Rebecca Sager
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391763
- eISBN:
- 9780199866304
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391763.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Using social movement, this chapter examines political, socioeconomic, and demographic data to discover the underlying causes of the variation in implementation of the faith‐based initiative among ...
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Using social movement, this chapter examines political, socioeconomic, and demographic data to discover the underlying causes of the variation in implementation of the faith‐based initiative among states. Most researchers argue that social movements use disruptive acts or lobbying to persuade elites to meet their demands; however, the resurgent evangelical movement has gained power by being influential within state politics, promoting policies like the faith‐based initiative. Data on administrative and legislative implementation at the state level was analyzed using two types of regression analysis. Changes based on the faith‐based initiative were more likely to occur in states with a strong evangelical movement presence and with conservative welfare policies, suggesting both political and fiscal motives behind creating faith‐based policies.Less
Using social movement, this chapter examines political, socioeconomic, and demographic data to discover the underlying causes of the variation in implementation of the faith‐based initiative among states. Most researchers argue that social movements use disruptive acts or lobbying to persuade elites to meet their demands; however, the resurgent evangelical movement has gained power by being influential within state politics, promoting policies like the faith‐based initiative. Data on administrative and legislative implementation at the state level was analyzed using two types of regression analysis. Changes based on the faith‐based initiative were more likely to occur in states with a strong evangelical movement presence and with conservative welfare policies, suggesting both political and fiscal motives behind creating faith‐based policies.
Rebecca Sager
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391763
- eISBN:
- 9780199866304
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391763.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
While most research has focused on federal faith‐based initiatives, what has gone largely unnoticed has been how extensive state faith‐based initiatives have become. State faith‐based initiatives are ...
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While most research has focused on federal faith‐based initiatives, what has gone largely unnoticed has been how extensive state faith‐based initiatives have become. State faith‐based initiatives are in fact more advanced in many ways than implementation at the federal level. States have passed significant faith‐based legislation, something the federal government has never been able to do, and state implementation of these initiatives has begun to shape governmental and faith‐based organizational culture. The consistent efforts of state liaisons and faith‐based conferences, with new faith‐based policies, have created greater opportunities for partnership between faith and government sectors, but have very rarely come up with the resources to make these new efforts work for extended periods of time. Analysis of data illustrates that state faith‐based policies and practices are creating an over‐arching cultural shift away from church/state separation to church/state cooperation.Less
While most research has focused on federal faith‐based initiatives, what has gone largely unnoticed has been how extensive state faith‐based initiatives have become. State faith‐based initiatives are in fact more advanced in many ways than implementation at the federal level. States have passed significant faith‐based legislation, something the federal government has never been able to do, and state implementation of these initiatives has begun to shape governmental and faith‐based organizational culture. The consistent efforts of state liaisons and faith‐based conferences, with new faith‐based policies, have created greater opportunities for partnership between faith and government sectors, but have very rarely come up with the resources to make these new efforts work for extended periods of time. Analysis of data illustrates that state faith‐based policies and practices are creating an over‐arching cultural shift away from church/state separation to church/state cooperation.
Daniel Walker Howe
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195317145
- eISBN:
- 9780199851386
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195317145.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter features an extended discussion of the evangelical contribution to antebellum intellectual and social life, a contribution that everywhere influenced more overt political behavior. ...
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This chapter features an extended discussion of the evangelical contribution to antebellum intellectual and social life, a contribution that everywhere influenced more overt political behavior. Without an understanding of the religion of the middle period, there can be no understanding of the politics of the time. This is the lesson of the historiography of the antebellum republic as it has evolved over the past two generations. The chapter deals only with the North. It addresses the subject through a sequence of stages. The first step is simply learning to take religion seriously in the study of political history. The second is to comprehend the nature of the great evangelical movement of the age and its consequences for society. The third is to delineate the basic religious alignments that were reflected in the politics of the second party system.Less
This chapter features an extended discussion of the evangelical contribution to antebellum intellectual and social life, a contribution that everywhere influenced more overt political behavior. Without an understanding of the religion of the middle period, there can be no understanding of the politics of the time. This is the lesson of the historiography of the antebellum republic as it has evolved over the past two generations. The chapter deals only with the North. It addresses the subject through a sequence of stages. The first step is simply learning to take religion seriously in the study of political history. The second is to comprehend the nature of the great evangelical movement of the age and its consequences for society. The third is to delineate the basic religious alignments that were reflected in the politics of the second party system.
David Bebbington
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199751846
- eISBN:
- 9780199914562
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199751846.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
Although certain currents of modern British Evangelicalism owed a strong debt to the views on predestination and saving faith conventionally labelled “Calvinist,” the figure of Calvin himself was ...
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Although certain currents of modern British Evangelicalism owed a strong debt to the views on predestination and saving faith conventionally labelled “Calvinist,” the figure of Calvin himself was less well known and less consistently praised by Victorian British Evangelicals than the great figures of the English and Scottish Reformations such as John Knox and William Tyndale. Knowledge of and interest in Calvin’s person and thought nonetheless grew between 1850 and 1950. In the twentieth century first the influence of Dutch neo-Calvinism and then that of Karl Barth led to the emergence of currents that explicitly identified themselves with Calvin and Calvinism.Less
Although certain currents of modern British Evangelicalism owed a strong debt to the views on predestination and saving faith conventionally labelled “Calvinist,” the figure of Calvin himself was less well known and less consistently praised by Victorian British Evangelicals than the great figures of the English and Scottish Reformations such as John Knox and William Tyndale. Knowledge of and interest in Calvin’s person and thought nonetheless grew between 1850 and 1950. In the twentieth century first the influence of Dutch neo-Calvinism and then that of Karl Barth led to the emergence of currents that explicitly identified themselves with Calvin and Calvinism.
Rebecca Sager
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391763
- eISBN:
- 9780199866304
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391763.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
There is often more than meets the eye where politics and religion are concerned. Faith‐based initiatives are no exception. Using data from multiple sources, this book examines how and why states ...
More
There is often more than meets the eye where politics and religion are concerned. Faith‐based initiatives are no exception. Using data from multiple sources, this book examines how and why states have been creating these policies and practices, revealing three key aspects of faith‐based policy implementation by states: appointment of state actors known as faith‐based liaisons, passage of legislation, and development of state faith‐based policy conferences. Despite the good intentions of some, faith‐based policies did not create significant new programs to help those in need. Instead these initiatives were powerful political symbols used to reshape church‐state relationships and alter the distribution of political power, creating a system in which neither the greatest hopes of the supporters, nor the greatest fears of the opponents have been realized. Supporters hoped faith‐based initiatives would solve problems of poverty and an over‐burdened welfare system, while opponents feared rampant proselytizing with government funds.Less
There is often more than meets the eye where politics and religion are concerned. Faith‐based initiatives are no exception. Using data from multiple sources, this book examines how and why states have been creating these policies and practices, revealing three key aspects of faith‐based policy implementation by states: appointment of state actors known as faith‐based liaisons, passage of legislation, and development of state faith‐based policy conferences. Despite the good intentions of some, faith‐based policies did not create significant new programs to help those in need. Instead these initiatives were powerful political symbols used to reshape church‐state relationships and alter the distribution of political power, creating a system in which neither the greatest hopes of the supporters, nor the greatest fears of the opponents have been realized. Supporters hoped faith‐based initiatives would solve problems of poverty and an over‐burdened welfare system, while opponents feared rampant proselytizing with government funds.
Jeremy Gregory
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208303
- eISBN:
- 9780191677977
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208303.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, History of Religion
This wide-ranging and original book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the Church of England in the eighteenth century. It explores the nature of the Restoration ecclesiastical ...
More
This wide-ranging and original book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the Church of England in the eighteenth century. It explores the nature of the Restoration ecclesiastical regime, the character of the clerical profession, the quality of the clergy's pastoral work, and the question of Church reform through a detailed study of the diocese of the Archbishops of Canterbury. In so doing the book covers the political, social, economic, cultural, intellectual and pastoral functions of the Church and, by adopting a broad chronological span, it allows the problems and difficulties often ascribed to the eighteenth-century Church to be viewed as emerging from the seventeenth century and as continuing well into the nineteenth century. Moreover, the author argues that some of the traditional periodisations and characterisations of conventional religious history need modification. Much of the evidence presented here indicates that clergy in the one hundred and seventy years after 1660 were preoccupied with difficulties that had concerned their forebears and would concern their successors. In many ways, clergy in the diocese of Canterbury between 1660 and 1828 continued the work of seventeenth-century clergy, particularly in following through, and in some instances instigating, the pastoral and professional aims of the Reformation, as well as participating in processes relating to Church reform, and further anticipating some of the deals of the Evangelical and Oxford Movements. Reluctance to recognise this has led historians to neglect the strengths of the Church between the Restoration and the 1830s, which, it is argued, should not be judged primarily for its failure to attain the ideals of these other movements, but as an institution possessing its own coherent and positive rationale.Less
This wide-ranging and original book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the Church of England in the eighteenth century. It explores the nature of the Restoration ecclesiastical regime, the character of the clerical profession, the quality of the clergy's pastoral work, and the question of Church reform through a detailed study of the diocese of the Archbishops of Canterbury. In so doing the book covers the political, social, economic, cultural, intellectual and pastoral functions of the Church and, by adopting a broad chronological span, it allows the problems and difficulties often ascribed to the eighteenth-century Church to be viewed as emerging from the seventeenth century and as continuing well into the nineteenth century. Moreover, the author argues that some of the traditional periodisations and characterisations of conventional religious history need modification. Much of the evidence presented here indicates that clergy in the one hundred and seventy years after 1660 were preoccupied with difficulties that had concerned their forebears and would concern their successors. In many ways, clergy in the diocese of Canterbury between 1660 and 1828 continued the work of seventeenth-century clergy, particularly in following through, and in some instances instigating, the pastoral and professional aims of the Reformation, as well as participating in processes relating to Church reform, and further anticipating some of the deals of the Evangelical and Oxford Movements. Reluctance to recognise this has led historians to neglect the strengths of the Church between the Restoration and the 1830s, which, it is argued, should not be judged primarily for its failure to attain the ideals of these other movements, but as an institution possessing its own coherent and positive rationale.
Joanna Brooks
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195332919
- eISBN:
- 9780199851263
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195332919.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, African-American Literature
This chapter provides essential background on the evangelical movements most attractive to pioneering black and Indian authors, and examines their respective racial policies and theologies. It argues ...
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This chapter provides essential background on the evangelical movements most attractive to pioneering black and Indian authors, and examines their respective racial policies and theologies. It argues that most 18th-century American evangelists, beginning with the eminent and influential Jonathan Edwards, marked the spectacular value of black and Indian conversions but failed to develop a clear theological outlook on race or to enlarge on the potentially progressive energies of revivalism. This cognitive lapse was especially egregious given the rapid advancement of racialist thinking in natural science and the legal institution of racial identities in the new nation. It fell, then, to a powerful group of black and Indian evangelist-authors to marshal religion against the degradations of racialist science and racist politics, producing in their efforts toward community regeneration new identities, religious traditions, and literatures. The chapter shows how 18th-century American evangelicalism, national politics, and natural science constructed race as a significant category of human experience. It also shows how people of color rose up to answer these constructions, telling their own stories and thus transforming the course of American literary history.Less
This chapter provides essential background on the evangelical movements most attractive to pioneering black and Indian authors, and examines their respective racial policies and theologies. It argues that most 18th-century American evangelists, beginning with the eminent and influential Jonathan Edwards, marked the spectacular value of black and Indian conversions but failed to develop a clear theological outlook on race or to enlarge on the potentially progressive energies of revivalism. This cognitive lapse was especially egregious given the rapid advancement of racialist thinking in natural science and the legal institution of racial identities in the new nation. It fell, then, to a powerful group of black and Indian evangelist-authors to marshal religion against the degradations of racialist science and racist politics, producing in their efforts toward community regeneration new identities, religious traditions, and literatures. The chapter shows how 18th-century American evangelicalism, national politics, and natural science constructed race as a significant category of human experience. It also shows how people of color rose up to answer these constructions, telling their own stories and thus transforming the course of American literary history.
David Ceri Jones
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199664832
- eISBN:
- 9780191765391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199664832.003.0016
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Religious Studies
The establishment of the Evangelical Movement of Wales in 1947 brought evangelicals in Wales from across the traditional denominations together and allowed them to express a common voice in a way ...
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The establishment of the Evangelical Movement of Wales in 1947 brought evangelicals in Wales from across the traditional denominations together and allowed them to express a common voice in a way that had barely been witnessed before. Using the Evangelical Magazine of Wales as its main source, this essay explores the identity of these evangelicals. It argues that in their stress on the authority of the Bible, their exclusive emphasis on the substitutionary atonement of Christ, their increasingly belligerent secessionist stance and their often hostile attitude to the society and culture in which they found themselves, these evangelicals often exhibited fundamentistic tendencies.Less
The establishment of the Evangelical Movement of Wales in 1947 brought evangelicals in Wales from across the traditional denominations together and allowed them to express a common voice in a way that had barely been witnessed before. Using the Evangelical Magazine of Wales as its main source, this essay explores the identity of these evangelicals. It argues that in their stress on the authority of the Bible, their exclusive emphasis on the substitutionary atonement of Christ, their increasingly belligerent secessionist stance and their often hostile attitude to the society and culture in which they found themselves, these evangelicals often exhibited fundamentistic tendencies.
Manfred Siebald
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195317145
- eISBN:
- 9780199851386
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195317145.003.0018
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The book's final section offers broader perspectives. This chapter presents short commentaries from five non-Americans who have traveled extensively in the United States and studied American history ...
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The book's final section offers broader perspectives. This chapter presents short commentaries from five non-Americans who have traveled extensively in the United States and studied American history comparatively alongside their own national histories, and who, as a result, are able to offer unusually farsighted assessments of recent American developments. Not surprisingly, these authors—from Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, and Australia—reflect sharper political and religious judgments about contemporary issues and individuals than are found in the book's other chapters.Less
The book's final section offers broader perspectives. This chapter presents short commentaries from five non-Americans who have traveled extensively in the United States and studied American history comparatively alongside their own national histories, and who, as a result, are able to offer unusually farsighted assessments of recent American developments. Not surprisingly, these authors—from Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, and Australia—reflect sharper political and religious judgments about contemporary issues and individuals than are found in the book's other chapters.
Allan W. Maccoll
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748623822
- eISBN:
- 9780748653379
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623822.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Scottish Studies
This chapter is divided into two main parts. The first part comprises a theological and cultural analysis of the Highland evangelical movement. The second part enquires into the development of ...
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This chapter is divided into two main parts. The first part comprises a theological and cultural analysis of the Highland evangelical movement. The second part enquires into the development of Highland ‘peoplehood’ and the cultural awakening of pro-Gaelic sentiment. The social and economic aspects of these processes are examined and there are case studies of the contribution of two prominent Highlanders, the journalist John Murdoch and the leading Free Church minister, John Kennedy.Less
This chapter is divided into two main parts. The first part comprises a theological and cultural analysis of the Highland evangelical movement. The second part enquires into the development of Highland ‘peoplehood’ and the cultural awakening of pro-Gaelic sentiment. The social and economic aspects of these processes are examined and there are case studies of the contribution of two prominent Highlanders, the journalist John Murdoch and the leading Free Church minister, John Kennedy.
Robert Wuthnow
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520213968
- eISBN:
- 9780520924444
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520213968.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Religion
The evolution of American spirituality over the past fifty years is the subject of this book. The book uses in-depth interviews and a broad range of resource materials to show how Americans, from ...
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The evolution of American spirituality over the past fifty years is the subject of this book. The book uses in-depth interviews and a broad range of resource materials to show how Americans, from teenagers to senior citizens, define their spiritual journeys. The findings are a telling reflection of the changes in beliefs and lifestyles that have occurred throughout the United States in recent decades. The book reconstructs the social and cultural reasons for an emphasis on a spirituality of dwelling (houses of worship, denominations, neighborhoods) during the 1950s. Then, in the 1960s, a spirituality of seeking began to emerge, leading individuals to go beyond established religious institutions. In subsequent chapters, the book examines attempts to reassert spiritual discipline, encounters with the sacred (such as angels and near-death experiences), and the development of the “inner self.” The final chapter discusses a spirituality of practice, an alternative for people who are uncomfortable within a single religious community and who want more than a spirituality of endless seeking. The diversity of contemporary American spirituality comes through in the voices of the interviewees. Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, and Native Americans are included, as are followers of occult practices, New Age religions, and other eclectic groups. The book also notes how politicized spirituality, evangelical movements, and resources such as Twelve-Step programs and mental health therapy influence definitions of religious life today. The book explains the changes in personal spirituality that have come to shape our religious life.Less
The evolution of American spirituality over the past fifty years is the subject of this book. The book uses in-depth interviews and a broad range of resource materials to show how Americans, from teenagers to senior citizens, define their spiritual journeys. The findings are a telling reflection of the changes in beliefs and lifestyles that have occurred throughout the United States in recent decades. The book reconstructs the social and cultural reasons for an emphasis on a spirituality of dwelling (houses of worship, denominations, neighborhoods) during the 1950s. Then, in the 1960s, a spirituality of seeking began to emerge, leading individuals to go beyond established religious institutions. In subsequent chapters, the book examines attempts to reassert spiritual discipline, encounters with the sacred (such as angels and near-death experiences), and the development of the “inner self.” The final chapter discusses a spirituality of practice, an alternative for people who are uncomfortable within a single religious community and who want more than a spirituality of endless seeking. The diversity of contemporary American spirituality comes through in the voices of the interviewees. Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, and Native Americans are included, as are followers of occult practices, New Age religions, and other eclectic groups. The book also notes how politicized spirituality, evangelical movements, and resources such as Twelve-Step programs and mental health therapy influence definitions of religious life today. The book explains the changes in personal spirituality that have come to shape our religious life.
Allan Anderson, Michael Bergunder, André Droogers, and Cornelis van der Laan
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520266612
- eISBN:
- 9780520947504
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520266612.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
The goal of this chapter is to comment on the scholarship on gender in the Pentecostal movement and to provide some case contextualization from ethnographic field research with Pentecostals in ...
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The goal of this chapter is to comment on the scholarship on gender in the Pentecostal movement and to provide some case contextualization from ethnographic field research with Pentecostals in Colombia. In the religious landscape of Colombia, the term Pentecostal evokes a single denomination, the “Jésus Sólo” Iglesia Pentecostal Unida (IPU). The IPU's rejection of the Trinity isolates them from fellowship with the rest of the evangelical movement in Colombia. Despite their custody of the descriptor Pentecostal, they are by no means the only emergent religious group in Colombia. This spiritual focus is of greater importance for some evangélicos in Colombia than others, and there are a number of unifying factors among evangélicos specific to the Colombian context. In most significant study and analysis of evangélicos in Colombia there is an aggressive focus on the family, on marital and parental roles and responsibilities, that results in a discernible shift in the domestic life of converts.Less
The goal of this chapter is to comment on the scholarship on gender in the Pentecostal movement and to provide some case contextualization from ethnographic field research with Pentecostals in Colombia. In the religious landscape of Colombia, the term Pentecostal evokes a single denomination, the “Jésus Sólo” Iglesia Pentecostal Unida (IPU). The IPU's rejection of the Trinity isolates them from fellowship with the rest of the evangelical movement in Colombia. Despite their custody of the descriptor Pentecostal, they are by no means the only emergent religious group in Colombia. This spiritual focus is of greater importance for some evangélicos in Colombia than others, and there are a number of unifying factors among evangélicos specific to the Colombian context. In most significant study and analysis of evangélicos in Colombia there is an aggressive focus on the family, on marital and parental roles and responsibilities, that results in a discernible shift in the domestic life of converts.
Heather Hendershot
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226326795
- eISBN:
- 9780226326801
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226326801.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
In 1999, the Reverend Jerry Falwell outed Tinky-Winky, the purple character from TV's Teletubbies. Events such as this reinforced in many quarters the common idea that evangelicals are reactionary, ...
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In 1999, the Reverend Jerry Falwell outed Tinky-Winky, the purple character from TV's Teletubbies. Events such as this reinforced in many quarters the common idea that evangelicals are reactionary, out of touch, and just plain paranoid. But reducing evangelicals to such caricatures does not help us understand their true spiritual and political agendas and the means they use to advance them. This book moves beyond sensationalism to consider how the evangelical movement has effectively targeted Americans—as both converts and consumers—since the 1970s. Thousands of products promoting the Christian faith are sold to millions of consumers each year through the Web, mail order catalogs, and even national chains such as Kmart and Wal-Mart. The author explores the vast industries of film, video, magazines, and kitsch that evangelicals use to spread their message. Focusing on the center of conservative evangelical culture—the white, middle-class Americans who can afford to buy “Christian lifestyle” products—she examines the industrial history of evangelist media, the curious subtleties of the products themselves, and their success in the religious and secular marketplace. To garner a wider audience, evangelicals have had to carefully temper their message, but in so doing, they have painted themselves into a corner. In the postwar years, evangelical media wore the message of salvation on its sleeve, but as the evangelical media industry has grown, many of its most popular products have been those with heavily diluted Christian messages.Less
In 1999, the Reverend Jerry Falwell outed Tinky-Winky, the purple character from TV's Teletubbies. Events such as this reinforced in many quarters the common idea that evangelicals are reactionary, out of touch, and just plain paranoid. But reducing evangelicals to such caricatures does not help us understand their true spiritual and political agendas and the means they use to advance them. This book moves beyond sensationalism to consider how the evangelical movement has effectively targeted Americans—as both converts and consumers—since the 1970s. Thousands of products promoting the Christian faith are sold to millions of consumers each year through the Web, mail order catalogs, and even national chains such as Kmart and Wal-Mart. The author explores the vast industries of film, video, magazines, and kitsch that evangelicals use to spread their message. Focusing on the center of conservative evangelical culture—the white, middle-class Americans who can afford to buy “Christian lifestyle” products—she examines the industrial history of evangelist media, the curious subtleties of the products themselves, and their success in the religious and secular marketplace. To garner a wider audience, evangelicals have had to carefully temper their message, but in so doing, they have painted themselves into a corner. In the postwar years, evangelical media wore the message of salvation on its sleeve, but as the evangelical media industry has grown, many of its most popular products have been those with heavily diluted Christian messages.
Werner Sollors
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195052824
- eISBN:
- 9780199855155
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195052824.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, African-American Literature
Classification methods of racial names were an eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century obsession. The Enlightenment guarantee of using hypothetical methods in order to defeat the tyranny of clergy ...
More
Classification methods of racial names were an eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century obsession. The Enlightenment guarantee of using hypothetical methods in order to defeat the tyranny of clergy and hereditary aristocracy increased the hope that science would put a conclusion to the superstitions of theology. Yet as has become evident in the substitution of the curse of Ham by scientific racialism, the efforts of bringing the light of reason to “race” were deeply negotiated at times. On the one side, in the English-speaking world, it was partly due both to the revolutionary Enlightenment thinking and romantic evangelical movements that the African slave trade and slavery were ultimately destroyed; and the whole concept of antiracist scholarship rests on the Enlightenment legacy.Less
Classification methods of racial names were an eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century obsession. The Enlightenment guarantee of using hypothetical methods in order to defeat the tyranny of clergy and hereditary aristocracy increased the hope that science would put a conclusion to the superstitions of theology. Yet as has become evident in the substitution of the curse of Ham by scientific racialism, the efforts of bringing the light of reason to “race” were deeply negotiated at times. On the one side, in the English-speaking world, it was partly due both to the revolutionary Enlightenment thinking and romantic evangelical movements that the African slave trade and slavery were ultimately destroyed; and the whole concept of antiracist scholarship rests on the Enlightenment legacy.
Jeremy Gregory
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208303
- eISBN:
- 9780191677977
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208303.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, History of Religion
The book concludes by suggesting that some of the traditional periodization and characterizations of conventional Church history need modification. In many ways, particularly in areas such as the ...
More
The book concludes by suggesting that some of the traditional periodization and characterizations of conventional Church history need modification. In many ways, particularly in areas such as the need to follow through, and in some instances to instigate the pastoral and professional aims of the Reformation, and in participating in processes related to Church reform, the clergy in the long eighteenth century continued to work of seventeenth-century clergy, as well as anticipating some of the ideals of the Evangelical and Oxford movements. Reluctance to recognize this has led historians to neglect the strengths of the Church between the Restoration and 1830s, which it is argued here, should not be judged primarily for its failure to attain the ideals of the other movements, but as institution possessing its own coherent and positive rationale.Less
The book concludes by suggesting that some of the traditional periodization and characterizations of conventional Church history need modification. In many ways, particularly in areas such as the need to follow through, and in some instances to instigate the pastoral and professional aims of the Reformation, and in participating in processes related to Church reform, the clergy in the long eighteenth century continued to work of seventeenth-century clergy, as well as anticipating some of the ideals of the Evangelical and Oxford movements. Reluctance to recognize this has led historians to neglect the strengths of the Church between the Restoration and 1830s, which it is argued here, should not be judged primarily for its failure to attain the ideals of the other movements, but as institution possessing its own coherent and positive rationale.
John Burdick
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814709221
- eISBN:
- 9780814723135
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814709221.003.0007
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Latin American Cultural Anthropology
This concluding chapter considers the implications from the studies discussed in previous chapters. First is the fact that black gospel music sustains a richly textured, oppositional, ethnoracial ...
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This concluding chapter considers the implications from the studies discussed in previous chapters. First is the fact that black gospel music sustains a richly textured, oppositional, ethnoracial consciousness, which might imply further sympathies toward black identity in the evangelical landscape. Second, the fact that blackness has markedly different meanings for musicians of the three scenes indicates the need to examine the multiple meanings of blackness in the African diaspora. Third, the usefulness of the categories of history, place, and body to ferret out the underlying ethnoracial meanings of different musical scenes suggests the value of applying them to other musical scenes and arenas of expressive culture. Finally, how and why the fact that expressive culture sometimes supports and sometimes dilutes ethnoracial identities among evangelicals may contribute to the improvement of strategy by black evangelical movement activists.Less
This concluding chapter considers the implications from the studies discussed in previous chapters. First is the fact that black gospel music sustains a richly textured, oppositional, ethnoracial consciousness, which might imply further sympathies toward black identity in the evangelical landscape. Second, the fact that blackness has markedly different meanings for musicians of the three scenes indicates the need to examine the multiple meanings of blackness in the African diaspora. Third, the usefulness of the categories of history, place, and body to ferret out the underlying ethnoracial meanings of different musical scenes suggests the value of applying them to other musical scenes and arenas of expressive culture. Finally, how and why the fact that expressive culture sometimes supports and sometimes dilutes ethnoracial identities among evangelicals may contribute to the improvement of strategy by black evangelical movement activists.
Tim Fulford
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199273379
- eISBN:
- 9780191706332
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199273379.003.0012
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
This chapter examines the changing white representations of Indians in the early 19th century in the contexts of the Evangelical movement (missionaries), the conservative anti-revolutionary backlash, ...
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This chapter examines the changing white representations of Indians in the early 19th century in the contexts of the Evangelical movement (missionaries), the conservative anti-revolutionary backlash, Britain's diminished colonial presence in North America, and a more distant relationship with Indians. Writers considered include Wordsworth, Hermans, and Southey.Less
This chapter examines the changing white representations of Indians in the early 19th century in the contexts of the Evangelical movement (missionaries), the conservative anti-revolutionary backlash, Britain's diminished colonial presence in North America, and a more distant relationship with Indians. Writers considered include Wordsworth, Hermans, and Southey.
Jessica M. Barron and Rhys H. Williams
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781479877669
- eISBN:
- 9781479802371
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479877669.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The introduction first introduces Downtown Church, and presents some of the history of white Evangelical Protestantism and its efforts to engage urban America. Connected to this association with ...
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The introduction first introduces Downtown Church, and presents some of the history of white Evangelical Protestantism and its efforts to engage urban America. Connected to this association with cities is the difficult relationship white Evangelical Protestantism has had with race. Recent efforts by some evangelical leaders have resulted in the Evangelical Racial Change Movement, an attempt at integration of church congregations and racial reconciliation. Downtown Church, while striving to be diverse, has not directly engaged this movement. An in-depth explanation of the methods used in this study to understand the Downtown Church congregation is discussed. The chapter concludes with a presentation and definition of the three main analytic concepts in the book: racialized urban imaginary, managed diversity, and racial utility.Less
The introduction first introduces Downtown Church, and presents some of the history of white Evangelical Protestantism and its efforts to engage urban America. Connected to this association with cities is the difficult relationship white Evangelical Protestantism has had with race. Recent efforts by some evangelical leaders have resulted in the Evangelical Racial Change Movement, an attempt at integration of church congregations and racial reconciliation. Downtown Church, while striving to be diverse, has not directly engaged this movement. An in-depth explanation of the methods used in this study to understand the Downtown Church congregation is discussed. The chapter concludes with a presentation and definition of the three main analytic concepts in the book: racialized urban imaginary, managed diversity, and racial utility.
Thomas S. Kidd
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780300181623
- eISBN:
- 9780300182125
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300181623.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This book presents a biography of George Whitefield that depicts him as the key figure in the first generation of Anglo-American evangelical Christianity. It examines the role played by Whitefield, ...
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This book presents a biography of George Whitefield that depicts him as the key figure in the first generation of Anglo-American evangelical Christianity. It examines the role played by Whitefield, together with other evangelical pastors and laypeople, in establishing a new interdenominational religious movement in the eighteenth century. It also looks at their commitement to the gospel of conversion as well as the preaching of revival across Europe and America. The book places Whitefield fully in the dynamic, fractious milieu of this early evangelical movement, while also revealing his obvious failings as a man and minister—including his advocacy of slavery and personal ownership of slaves.Less
This book presents a biography of George Whitefield that depicts him as the key figure in the first generation of Anglo-American evangelical Christianity. It examines the role played by Whitefield, together with other evangelical pastors and laypeople, in establishing a new interdenominational religious movement in the eighteenth century. It also looks at their commitement to the gospel of conversion as well as the preaching of revival across Europe and America. The book places Whitefield fully in the dynamic, fractious milieu of this early evangelical movement, while also revealing his obvious failings as a man and minister—including his advocacy of slavery and personal ownership of slaves.
Thomas S. Kidd
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780300181623
- eISBN:
- 9780300182125
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300181623.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter focuses on George Whitefield's evangelical work in England during the eighteenth century. It begins by tracing his missionary work in Georgia and his return to England that culminates in ...
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This chapter focuses on George Whitefield's evangelical work in England during the eighteenth century. It begins by tracing his missionary work in Georgia and his return to England that culminates in his rise as a sensational preacher in the entire British Atlantic world. It then looks at Whitefield's alliance with the Moravians, who met for prayer and spiritual accountability with Methodists at Fetter Lane in May 1738 and organized a love-feast at the same venue a year later. It also considers the growing popularity of the new evangelical movement across America, Wales, Scotland, England, and the Continent; the criticisms received by Whitefield for his preaching, including those from the Anglican Church; and his return to London in April 1739. The chapter concludes by turning to Whitefield's return to America.Less
This chapter focuses on George Whitefield's evangelical work in England during the eighteenth century. It begins by tracing his missionary work in Georgia and his return to England that culminates in his rise as a sensational preacher in the entire British Atlantic world. It then looks at Whitefield's alliance with the Moravians, who met for prayer and spiritual accountability with Methodists at Fetter Lane in May 1738 and organized a love-feast at the same venue a year later. It also considers the growing popularity of the new evangelical movement across America, Wales, Scotland, England, and the Continent; the criticisms received by Whitefield for his preaching, including those from the Anglican Church; and his return to London in April 1739. The chapter concludes by turning to Whitefield's return to America.