The Old Faith in a New Nation uses hundreds of sources to show that between the Revolution and the Civil War, American Protestants were deeply interested in the meaning of the Christian past. Even while claiming to rely on "the Bible alone," evangelicals turned to Christian history to navigate pressing questions about church-state relations, Catholic immigration, women''s rights and roles, slavery, and more. By tracing how American evangelicals remembered and used Christian history, The Old Faith in a New Nation interrogates the meaning of "biblicism" and provides context for evaluating the ways in which the religious past is remembered, contested, and memorialized today.
Conventional wisdom holds that tradition and history meant little to nineteenth-century American Protestants, who relied on common sense and "the Bible alone." The Old Faith in a New Nation challenges this portrayal by recovering evangelical engagement with the Christian past. Even when they appeared to be most scornful toward tradition, most optimistic and forward-looking, and most confident in their grasp of the Bible, evangelicals found themselves returning, time and again, to Christian history. They studied religious historiography, reinterpreted the history of the church, and argued over its implications for the present. Between the Revolution and the Civil War, American Protestants were deeply interested in the meaning of the Christian past.Paul J. Gutacker draws from hundreds of print sources-sermons, books, speeches, legal arguments, political petitions, and more-to show how ordinary educated Americans remembered and used Christian history. While claiming to rely on the Bible alone, antebellum Protestants frequently turned to the Christian past on questions of import: how should the government relate to religion? Could Catholic immigrants become true Americans? What opportunities and rights should be available to women? To African Americans? Protestants across denominations answered these questions not only with the Bible but also with history. By recovering the ways in which American evangelicals remembered and used Christian history, The Old Faith in a New Nation shows how religious memory shaped the nation and interrogates the meaning of "biblicism."
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