Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
DBQ about the Reconstruction Era
African religion amongst the slaves
DBQ about the Reconstruction Era
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: DBQ about the Reconstruction Era
Religious scholar, Stephen Prothero, sees religion as a major organizing ideology to the social and political reality of the nineteenth-century. For Prothero, there is a close and intimate ideological relation between theological beliefs and a culture; therefore, they are not separable from characterizing the religious mood of the nineteenth-century. Prothero argues that many Americans were, “inspired by [the] republican rhetoric of liberty and equality, and by a popular revolt against deference and hierarchy” (47). This liberalizing spirit applied to the religious, political, and domestic spheres inspired women to protest against the narrow role to which they had been consigned by the existing hierarchy. The well-defined strictures of religion, like the law, were structured in dominance; black women encountered its hegemony in both their gendered and racial construction and white women principally by their gender. However, both groups consciously reshaped the organizing framework of religion to diminish its ordering of their lives within the public and private sphere. Prothero posits that while “The Bible remained authoritative [. . .] Americans insisted on interpreting it for themselves” (47), especially women who lived under its patriarchal construction. “In that effort,” Prothero continues “they were assisted by a new culture hero: the populist preacher, who combined evangelicalism and egalitarianism in daring new ways” (47). Prothero maintains that it was “the rise of pulpit storytelling” (51) that allowed such reimagining of religious ideology. Prothero goes on to argue that the “story sermon” (51) as a rhetorical style “did not catch on as fast in New England as it did in the South and the West (51),” a point ... ... middle of paper ... ...h 2009. McCurry, Stephanie. “The Two Faces of Republicanism: Gender and Proslavery Politics in Antebellum South Carolina.” The Journal of American History 78 (1992): 1245-1264. Mountford, Roxanne. The Gendered Pulpit: Preaching American Protestant Spaces. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2003. Pitney, David Howard. The Afro-American Jeremiad: Appeals for Justice in America. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990. Prothero, Stephen. American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003. Rich, Adrienne. “When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Revision.” On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose 1966-1978. New York: Norton, 1978. Ring, Nancy C.,et. al. “Scriptures, Canons, and Creeds.” Introduction to the Study of Religion. MaryKnoll: Orbis Books, 1998: 178-207.
In the 1700’s the Puritans left England for the fear of being persecuted. They moved to America for religious freedom. The Puritans lived from God’s laws. They did not depend as much on material things, and they had a simpler and conservative life. More than a hundred years later, the Puritan’s belief toward their church started to fade away. Some Puritans were not able to recognize their religion any longer, they felt that their congregations had grown too self-satisfied. They left their congregations, and their devotion to God gradually faded away. To rekindle the fervor that the early Puritans had, Jonathan Edwards and other Puritan ministers led a religious revival through New England. Edwards preached intense sermons that awakened his congregation to an awareness of their sins. With Edwards’ sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” he persuades the Puritans to convert back to Puritanism, by utilizing rhetorical strategies such as, imagery, loaded diction, and a threatening and fearful tone.
Women rights have always been a conflict in the United States. So hearing about two extremist who believed men were superior over women, the kingdom they created and then an ex-slave turn servant turn abolitionist leader, puts the concept into perspective. Many changes occurred during these stories and they show case women’s lives in America during the early 1800s.
“The connection between the revivals of the Second Great Awakening and abolition was so strong that it would hardly be an overstatement to say that the revivals were responsible for antislavery becoming a radical national movement.” During the time period, evangelical religion underlay the culture of America to such an extent that the revivals of the 1830s resulted in “tangible” structures for social reform — the revivals touched many aspects of political and social life. The revivals implicitly created political obligations and led to a demand for an activist
The Political, Feminist, and Religious view of Frances E.W. Harper, Phllis Wheatley, and Alice Dunbar-Nelson
He was a man whose very words struck fear into the hearts of his listeners. Acknowledged as one of the most powerful religious speakers of the era, he spearheaded the Great Awakening. “This was a time when the intense fervor of the first Puritans had subsided somewhat” (Heyrmen 1) due to a resurgence of religious zeal (Stein 1) in colonists through faith rather than predestination. Jonathan Edwards however sought to arouse the religious intensity of the colonists (Edwards 1) through his preaching. But how and why was Edwards so successful? What influenced him? How did he use diction and symbolism to persuade his listener, and what was the reaction to his teachings? In order to understand these questions one must look at his life and works to understand how he was successful. In his most influential sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Jonathan Edwards’ persuasive language awakened the religious fervor that lay dormant in colonial Americans and made him the most famous puritan minister of the Great Awakening in North America.
Hatch tells the reader that the religious communication changed in only two ways in the years following the American Revolution. The first way in which religious communication was that “clergy men lost their unrivaled position as authoritative sources of information (Hatch 125).” The second way in which the religious communication changed “was an explosion of popular printed material (Hatch 125).” This explosion of printed word changed Protestant Christianity. Exploiting of the press many pamphlets, tracts, books, songs and newspapers were published in order to extend the reach of Christianity and to battle other religions and naysayers. But even men of proper learning and character found it difficult to infuse elitist communication and gospel for the common man (Hatch 128). Elias Smith contented, “and all Christians have a right to propagate it, I do also declare, that every Christian has a r...
Religion in the New World exploded into the land with the colonization of thousands of immigrants. It played an important role in the development of thought in the West. Religion was one of the first concepts to spark the desires of people from other countries to emigrate to the new lands. While many religions blossomed on the American shores of the Atlantic, a basic structure held for most of them, being predominantly derived from Puritanism. Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement, showed the link the new settlers had to God when Sir Thomas Dale said the following in 1610:
The Great Awakening was an event that occurred in the early 18th century characterized by fervent and enthusiastic worship in a series of revivals that spread throughout the American colonies. This event was noted for the growth of the Christian church and the promotion of traditional Puritan views on the issues of election and salvation. The success of the Great Awakening rests in the pluralistic, ecumenical, and sociological efforts of men from various theological backgrounds, yet espousing a unified message of repentance, forgiveness, and hope for the masses. Research available on this period ranges from 18th century newspapers and letters to current literary criticism of discourse of the period. However, the resources selected for this review can be placed into three categories: 1) ministers 2) sermons and correspondence and 3) historic, sociological, and religious significance.
Women spent majority of their day ironing, washing clothes, baking, sewing clothes and raising their children (page 17). Religion also added to women’s lesser status (page 18). Religion was at the core life of Americans, female submission was decreed to be part of God’s order (page 18). Lucretia Mott soon pointed out that many scriptures celebrated female strength and independence (page 18). As a young girl Elizabeth Cady Stanton learned about laws that limited rights of wives and as an adult found ways to reform marriage and divorce laws (page 23). Things were looking up for women, by 1850 female wage workers made up nearly a quarter of the manufacturing labor work force (page 30). Women were still excluded from occupations such as the military, ministry, law, medicine and jobs felt inappropriate for women (page 32). During this antebellum period women were starting to rise up and realize they deserved to have the same rights and privileges men received. This gave women hope that things could change. By the second quarter of the 19th century few positive changes for women pushed Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Susan B Anthony, Lucy Stone and others to challenge injustices and reform efforts (page
Noting that the source of these movements are patriarchally controlled, it can be reasonably inferred that the intersections of gender and religion provided women with tough decisions for their future as a gender. Garvey’s straight forward masculine vision made no room to include women in the volume that they deserved; which is why women of the Black Women’s Club Movement were smart to realize that they could do something more than the duties the men relegated them to. Which is why when Father Divine denounced Marcus Garvey, race, gender, and age, he was able to give women a faux sense of independence and power, while actually keeping it for himself. With women divided, within their own race, it became difficult for them to achieve the necessary unity for them to become a force, leaving them disjointed and ultimately vulnerable.
The church has a problem. The eternally relevant message with which she has been entrusted no longer readily finds a willing ear. According to Henderson, the solution lies in first understanding how our world thinks and then, beginning where people are at, bring them to see "the functional relevance for their lives of the actual relevance of our message". In high school speech classes, we were taught to "know your audience." As a careless high schooler, I didn't really care what she meant, but it eventually made sense (once I actually decided to think about it). You wouldn't use sock puppets to explain math to accountants; you wouldn't use in-depth power-point presentations to explain math to first graders. With this in mind, why do many Americans still try to talk about Jesus using the methods used thirty years ago? Why do we use Christian "jargon" to explain Christianity to those outside the faith? Henderson contends that modern American Christians must change their approach to sharing the faith in order to fit modern America. The pattern of Henderson's book is straightforward: he examines a particular aspect/mindset/value of modern Americans; he then gives ideas about how a Christian might share Words of Eternal Life with such an American. Henderson's writing is both straightforward and enjoyable. He gets right to the heart of the American mindset, then illustrates it with descriptions from scenes from popular movies, personal anecdotes, jokes, etc. In all, Henderson does the modern Christian a great service in writing "Culture Shift." Jesus told Christians to tell others about him ("Go, therefore, and baptize all nations...") and Henderson can help us along the way through this book
During the Enlightenment many philosophers rejected religious institutions as they often viewed these institutions as being the root of many of societies problems. Philosophers claimed that the Church impeded people’s pursuit of a rational life and the scientific study of nature and humanity, through censorship, fanaticism, and intolerance. Furthermore, the Churches long bloody history of the promotion of war, torture, and other forms of human suffering additionally caused many philosophers to directly challenge the role and rule of the Church. Although rejected the Church, many philosophers were not opposed to religion, thus causing the formation of deism. Based off of the Newtonian philosophy of nature and empirical thinking, philosophers
Religion is one of the touchiest subjects for people to discuss. When it comes to religion most people are set in their ways, and can only see things from the perspective that they have been taught to have on certain things. The word “empathy” comes to mind when I think about some of the nineteenth-century religious movements, and all of the heat that they have had to take in the past for what they believe. The definition of the word empathy is, “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” Empathy is something that is extremely hard for many people to have when it comes to a religion besides their own, especially when that group has some very distinctive practices that effect
The Victorian Era was a very Christian and prudish time. Through the 19th century, England was an all Christian country. Their established church was “The Church of England.”
Built on the pillars on Puritanism, the United States of America has been largely divided over the debate of whether the fusion of politics and religion would be suitable to run a country. Margaret Atwood addresses this question in her novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. Published during the growing conservative era of the 1980s, The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in the fictional Republic of Gilead, where the religious extremists have grasped control of the government. The laws implemented by the Gileadean officials, largely based around religion, are meant to act on the issue of a declining birth rate. Although the laws are rooted in valid concerns, their religious influences are soon manipulated to oppress women and validate the oppression. Offred,