Pious Persuasions: Laity and Clergy in Eighteenth-Century New England

by Erik R. Seeman

Congregational ministers in early New England worked hard to advance the cause of orthodox religion among the region's laypeople, but the people's willingness to voice differences with their ministers persisted. By the time of the Revolutionary War, New Englanders had established a strong tradition of independent-mindedness, shaped in part by the previous century's struggles over piety and religious practice. In Pious Laity and Clergy in Eighteenth-Century New England, historian Erik R. Seeman explores both Congregational doctrine and laypeople's practices throughout the 1700s. Seeman looks at the piety of ordinary folk, including a Boston housewright; the interplay of magic and religious culture; the changing experience of women; and the persistence of revivalism. His findings supply a fresh perspective on the Great Awakening of the 1740s, which appears not as a historical turning point but rather as one of four major revivals that fostered communal piety. Seeman further examines how pastors and parishioners negotiated their increasingly contentious religious culture when participating in highly charged deathbed scenes, rituals of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and religious revivals. Incorporating the widest ranging examination to date of contemporary lay sources -- letters, diaries, conversion narratives, and published poems and broadsides -- Pious Persuasions is a significant work for Early Americanists, social historians, and students of American religion.

Genres: History

280 pages, Hardcover

First published January 5, 2000

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Pious Persuasions, Erik Seeman argues that a tension existed in 18th century New England between lay and clerical conceptions of Calvinist Christianity. Seeman uses the idea of a "cultural script" as a metaphor – in the 17th century, he argues, the orthodox script prevailed in New England, but around the turn of the 18th century things changed. Where some historians argue that the 18th century was a time of declension, Seeman believes that Christianity was growing and becoming MORE vital, and as it expanded, “laypeople had a greater…ability to add new scripts to the culture.” Though ministers certainly tried, they could not entirely control religious discourse in New England.
The tension Seeman is talking about can be seen in the way people treated certain sacraments and rituals. For example, Seeman argues that laypeople, particularly women, tended to believe that baptism protected their children. Baptized children, if they were to die young, would be assured a place in heaven. Ministers tried to dissuade people of this notion, telling them that no person could know for sure if he or she were saved. The lay belief persisted, however. As for communion, though the clergy tried to remind church members that the meal had nothing to do with secular concerns, many laypeople refused to partake of the sacrament when there were tensions in the community. When it came to deathbed rituals, laywomen were sometimes able to take advantage of their own infirmity to break free of orthodox gender expectations. While typically women were admonished to stay silent, women near death were expected to speak, and preachers and family members often recorded their words. Sometimes such women spoke out forcefully, chastising their ministers or detailing unorthodox visions.
Seeman does not dismiss the Great Awakening as an “interpretive fiction” as some historians have done. He does argue, however, that it was simply a very intense moment in a continual negotiation between laity and clergy. While some historians have argued that the Great Awakening saw a new questioning of authority among New Englanders, Seeman writes that such questioning was already happening, and the GA simply intensified an already existing trend.
This is the sort of book that really impresses a young historian...it looks like Seeman plowed through basically every available manuscript collection in New England in his search for all the lay sources he could find. He must have spent a LOT of time in archival reading rooms, trying to figure out old handwriting. That can be fun, but man...it must have been a lot of work.