). With the emergence of LGBTQIA+ exposure within the wider cultural landscape, evangelical faith leaders, academics and theologians have begun to call out the inculturation of evangelicalism with a heteronormative gospel. Amidst the ensuring culture war, visions and revisions for theology, pastoral care and cultural engagement has been lobbied in our cyber-spaces; shibboleths of orthodoxy has been set by denominational leaders; and the re-emergence of a politicised faith has caused major disruptions to the life and faith of every day believers. This paper is an evangelical practical theology that assesses and critiques key historical moments in the life of the Evangelical church in America from the rise of the religious right in the late 1970s to the emergence of Revoice. In so doing so, it aims to continue the investigation of whether churches are shaping culture or whether culture is shaping the church. Ultimately, it seeks to provide best practice through historical and theological analysis for Ecclesiology, pastoral care and missiology.

Conventional understandings of Catholicism, especially the claim that the pope held temporal power over all civil rulers, presented a signal challenge to early American Catholics’ civil and religious liberty. Yet reform-minded Catholics in the North Atlantic world asserted their independence from the temporal powers of external authorities, including the pope. Catholics who participated in the American founding, such as Charles Carroll of Carrollton and John Carroll, drew from an intellectual tradition of conciliarism that was rooted in Catholic thought yet compatible with republicanism. The Carrolls’ public support of the nation’s foundational documents and their development of the American Catholic Church presented to the broader political and religious public a Catholic tradition that advocated not only a republican view of temporal independence but also a juridical, nonhierarchical understanding of church and state. Catholics of this sort were not a foil to American religious and political arrangements; instead, they fit their beliefs within the ideologies of the American founding and thereby answered Protestant charges that Catholics should be legally penalized. These conclusions offer compelling reasons to include the conciliarist tradition within the “multiple traditions approach” of American founding historiography.

The textile and religious legacy of a Huguenot family in upstate South Carolina. Published in The Huguenot Herald 23 (Spring 2013): 5. For more about the roots of the Lanneau family see "Exploring the Huguenot Legacy in South Carolina," published in Presbyterion: Covenant Seminary Review, 40 (Fall 2014): 14-26.
https://www.academia.edu/9810072/Exploring_the_Huguenot_Legacy_in_South_Carolina_How_an_Exiled_French_Acadian_Family_Made_Baptist_and_Presbyterian_History

Contemporary societies have myriad reasons to be grateful for the modern innovations that allow for the eradication of the scourge of smallpox, which left its mark in nearly every part of the world for millennia. Even as far back as the time of Marcus Aurelius, the disease wreaked havoc, as some scholars have inferred that the "Antonine Plague" of 166 a.d. was most likely a smallpox epidemic. 1 Similarly, the "Mecca epidemic" of smallpox in 572 a.d. spread to Europe as a result of Arab invasions during that time, subsequently spreading from there to the known world. 2 More recently (and perhaps most infamously), the colonists who first came to America brought smallpox to the Continent, which is assumed by many historians to have been the likely culprit for much of the disease and death experienced by the Native American populations. 3 It was not until the tenth century a.d. that the physician Muhammad Ibn Zakariya al-Razi (known as Rhazes) first clearly diagnosed smallpox, distinguished it from measles, and recommended various treatment methods such as bloodletting. 4 Rhazes's treatments and diagnosis were immensely influential, and were followed and utilized by European doctors for nearly a thousand years after his death. For

The experience of revivalism in American Church History as it was expressed in the ecclesiastical tensions of doctrinal orthodoxy of the nineteenth century is reflected acutely in the Cumberland controversy arising out of the famous Cane Ridge Revival.  This revival established new denominations and religious communities that were uniquely American with new theological distinctives.  This paper is a study of this conflict and the emerging influence of moderate Calvinism as America expands westward in frontier expansion.

The fascinating story of the Acadian orphan who became the patriarch of the Lanneau family in South Carolina. Published in Presbyterion: Covenant Seminary Review, 40 (Fall 2014): 14-26. An expansion of  "Bazile Lanneau of Charleston, S.C." published in Transactions of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina,, No. 118 (2014): 16-21. See also the author's article on the Lanneaus published in The Huguenot Herald:
https://www.academia.edu/9810259/The_Laneaus_of_Charleston_and_Greenville_S.C

For a tour of the churches of Charleston from the founding thro' the 19th century see
https://www.academia.edu/13430580/Illustrated_Booklet_of_the_Historic_Churches_of_Charleston_South_Carolina

Kate Bowler and Wen Reagan. 2014. "Bigger, Better, Louder: The Prosperity Gospel’s Impact on Contemporary Christian Worship." Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation, Vol. 24, Issue 2, pp. 186-230.

This article makes several claims about the relationship between praise and worship music and prosperity megachurches. First, it argues that the prosperity gospel has had a significant impact on contemporary worship music in America owing to its leadership in the twin rise of the megachurch and televangelism. Second, beginning in the 1990s, prosperity megachurches pioneered forms of worship music mimicking “arena rock” that capitalized on both the scale of their sanctuaries and the sophistication of their audio/visual production. The result was a progression toward music that would be a liturgy of timing, lighting, volume and performance designed for large venues. Finally, prosperity megachurches were ideally situated to benefit from this new music, both in the music industry and in their theology. Prosperity megachurches partnered with the expanding worship industry in the creation of new worship music, while the prosperity gospel theologically undergirded the affective power and performative pageantry of Christian arena rock, narrating worship music as a tool for releasing spiritual forces of prosperity. The result was a Sunday experience for the blessed that reinforced the celebration of God’s abundant blessings through music that was bigger, better, and louder.

A chronological presentation of the historic churches of Charleston with photos and historical notations. In three parts: I. The churches at the founding, 1680-1696; II. New churches in the 18th century; III. The churches in the 19th century. Includes denominational index with status of original and current church building.  Corrected from an earlier version with the assistance of Harriott Cheves Leland, Researcher, The Huguenot Society of South Carolina. Appended to the photo directory are (1) a chronological index and (2) a denominational index of all the churches with addresses.

This paper analyzes the character of the two churches involved with the 1968 formation of the United Methodist Church, and questions whether or not the two bodies were actually alike enough to fit together.  The author contends that Evangelical United Brethren had a much more conservative, evangelical character than the Methodists and had retained much of the Pietist flavor long eschewed by the Methodists.

Modernity stared back at J. Gresham Machen with indifference and continued its ceaseless roar. Machen listened to New York City's cacophony and contemplated the "gigantic, bizarre, and magnificently ugly" spectacle below, as he leaned over the edge of the 122 nd floor of the Empire State Building. Although he acknowledged the impressive realities it symbolized, the city in 1931 seemed to him to be "part of some weird, tortured imagination." 1 Modernity's promise, he believed, came with a destructive price. In modern culture, the luster of material and scientific advancements seemed to obscure the reality of corrosive epistemological, philosophical, and ethical developments. As Walter Lippmann termed them, these "acids of modernity" were dissolving the metaphysical and moral certainties that had provided the conventional foundation for not only religious but also societal stability. 2 In the two decades prior to his death in 1937, Machen responded to the modern epistemology of scientific naturalism and the philosophy of pragmatism by defending the supremacy of traditional Christian metaphysics and morality.

"Trouble Coming for Oswego. The 'Fire Baptized Holiness association' has been organized at Oswego." Thus read the advertisement in the Kansas newspaper, the Baxter Springs News, in 1904.  It was not without warrant either. This strange organization was spreading like wildfire in the South and Midwestern states. It was known for one thing: craziness. Five years earlier in 1899, the Alexandrian Gazette reported:
"[A farmer named] Musser is so taken with the fire baptized doctrines that he believed he could fly by faith, and in the attempt had a disastrous fall on the barn floor. At one of the meetings Musser asserted that he had buried the devil in a hole, but that the evil one was not yet dead." 
Yet out of this organization birthed one of the largest churches of all times, the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC), which has shaped much of Christianity today. And much of the IPHC's doctrine is rooted in the theology produced by the Fire Baptized Holiness Church (FBHC) over one hundred years ago. It is the purpose of this paper to explore the history and theology of the FBHC and contrast it with the IPHC today.

The following handout tracks SOME key developments in the LGBTQ+ inclusion movements in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and within U.S. society in general. The purpose of the handout was to provide a broad scope and sequence of the movement while the paper 'zoomed in' on key developments in the church through the lens of protest studies.

Abstract of Paper Presented at the 2022 ESiTiS Conference in Bonn, Germany:

The protest movement for the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ Christians in the life of the Presbyterian Church (USA) spans almost five decades; It began well before the current denominational structure took shape in 1983 and is integrally linked to the broader struggle for queer rights in the United States. Presbyterians have repeatedly employed the medium of protest at major church gatherings (General Assemblies – GAs) to bear witness to the conviction that ‘there is yet more light to be shed on the scriptures.’ By striving to normalize difference while maintaining a degree of unity throughout decades of intra-denominational debate, Presbyterians have exemplified the tension between Reformed understandings of the prophetic as inter-penetrative proclamation and intra-ecclesial protest as contra-normative presence. This paper aims to reflect theologically on the historical developments outlined in another upcoming publication by identifying four primary spheres of theological activity in connection with GA protests for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the PCUSA. In the first instance, by practicing a ‘ministry of presence,’ queer Presbyterians and their allies confronted myths of non-existence and performed an apologetics of queerness. Second, animated by the dual spectacles of protest and presence, the church began a process of awakening, during which it acknowledged the experiences of LGBTQ+ people as subject matter for theological reflection. Third, advocates for inclusion reframed confessional narratives in a way that was deconstructive of common-sense notions of normativity, otherness, perversion and sexual/gender pathology. Fourth, the faith community began a reconstructive theological process. The church’s self-critique took shape during GA protests and other acts of sacred resistance that created safe discursive spaces in which LGBTQ+ Presbyterians moved beyond the spectacle and begin a process that I will define as re-de-normalization.

A Mind for Truth. A Heart for God. The First Fifty Years of Reformed Theological Seminary, by John Muether (Professor of Church History and Dean of Libraries, RTS), with a Foreword by Ligon Duncan (Chancellor/CEO & Professor of Systematic & Historical Theology), is the history of the first fifty years of what is now the largest and most recognized Reformed seminary in the world.

RTS was born of a concern for the fidelity of the P.C.U.S. (colloquially known as the "Southern Presbyterian Church") to the inerrancy and authority of Scripture, to the historic Reformed Faith, and to the Great Commission, and was founded in 1966 in Jackson, Mississippi--a city that is still home to the original campus and the institutional headquarters. Little did the founders know that RTS would be at the epicenter of a worldwide resurgence of Reformed theology that has lasted over half a century, in multiple denominations and institution, in North America and around the world.

In 1966, 14 students enrolled with a view to serve in one denomination. Today, well over 2,000 students annually study at RTS, and over 6,000 alumni, representing over 60 denominations, 80 countries, and every inhabited continent indicate the extent of the seminary's influence.

From one campus in 1966, RTS has grown to 9 campuses (Jackson, MS; Orlando, FL; Charlotte, NC; Washington, DC; Atlanta, GA; New York City, Houston, TX; Dallas, TX and RTS Global Education) in seven states, and with theological partnerships in two other countries (Brazil and Indonesia). This is the story

A late twentieth-century movement within Christianity, the Emerging (or Emergent) Church has been hard to pin down in terms of specific doctrines and teachings. This thesis is an attempt to analyse the Emerging Church Movement from the perspective of Orthodox Christianity, with the hope of identifying and responding to the various doctrines that form the core of the Emerging identity.

Box #1670 AUTHORITY IN DARBY'S DISPENSATIONALISM In The Roots of Fundamentalism, Ernest Sandeen argues that the source of twentieth century fundamentalism is in nineteenth century millenarianism, including and perhaps especially the dispensationalism of Irish clergyman John Nelson Darby. 1 In his discussion of Darby's theological system, Sandeen claims that Darby's view of the church was "the catalytic agent for the rest of his [distinctive] beliefs," such as the futurist premillennialism, the secret rapture, dispensational interpretation of history, and the literal interpretation of Scripture. 2 While this interpretation has much to commend it, I believe there is another doctrine that provides a better explanation. Darby's views on the manifestations of divine authority-especially doctrinal authority-provide a more elegant (i.e. simpler and more effective) explanation of his unique theological system than do his views on the church. My interpretation is similar to Larry V.

This essay explores how, in the middle decades of the twentieth century, leaders and laypeople in the Brethren in Christ Church constructed, adopted, and deployed an evangelical identity. Initially, this new identity drew community members out of ethnic isolation and into the broader American society; at the same time, it enabled select church leaders to use evangelical venues to advance a decidedly theological critique of war and to reinforce religious practices of simplicity and humility. Later, some Brethren in Christ combined this evangelical identity with church traditions of simplicity and nonparticipation in war in order to advance arguments about pacifism and economic justice, thus contributing to the rise of a progressive evangelicalism. Ultimately, then, this evangelical identity allowed the Brethren in Christ to integrate themselves into American society while simultaneously maintaining a sense of religious and cultural particularity.

'A Galway Man Meets John Brown Before He Was "Mouldering in the Grave"' in Salvador Ryan ed., Treasures of Irish Christianity, volume III: To the Ends of the Earth (Veritas, Dublin 2015), pp. 133-135.

An insight into Catholic views of slavery in the mid-nineteenth century.

Adelia Arnold (1845-1916) is a relatively obscure figure in the history of the transmission of the holiness movement from the North to the South that took place after the Civil War.  Born part of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection and later converted under radically Pentecostal Free Methodists, Mrs. Arnold devoted her life to seeking gender and especially racial equality in the American South during the post-war Jim Crow era.  Her remarkable life is recounted in this paper and an assessment is made of how her mission and ministry fits within the larger theological and historical context of her day.

This project aims to help answer the question of "How did Christians in the Antebellum South support such an institution as chattel slavery?" To do so it offers a survey of the scriptural, moral, economical, and theological defenses of the system used by Christians in the Antebellum South. It also gives attention to the role clergy played in promoting slavery. It relies heavily on secondary sources, but also incorporates significant primary sources from the time period. This project hopes to provide in one place a concise survey of the defenses for slavery used by Southern Antebellum Christians. This research reveals not only "how" Christians defended the institution of slavery, but also that they believed by doing so they were being obedient to God.

Although not uniform in faith and practice, Southern Baptists have acquired a reputation of general suspicion toward critical biblical scholarship.  Southern Baptists did not significantly engage with higher criticism until the arrival of Clyde Francisco at SBTS.  Not two decades after Francisco began his career at SBTS, did the denominational fault line over the use of historical critical scholarship emerge in the form of the “Genesis Controversies” revolving around Francisco’s student Ralph Elliott and the 1961 publication of The Message of Genesis, and the 1969 Broadman Bible Commentary entry by G. Henton Davies on the book of Genesis.  Curiously, Francisco as one of the forerunners of critical scholarship in Southern Baptist life, differed little from Elliott and Davies in his use of historical criticism, yet he generated almost no controversy over the course of more than 30 years in the leading Southern Baptist academic institution.  This investigation will therefore compare Francisco’s, Elliott’s, and Davies’ published use of historical criticism, in an effort to identify how Francisco utilized historical criticism without generating controversy in the SBC.
This investigation will argue that Francisco differed from Elliott and Davies principally by intentionally employing historical critical methodologies without allowing the conclusions to undermine the Baptist necessity for certainty in the reliability of the biblical text.  This commitment is manifest in the Francisco’s writings in two ways.  First, Francisco exhibits a clear concern for the reliability of the text as inspired, thus when he raises questions of historicity, he does so through the lens of interpretation and not inspiration.  Second, he does not allow historical critical conclusions to obscure the interpretation of a passage.  Francisco used historical criticism to buttress theological interpretation, not diminish it.

Records from 1878 to 1891 were initially recorded on forms with handwritten headings, and later transcribed by church members, onto Universal Church record forms printed with headings, done by the Baptist church. This double listing, for early members, created 2 sets of Chronological numbers, for these early members who's information was copied, from the old forms to the new. Translations of the headings from handwritten forms are in back. [need to add] as well as the new printed headings. Along with the initial chronological number upon joining the church, a person also received a new chronological order number, when they rejoined the church, after leaving. *

Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same." 1 Did Jonathan Edwards live out this resolution that he made as an idealistic twenty-year old? More than twelve hundred collected sermons, over five hundred "notes on Scripture," in excess of fifty-five hundred observations along the canon, and his other theological writings reveal a lifetime commitment to the Bible. 2 It is surprising, then, to hear a similar refrain by scholars:

A tanulmány célja, hogy példákat mutasson arra, milyen változásokat hozott a Nagy ébredés az amerikai társadalomba és mindezzel hogyan egyengette az amerikai polgári forradalom útját. Elsőként az ébredés és a forradalom kapcsolatának két szélsőséges megítélése, majd a Nagy ébredésnek az amerikai nemzeti öntudat kialakulására való hatása kerül bővebb bemutatásra. A Nagy ébredés társadalomformáló erejének tárgyalása után végezetül az ébredés millennizmusának a forradalmi eszmékre gyakorolt hatásának vizsgálata zárja a tanulmányt.

Ульянов О.Г. Литургическое богословие протопресвитера Александра Шмемана и проблема тропаря третьего часа // Всероссийская научно-богословская конференция МДА «Православное богословие: традиции и современность»: к столетию со дня рождения протопресвитера Александра Шмемана. М., 2021

This bibliography explores histories of African American Christianity, inclusive of important texts on African American hermeneutics and African American theology. African Americans have played an important role in the history of mission within World Christianity; some of those stories are included here as well.

The first section of this bibliography focuses on African American missionaries and missiology. The second section contains everything else (histories of African American Christianity, African American Christian Theology, African American Hermeneutics, etc.).

Note that my “African Biblical Theology, Commentaries, Hermeneutics, & Homiletics” bibliography includes a short section dedicated to African American Biblical Theology, Commentaries, Hermeneutics, & Homiletics; that has more in depth coverage for that topic.

latest revision:  14 November 2024

El artículo aborda el enfrentamiento entre la autoridad gubernativa de Tabasco y los religiosos de la provincia. Tal enfrentamiento es puesto de relieve en la acusación vertida contra el alcalde mayor, Francisco Maldonado de Tejada, en su juicio de residencia por los agravios cometidos sobre diferentes miembros de la institución eclesiástica, al considerarse que constituían una vejación a la Iglesia y al fuero eclesiástico. Las consecuencias de dicho conflicto, que se analizan en sus diferentes aspectos, serían la pública excomunión del alcalde mayor por parte de la autoridad episcopal y el mandamiento de prisión contra el susodicho por parte del juez de residencia.

The study focuses primarily on presenting the current state of scientific research of an
important figure of Czech and American religious life of the nineteenth century, John Nepomucene Neumann (1811-1860), canonized in 1977. His legacy regarding his life and his thinking is still vividly reflected globally, especially in the American, Czech, German, and Austrian professional theological and Church-historical community. It also wants to show new perspectives on the research of those parts of Neumann’s life and the subsequent process of canonization that took place in his native Diocese of České
Budějovice (Bohemia, now the Czech Republic), in broader contexts of events in the Habsburg monarchy, as well as in the Catholic Church, theology and society of nineteenth-century Europe.

Cet article met en valeur l'inégale maîtrise du latin chez les évêques convoqués au concile Vatican II, à partir de leurs vota antépréparatoires. Si le latin est la seule langue autorisée par le règlement conciliaire, combien d'évêques ne la maîtrisent pas ou bien seulement partiellement? Qui la comprend, qui peut l'écrire, qui peut improviser une réponse orale, qui doit recourir à la traduction ? Quels mécanismes de compensation, individuels ou collectifs, ont été mis en place par les pères conciliaires pour contourner les difficultés nées de l'écart entre plurilinguisme de fait et monolinguisme de droit?
L'étude interroge les répercussions de cette disparité linguistique sur la participation des évêques au processus de discussion conciliaire et invite, à terme, à réexaminer le fonctionnement "parlementaire" de l'assemblée. Elle est un premier jalon dans le cadre d'un projet de recherche en cours sur la question de la langue au concile et ses effets sur le fonctionnement de l'assemblée.
L'article a été rédigé dans le cadre d'un dossier commun, intitulé "Usage des langues et plurilinguisme", co-édité avec Sigrid Azeroual, Mélissa Barry, Mathilde Boudier et Olga Popova. Il a été publié dans Hypothèses, Presses de La Sorbonne,  2016/1, 19, p.321-331.

James Madison's religious views have been discussed numerous times by historians, but most of the work that has been done has focused on his views as an adult. This research provides detailed information on what influenced Madison as a young person, and it also offers an interpretation on how these early influences played a part in his religious convictions later on in life.

The full article is accessible on the Journal of Religious History's website: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9809.2013.01239.x/abstract

If that does not work, you can read a copy of the article in a Word document I am attaching. 

-Harrison