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The Democratization of American Christianity by Nathan O. Hatch
In this prize-winning book Nathan O. Hatch offers a provocative reassessment of religion and culture in the early days of the American republic, arguing that during this period American Christianity was democratized and common people became powerful actors on the religious scene. Hatch examines five distinct traditions or mass movements that emerged early in the nineteenth century—the Christian movement, Methodism, the Baptist movement, the black churches, and the Mormons—showing how all offered compelling visions of individual potential and collective aspiration to the unschooled and unsophisticated. "Rarely do works of scholarship deserve as much attention as this one. The so-called Second Great Awakening was the shaping epoch of American Protestantism, and this book is the most important study of it ever published."—James Turner, Journal of Interdisciplinary History "The most powerful, informed, and complex suggestion yet made about the religious, political, and psychic 'opening' of American life from Jefferson to Jackson. . . . Hatch's reconstruction of his five religious mass movements will add popular religious culture to denominationalism, church and state, and theology as primary dimensions of American religious history."—Robert M. Calhoon, William and Mary Quarterly "Hatch's revisionist work asks us to put the religion of the early republic in a radically new perspective. . . . He has written one of the finest books on American religious history to appear in many years."—James H. Moorhead, Theology Today The manuscript version of this book was awarded the 1988 Albert C. Outler Prize in Ecumenical Church History from the American Society of Church History Awarded the 1989 book prize of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic for the best book in the history of the early republic (1789-1850) Co-winner of the 1990 John Hope Franklin Publication Prize given by the American Studies Association for the best book in American Studies Nathan O. Hatch is professor of history and vice president for Graduate Studies and Research at the University of Notre Dame.
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First published January 23, 1991
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About the author
Nathan O. Hatch
12 books11 followersNathan Orr Hatch is an author best known for his writing on the history of Christian thought in the United States.
He received his BA from Wheaton College and his MA and PhD from Washington University in St. Louis. In 1976 he began teaching at Notre Dame, later becoming dean, vice president, and provost there before departing to become president of Wake Forest University (2005-21).
He and his wife Julie have three adult children.
He received his BA from Wheaton College and his MA and PhD from Washington University in St. Louis. In 1976 he began teaching at Notre Dame, later becoming dean, vice president, and provost there before departing to become president of Wake Forest University (2005-21).
He and his wife Julie have three adult children.
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October 2, 2024
An insightful and perceptive historical survey of trends in early American Christianity, focusing on 1780-1830. Crosses denominations and explores various American geographical areas.
For details, see this review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Tim Keller mentioned this book on the Mars Hill podcast.
For details, see this review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Tim Keller mentioned this book on the Mars Hill podcast.
September 15, 2021
This book deserves its reputation as a classic in that it makes a series of influential interventions into existing historiography on the early republic, the Second Great Awakening, and the larger history of Christianity in the United States. It is also written in lively prose, as any book about the rambunctious itinerants of the early 19th century should be.
Hatch’s thesis is roughly that ordinary people took the democratic fervor of the Revolutionary period and injected it into American Christianity, creating a centrifugal pump of populistic, democratic Christianity that caused several waves of sects to splinter off of more established denominations. This splintering and spreading action also, in Hatch’s view, Christianized the popular culture of the early republic even as that culture became increasingly obsessed with democratic individualism. The Second Great Awakening, so-called, is more the result of this grass-roots democratic ripple effect than the effort of nervous and soon-to-be powerless Christian groups (in the face of official disestablishment) trying to protect their power by subduing the populace with revival. Hatch makes it quite clear that the opposite was occurring—ordinary Christians used the hot irons of anticlericalism to ferment their own brands of Christianity. Occurring most frequently on the frontier, these democratic firebrands viewed the right of the individual to follow his/her conscience in matters of religion as the most sacred path to God. They absolutely hated creeds, denominational structures, and the like, especially when attached to Calvinism.
In all these arguments, Hatch gives plenty of evidence, which is always entertaining. These populist Christians loved ridicule, satire, and song. One of his brief, but still well-developed arguments is that these populistic revivalists were some of the earliest folk songwriters (and singers) in the United States. The raw numbers of how many copies their songbooks sold and how many editions were printed are pretty staggering.
As the title suggests, Hatch’s claims are very strongly stated. Hatch sees this period of democratization and the pattern that it sets up, in which evangelically-oriented Christianity (and Mormonism) completed the blueprint for successful populistic entrepreneurial religion in the United States. He briefly gestures in the Epilogue to 20th century examples of these trends, which he rightly identifies in Fundamentalism (both early and late 20th century) as well as in Pentecostalism and Holiness traditions. He is totally right to call out the permanently democratic (and often authoritarian) testimonial aesthetic and dominant political habit of evangelically-oriented Christian groups in the United States. But he does not always find the limits of this democratizing process, though he does grope towards them. He identifies the effectiveness of Baptist and Methodist revivalists, who fit his populistic mold, in evangelizing to free and enslaved Africans in the early republic-antebellum period. He also nods towards the fact that whites often tried to limit black access to positions of leadership and tried to set up increasingly segregated church structures by the mid 1810s. Despite this, and despite the fact that still many American Christians, of the obviously lowest class of slave, were not able to take up this democratic Christian mantle in quite the same way as the white revivalist leaders who form the backbone of Hatch’s primary source base, he pretty consistently makes universalizing statements of the powerful democratic potential of this period of revivalism. Even if enslaved African Christians were sometimes democratic in orientation (which he does not argue explicitly), to state that basically any American could stand up and preach in this democratized Christianity is an overextension of the argument.
I won’t launch too many other critical demands backwards onto the historian writing in 1989, but there are a few other mortars we could fire. Even in launching them, the damage to Hatch’s work would not obscure how important it was. It is still routinely cited now, and I was struck by how much of his interpretation of this period of American and Christian history I take for granted when I read his historiographical commentary on the Second Great Awakening at the end of the book. The study of American religion in the early republic was a hot mess before this book.
Hatch’s thesis is roughly that ordinary people took the democratic fervor of the Revolutionary period and injected it into American Christianity, creating a centrifugal pump of populistic, democratic Christianity that caused several waves of sects to splinter off of more established denominations. This splintering and spreading action also, in Hatch’s view, Christianized the popular culture of the early republic even as that culture became increasingly obsessed with democratic individualism. The Second Great Awakening, so-called, is more the result of this grass-roots democratic ripple effect than the effort of nervous and soon-to-be powerless Christian groups (in the face of official disestablishment) trying to protect their power by subduing the populace with revival. Hatch makes it quite clear that the opposite was occurring—ordinary Christians used the hot irons of anticlericalism to ferment their own brands of Christianity. Occurring most frequently on the frontier, these democratic firebrands viewed the right of the individual to follow his/her conscience in matters of religion as the most sacred path to God. They absolutely hated creeds, denominational structures, and the like, especially when attached to Calvinism.
In all these arguments, Hatch gives plenty of evidence, which is always entertaining. These populist Christians loved ridicule, satire, and song. One of his brief, but still well-developed arguments is that these populistic revivalists were some of the earliest folk songwriters (and singers) in the United States. The raw numbers of how many copies their songbooks sold and how many editions were printed are pretty staggering.
As the title suggests, Hatch’s claims are very strongly stated. Hatch sees this period of democratization and the pattern that it sets up, in which evangelically-oriented Christianity (and Mormonism) completed the blueprint for successful populistic entrepreneurial religion in the United States. He briefly gestures in the Epilogue to 20th century examples of these trends, which he rightly identifies in Fundamentalism (both early and late 20th century) as well as in Pentecostalism and Holiness traditions. He is totally right to call out the permanently democratic (and often authoritarian) testimonial aesthetic and dominant political habit of evangelically-oriented Christian groups in the United States. But he does not always find the limits of this democratizing process, though he does grope towards them. He identifies the effectiveness of Baptist and Methodist revivalists, who fit his populistic mold, in evangelizing to free and enslaved Africans in the early republic-antebellum period. He also nods towards the fact that whites often tried to limit black access to positions of leadership and tried to set up increasingly segregated church structures by the mid 1810s. Despite this, and despite the fact that still many American Christians, of the obviously lowest class of slave, were not able to take up this democratic Christian mantle in quite the same way as the white revivalist leaders who form the backbone of Hatch’s primary source base, he pretty consistently makes universalizing statements of the powerful democratic potential of this period of revivalism. Even if enslaved African Christians were sometimes democratic in orientation (which he does not argue explicitly), to state that basically any American could stand up and preach in this democratized Christianity is an overextension of the argument.
I won’t launch too many other critical demands backwards onto the historian writing in 1989, but there are a few other mortars we could fire. Even in launching them, the damage to Hatch’s work would not obscure how important it was. It is still routinely cited now, and I was struck by how much of his interpretation of this period of American and Christian history I take for granted when I read his historiographical commentary on the Second Great Awakening at the end of the book. The study of American religion in the early republic was a hot mess before this book.
July 28, 2009
Excellent, though too short to do justice to some of the questions it raises. Hatch takes for granted the latter-day consensus history of Gordon Wood and Joyce Appleby; that is, he uses the concepts of liberalism, democracy, and populism as virtual synonyms, and sees liberal democracy as the controlling idiom of early nineteenth-century America. But he also briefly but earnestly acknowledges the dark side of these modes of thought. For Hatch's purposes, this paradigm works pretty well, since he is attentive to the paradoxes of life in the early republic.
Hatch's key claim, in this work, is that "democratization" was the key trend in American religious life in the generation after the Revolution. This period saw the rise of insurgent popular Christian movements that challenged clerical authority, denominational institutions, and indeed all restraints on individual conscience. That last feature, the individualism of these movements, generated a strong centrifugal force, splitting American Christianity into numerous sects. It has also, in various groups at various times, empowered charismatic demagogues -- just as political democracy has. Yet it has also been a source of strength for Christianity in America, which has retained a far more pervasive influence in American culture than Christianity has in other Western countries. Thanks to the ferment of the early republic, Hatch writes, American Christianity has a built-in tendency to regenerate itself through constant dissent and through the constant nurturing of popular spiritual energy.
To prove his case, Hatch traces the rise of five Christian movements in the early American republic -- or rather, he traces the work of their key leaders. (Strangely enough, Hatch consciously takes a "supply-side" approach, focusing on dynamic leaders, not the rank and file. But this is part of his argument, albeit an underdeveloped part: democratization pushed fiery communicators to national prominence in the place of a clerical elite, empowering laymen and splitting churches without actually eliminating spiritual authority.) Hatch examines the Methodists, the Disciples of Christ, black Christians, the Baptists, and the Mormons. He characterizes all of these as members of populist movements that were opposed to tradition, clerical hierarchy, and formality.
These movements, according to Hatch, developed in a radical Jeffersonian culture. Americans after the 1800 were ready to reject established authority of all kinds -- not only in religion but also in medicine and law. In the church, this republican milieu nurtured radical leaders like the itinerant Methodist preacher Lorenzo Dow, a Paineite who scandalized English Methodists, and the Baptist universalist Elhanan Winchester, who came to his unorthodox opinions through solitary Bible-reading. Anticlericalism legitimated a new breed of preacher, one with great charisma and conviction but limited education. These preachers sought to find new converts out-of-doors, often literally (as in the case of Methodist camp meetings), not within the existing church establishment as the leaders of the first Great Awakening had done. They were eager to lead mass movements outside the control of traditional authorities.
These movements, Hatch notes, were often theologically incompatible. Individually, this fact posed a problem as they competed with each other and tried to contain splits within their own ranks. Collectively, however, they found this to be source of strength. According to Hatch, "one could not have designed a system more capable of Christianizing a people in all its social, geographic, and ethnic diversity." Their "collective dynamism," he claims, resulted from their pluralism, commitment to dissent, and demographic diversity.
The self-designated Christians, or Disciples of Christ, were a loose network of churches and leaders who espoused lay control, freedom to innovate, and hermeneutic populism; they rejected structure and creeds. However, Hatch notes, only the more organized of these churches thrived. The Christian Connection of Elias Smith and James O'Kelly was too diffuse to last, while the Disciples of Christ, led by Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell, were able to develop into a major denomination. More successful were the American Methodists, who -- while much more democratic than their English counterparts -- were relatively hierarchical, being led by a bishop, Francis Asbury. Methodist ministers, however, established their authority by living as poor itinerants who identified with their own flocks. They adapted the stability and discipline of a denominational structure to the republican expectations of the people. Meanwhile, among Baptists, some churches and leaders tried in the first decades of the century to develop a basic form of denominational governance, but others, led by John Leland, fought back strongly to keep the Baptists decentralized. (Leland is probably better known today, Hatch observes, as a Jeffersonian politician. He personally presented Thomas Jefferson with the famous "mammoth cheese" from the people of Cheshire, Massachusetts -- a half-ton monster inscribed with the motto ""rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.") The Methodists and Baptists together were responsible for the first waves of evangelism among American blacks. These denominations extended their egalitarianism to the point of embracing slaves and freedmen as brethren -- at first. By 1830, southern evangelicals (and some in the north) had abandoned this. However, by that time, black ministers such as Richard Allen (of the African Methodist Episcopal church) were in a position to claim autonomous authority. And finally, the Mormons began as a movement among impoverished young men in central New York; the Book of Mormon, Hatch argues, is a populist work full of prophetic denunciations of the wealthy and powerful. All of these groups saw phenomenal growth during the first fifty years of American independence.
The populist religious movements thrived in a culture that no longer required clergymen to serve as distributors of information. A profusion of post offices and a proliferation of popular print after the Revolution put the written word into the hands of ordinary citizens. Religious writers used the mass press for all it was worth; in 1830, the American Tract Society was printing six million tracts annually, and the American Bible Society was producing one million Bibles. The religious populists also encouraged vernacular preaching and folk hymnody. Above all, they appealed to the individual conscience, spirit, and reason. Opposed to "priestcraft" and to the passivity they believed was instilled by Calvinist theology, the leaders of all of these movements believed that they could make salvation available directly to the ordinary individual in the marketplace of ideas.
According to Hatch, this first generation of populists left a lasting impression on American Christianity. Although the next generation did experience the lure of middle-class respectability, it could not shake off the experience of the insurgency. Even established denominations had absorbed some of the sensibilities of the populist. Charles Finney, who carried revival to the churches of New York and Ohio beginning in the 1820s, was a Presbyterian who behaved like a Methodist. When Nathan Bangs and other second-generation Methodists tried to steer their denomination toward sobriety and institutional strength, others dissented strongly. In fact, each of the five movements had its latter-day "democratic firebrands." The Baptists had Millerites who drew many into Adventism. The Methodists had their Holiness movement. The Disciples split into factions. Breakaway Mormons challenged Brigham Young's authority after Joseph Smith's murder. In all of these cases, Hatch concludes, we see that dissent, and the dangerous paradox of strong democratic leadership, became chronic within these groups. That dialectic of decentralization and charisma became the source of evangelical Protestantism's enduring strength in the United States.
Hatch's key claim, in this work, is that "democratization" was the key trend in American religious life in the generation after the Revolution. This period saw the rise of insurgent popular Christian movements that challenged clerical authority, denominational institutions, and indeed all restraints on individual conscience. That last feature, the individualism of these movements, generated a strong centrifugal force, splitting American Christianity into numerous sects. It has also, in various groups at various times, empowered charismatic demagogues -- just as political democracy has. Yet it has also been a source of strength for Christianity in America, which has retained a far more pervasive influence in American culture than Christianity has in other Western countries. Thanks to the ferment of the early republic, Hatch writes, American Christianity has a built-in tendency to regenerate itself through constant dissent and through the constant nurturing of popular spiritual energy.
To prove his case, Hatch traces the rise of five Christian movements in the early American republic -- or rather, he traces the work of their key leaders. (Strangely enough, Hatch consciously takes a "supply-side" approach, focusing on dynamic leaders, not the rank and file. But this is part of his argument, albeit an underdeveloped part: democratization pushed fiery communicators to national prominence in the place of a clerical elite, empowering laymen and splitting churches without actually eliminating spiritual authority.) Hatch examines the Methodists, the Disciples of Christ, black Christians, the Baptists, and the Mormons. He characterizes all of these as members of populist movements that were opposed to tradition, clerical hierarchy, and formality.
These movements, according to Hatch, developed in a radical Jeffersonian culture. Americans after the 1800 were ready to reject established authority of all kinds -- not only in religion but also in medicine and law. In the church, this republican milieu nurtured radical leaders like the itinerant Methodist preacher Lorenzo Dow, a Paineite who scandalized English Methodists, and the Baptist universalist Elhanan Winchester, who came to his unorthodox opinions through solitary Bible-reading. Anticlericalism legitimated a new breed of preacher, one with great charisma and conviction but limited education. These preachers sought to find new converts out-of-doors, often literally (as in the case of Methodist camp meetings), not within the existing church establishment as the leaders of the first Great Awakening had done. They were eager to lead mass movements outside the control of traditional authorities.
These movements, Hatch notes, were often theologically incompatible. Individually, this fact posed a problem as they competed with each other and tried to contain splits within their own ranks. Collectively, however, they found this to be source of strength. According to Hatch, "one could not have designed a system more capable of Christianizing a people in all its social, geographic, and ethnic diversity." Their "collective dynamism," he claims, resulted from their pluralism, commitment to dissent, and demographic diversity.
The self-designated Christians, or Disciples of Christ, were a loose network of churches and leaders who espoused lay control, freedom to innovate, and hermeneutic populism; they rejected structure and creeds. However, Hatch notes, only the more organized of these churches thrived. The Christian Connection of Elias Smith and James O'Kelly was too diffuse to last, while the Disciples of Christ, led by Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell, were able to develop into a major denomination. More successful were the American Methodists, who -- while much more democratic than their English counterparts -- were relatively hierarchical, being led by a bishop, Francis Asbury. Methodist ministers, however, established their authority by living as poor itinerants who identified with their own flocks. They adapted the stability and discipline of a denominational structure to the republican expectations of the people. Meanwhile, among Baptists, some churches and leaders tried in the first decades of the century to develop a basic form of denominational governance, but others, led by John Leland, fought back strongly to keep the Baptists decentralized. (Leland is probably better known today, Hatch observes, as a Jeffersonian politician. He personally presented Thomas Jefferson with the famous "mammoth cheese" from the people of Cheshire, Massachusetts -- a half-ton monster inscribed with the motto ""rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.") The Methodists and Baptists together were responsible for the first waves of evangelism among American blacks. These denominations extended their egalitarianism to the point of embracing slaves and freedmen as brethren -- at first. By 1830, southern evangelicals (and some in the north) had abandoned this. However, by that time, black ministers such as Richard Allen (of the African Methodist Episcopal church) were in a position to claim autonomous authority. And finally, the Mormons began as a movement among impoverished young men in central New York; the Book of Mormon, Hatch argues, is a populist work full of prophetic denunciations of the wealthy and powerful. All of these groups saw phenomenal growth during the first fifty years of American independence.
The populist religious movements thrived in a culture that no longer required clergymen to serve as distributors of information. A profusion of post offices and a proliferation of popular print after the Revolution put the written word into the hands of ordinary citizens. Religious writers used the mass press for all it was worth; in 1830, the American Tract Society was printing six million tracts annually, and the American Bible Society was producing one million Bibles. The religious populists also encouraged vernacular preaching and folk hymnody. Above all, they appealed to the individual conscience, spirit, and reason. Opposed to "priestcraft" and to the passivity they believed was instilled by Calvinist theology, the leaders of all of these movements believed that they could make salvation available directly to the ordinary individual in the marketplace of ideas.
According to Hatch, this first generation of populists left a lasting impression on American Christianity. Although the next generation did experience the lure of middle-class respectability, it could not shake off the experience of the insurgency. Even established denominations had absorbed some of the sensibilities of the populist. Charles Finney, who carried revival to the churches of New York and Ohio beginning in the 1820s, was a Presbyterian who behaved like a Methodist. When Nathan Bangs and other second-generation Methodists tried to steer their denomination toward sobriety and institutional strength, others dissented strongly. In fact, each of the five movements had its latter-day "democratic firebrands." The Baptists had Millerites who drew many into Adventism. The Methodists had their Holiness movement. The Disciples split into factions. Breakaway Mormons challenged Brigham Young's authority after Joseph Smith's murder. In all of these cases, Hatch concludes, we see that dissent, and the dangerous paradox of strong democratic leadership, became chronic within these groups. That dialectic of decentralization and charisma became the source of evangelical Protestantism's enduring strength in the United States.
February 21, 2013
Excellent book. If you only read one book about the Second Great Awakening kind of book. Great combination of a very clear thesis and lots of well-organized evidence. And evidence from an array of religious groups…Hatch doesn’t try to make just the Methodists or Mormons speak for the 2nd GA. He covers the Methodists and Mormons a lot, but also Baptist groups, the Christians/Disciples of Christ, the rise of African-American Methodist and Baptist churches, the Adventists a little…really, he covers a lot of ground. The gist of it is that the period of 1780 to 1830 was a time of democratization – a revolution of popular religious practice. While the 1st GA was somewhat conservative, and did not involve a total break with ecclesiastical organizations, the 2nd GA was all about that break with organizational discipline. Anyone could preach, anyone could write hymns, anyone could start a church of his or her own. Nobody can tell me how to read my Bible. Anybody can interpret scripture for his or her self.
Hatch also does a great job with the ironies of this movement. People wanted to break free of ecclesiastical organizations, but this meant a lot of little churches often run by men who were essentially demagogues. These men often had MORE power over their followers than the church leaders they had rebelled against. Also, there was a real push that there be “no authority but the Bible.” This would erase artificial theological differences, or so people thought. We won’t listen to these book-learnt ministers, we will only listen to the Bible. Except if every person is interpreting the Bible for his or her self then you have schisms from your schisms. Nobody will ever agree on anything.
It isn’t as though I am totally uncritical of this book…I do wonder how unique to the Jeffersonian democratic boom this movement is. Hatch uses a couple of examples from Canada, including Henry Alline…he seems to think he can argue Alline into being an American, but he wasn’t. His movement came out of Nova Scotia and had big effects on Nova Scotia. So this whole thing crossed borders to a certain extent. But there is always something to quibble over, and this is really a very good work.
Hatch also does a great job with the ironies of this movement. People wanted to break free of ecclesiastical organizations, but this meant a lot of little churches often run by men who were essentially demagogues. These men often had MORE power over their followers than the church leaders they had rebelled against. Also, there was a real push that there be “no authority but the Bible.” This would erase artificial theological differences, or so people thought. We won’t listen to these book-learnt ministers, we will only listen to the Bible. Except if every person is interpreting the Bible for his or her self then you have schisms from your schisms. Nobody will ever agree on anything.
It isn’t as though I am totally uncritical of this book…I do wonder how unique to the Jeffersonian democratic boom this movement is. Hatch uses a couple of examples from Canada, including Henry Alline…he seems to think he can argue Alline into being an American, but he wasn’t. His movement came out of Nova Scotia and had big effects on Nova Scotia. So this whole thing crossed borders to a certain extent. But there is always something to quibble over, and this is really a very good work.
April 26, 2024
3.5 stars (between good and very good)
I bought this book several years ago because my friend Stephanie recommended it to me, but I am ashamed to admit that it languished unread on the lower shelf of a table for so long that the sun entirely bleached the title from the spine. I’m glad I finally rescued it from book limbo.
This was a bit dry at times, but there is a wealth of interesting history here about the religious Cambrian Explosion that was the Second Great Awakening. Some of Hatch’s observations may not strike an informed reader as particularly novel since they have been percolating through academia since this was published in 1989, but there’s still a lot for the layperson (like myself) to learn here.
Rather than take the time to compose a summary for myself, I’m just going to attach these reviews for further reference:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I bought this book several years ago because my friend Stephanie recommended it to me, but I am ashamed to admit that it languished unread on the lower shelf of a table for so long that the sun entirely bleached the title from the spine. I’m glad I finally rescued it from book limbo.
This was a bit dry at times, but there is a wealth of interesting history here about the religious Cambrian Explosion that was the Second Great Awakening. Some of Hatch’s observations may not strike an informed reader as particularly novel since they have been percolating through academia since this was published in 1989, but there’s still a lot for the layperson (like myself) to learn here.
Rather than take the time to compose a summary for myself, I’m just going to attach these reviews for further reference:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
October 11, 2014
This is an amazing history book chronicling the democratization of American Christianity during the early days of the republic, specifically from 1780-1830. Nathan Hatch examines how the rallying calls of the American Revolution - for fraternity, equality and liberty - fused with American religious life, particularly that of the Methodists, Baptists, Disciples, the black church and Mormons. This led to Americans disdaining hierarchy and becoming indignant against the clergy. American Christians scorned the highly intellectual Calvinist orthodoxy of Jonathan Edwards and his contemporaries and instead flocked in droves to revivals and camp meetings where they underwent powerful, personal experiences of God. An emphasis on sola Scriptura also contributed to animosity against the clergy as itinerant preachers provocatively declared that the Bible was plain enough to understand for all and did not need mediation by theologians (ironically, this led to many Christians eventually becoming Unitarians). Hatch spends time analyzing the impact of the itinerant preachers, camp meetings, gospel music and printing press, as well as the lives of particularly influential Christian leaders at this time such as George Whitefield, Lorenzo Dow, Francis Asbury and Elias Smith.
Reading this book today, one still detects clear marks of the democratization of (North) American Christianity. Many still respond with derision against hierarchy and over-intellectualism. Many Christians today are hostile towards Calvinists who are so concerned about being theologically precise that they become arrogant and lacking in charity. One of the important questions raised by this book is the nature of evangelism: the democratization of American Christianity led to enormous numbers of people becoming Christian yet it was to a Christianity that was intellectually shallow and more focused on experience. To read this is to understand much of contemporary evangelicalism.
Reading this book today, one still detects clear marks of the democratization of (North) American Christianity. Many still respond with derision against hierarchy and over-intellectualism. Many Christians today are hostile towards Calvinists who are so concerned about being theologically precise that they become arrogant and lacking in charity. One of the important questions raised by this book is the nature of evangelism: the democratization of American Christianity led to enormous numbers of people becoming Christian yet it was to a Christianity that was intellectually shallow and more focused on experience. To read this is to understand much of contemporary evangelicalism.
August 18, 2015
One of the most fascinating yet often ignored periods of American history is the era of the early republic. Americans are of course familiar with the American Revolution, but rarely explore what happened in the years after the Constitution was ratified. These were formative and contentious years that helped set the direction the country would eventually take. Foundational to an understanding of this era would be a study of the explosive growth and influence of religion. In The Democratization of American Christianity, Nathan Hatch explores how Christian preachers and laymen adapted to fit the needs and aspirations of popular American culture. The direction taken during this particular era is not only important American history, but it is also important Church history because of the amazing shift in practice and theological emphasis that developed.
Hatch covers a lot of ground in this book, so it would be difficult to summarize everything in one short review. However, a few important themes can be examined. Democratization obviously receives significant attention, but it is closely related to other important emphases such as authority, individualism, and the rise of “the common man”. It is the disintegration of authority and the rise of dissent that is one of most important and fascinating topics Hatch covers. In fact, it seems like democratization filled the void left by anti authoritarian sentiment.
To understand how this crisis of authority occurred, we have to understand how powerful the rhetoric of liberty and equality during the War of Independence affected the American population. Society continued to be disrupted and altered long after peace was made with Great Britain. The ordinary man believed he had the right to pursue his own course in life and was obligated to no man, whether gentlemen or clergy. They had just overthrown a King and men who positioned themselves as their “betters”, they were not about to submit to any other conceived tyrant, whether at home or abroad. It was the injection of this compelling language in popular early American culture that empowered and energized evangelical Christianity. The common man began to look upon tradition and the educated clergy with contempt. They believed that they had been kept from the simple truths of the gospel by an elite clergy who wanted to retain control and keep the people ignorant (chapters 1&2). Popular preachers dismissed the educated clergy in established churches as elites unconcerned for the common man. Creeds and confessions were discarded and men declared that their only guide was the Bible (as they interpreted it of course). “The right to think for oneself” (chapter 6) and popular sovereignty became the measure of truth.
The change in emphasis lead to a change in presentation. Preaching shifted from doctrinal sermons, to a style that used the vernacular language of the backcountry. Preachers set aside the written manuscript, but focused on being persuasive, energetic, and narrative driven. Music was simplified. Easy to remember lyrics were sung to folk tunes that could be easily recalled as one went about his work. In this form of Christianity, itinerant preachers took the position formerly held by educated theologians and rowdy camp meetings became centers of religion. In this atmosphere the common man found his voice. Lay involvement and preaching was encouraged, no matter one’s station or literacy level. Hatch notes that “defects of grammar and rhetoric actually attracted rather than offended the ‘rude’ audiences they addressed (pg 134).” American evangelicalism took the country by storm as established churches declined. (chapters 3 &5)
These revivals had a transformative effect upon the oppressed of American society. In evangelical churches like the Methodists and Baptists, African Americans heard a message “that was fresh, capable of being readily understood and immediately experienced (pg 104).” Early on, Methodist and Baptists even condemned slavery (though this started to change dramatically in the 19th century). Hatch notes that the most important development was that of the black preacher and leader. Blacks were encouraged to preach and were heard by white and black alike. Men like Richard Allen and countless itinerant preachers came to the fore and offered strong leadership that inspired slaves and free blacks in an increasingly racist society. The result was the conversion of many African Americans (pg 102-113).
These popular impulses also produced unintended and sometimes incongruent results. Though many of these preachers believed that they were restoring gospel simplicity and unity, they were in fact accelerating fragmentation. And even though they used anti authoritarian rhetoric, many dominated denominational leadership (pg 16, 81ff). Some groups became unorthodox. Hatch spends a lot of time examining the rise of the Mormon church. Disturbed by extreme factionalism, Joseph Smith sought to give the final word on theological truth through the Book of Mormon and strong autocratic leadership. Though different in many ways, Mormonism grew and developed along similar lines as the Methodists and Baptists, using the popular democratic culture to do so (pg 113-122).
One reason why this book is important is because it shows us how popular culture often changes practice and, in some cases, the theology of Christianity. It also tells us a lot about the roots of current evangelicalism. The emphases of individualism and democracy still have an influence in modern churches and are even considered by some as primary Christian values. Hatch notes that Americans “have taken faith into their own hands and molded it according to the aspirations of everyday life. American Christianity continues to be powered by ordinary people and by the contagious spirit of their efforts to storm heaven by the back door (pg 219).”
“The rise of evangelical Christianity in the early republic is, in some measure, a story of success of common people in shaping the culture after their own priorities rather than the priorities outlined by gentlemen… (pg 9).” Hatch’s book goes to the heart of what made the common early American tick. The ability of Christianity to successfully adapt made it the dominant culture until the Civil War and beyond. It’s importance to the common man of that day, both white and black, male and female, helps us to better understand ordinary, everyday life in those days. These beliefs were at the core of what was important to Americans. It had an influence on how they lived, worked, and raised the next generations.
Hatch covers a lot of ground in this book, so it would be difficult to summarize everything in one short review. However, a few important themes can be examined. Democratization obviously receives significant attention, but it is closely related to other important emphases such as authority, individualism, and the rise of “the common man”. It is the disintegration of authority and the rise of dissent that is one of most important and fascinating topics Hatch covers. In fact, it seems like democratization filled the void left by anti authoritarian sentiment.
To understand how this crisis of authority occurred, we have to understand how powerful the rhetoric of liberty and equality during the War of Independence affected the American population. Society continued to be disrupted and altered long after peace was made with Great Britain. The ordinary man believed he had the right to pursue his own course in life and was obligated to no man, whether gentlemen or clergy. They had just overthrown a King and men who positioned themselves as their “betters”, they were not about to submit to any other conceived tyrant, whether at home or abroad. It was the injection of this compelling language in popular early American culture that empowered and energized evangelical Christianity. The common man began to look upon tradition and the educated clergy with contempt. They believed that they had been kept from the simple truths of the gospel by an elite clergy who wanted to retain control and keep the people ignorant (chapters 1&2). Popular preachers dismissed the educated clergy in established churches as elites unconcerned for the common man. Creeds and confessions were discarded and men declared that their only guide was the Bible (as they interpreted it of course). “The right to think for oneself” (chapter 6) and popular sovereignty became the measure of truth.
The change in emphasis lead to a change in presentation. Preaching shifted from doctrinal sermons, to a style that used the vernacular language of the backcountry. Preachers set aside the written manuscript, but focused on being persuasive, energetic, and narrative driven. Music was simplified. Easy to remember lyrics were sung to folk tunes that could be easily recalled as one went about his work. In this form of Christianity, itinerant preachers took the position formerly held by educated theologians and rowdy camp meetings became centers of religion. In this atmosphere the common man found his voice. Lay involvement and preaching was encouraged, no matter one’s station or literacy level. Hatch notes that “defects of grammar and rhetoric actually attracted rather than offended the ‘rude’ audiences they addressed (pg 134).” American evangelicalism took the country by storm as established churches declined. (chapters 3 &5)
These revivals had a transformative effect upon the oppressed of American society. In evangelical churches like the Methodists and Baptists, African Americans heard a message “that was fresh, capable of being readily understood and immediately experienced (pg 104).” Early on, Methodist and Baptists even condemned slavery (though this started to change dramatically in the 19th century). Hatch notes that the most important development was that of the black preacher and leader. Blacks were encouraged to preach and were heard by white and black alike. Men like Richard Allen and countless itinerant preachers came to the fore and offered strong leadership that inspired slaves and free blacks in an increasingly racist society. The result was the conversion of many African Americans (pg 102-113).
These popular impulses also produced unintended and sometimes incongruent results. Though many of these preachers believed that they were restoring gospel simplicity and unity, they were in fact accelerating fragmentation. And even though they used anti authoritarian rhetoric, many dominated denominational leadership (pg 16, 81ff). Some groups became unorthodox. Hatch spends a lot of time examining the rise of the Mormon church. Disturbed by extreme factionalism, Joseph Smith sought to give the final word on theological truth through the Book of Mormon and strong autocratic leadership. Though different in many ways, Mormonism grew and developed along similar lines as the Methodists and Baptists, using the popular democratic culture to do so (pg 113-122).
One reason why this book is important is because it shows us how popular culture often changes practice and, in some cases, the theology of Christianity. It also tells us a lot about the roots of current evangelicalism. The emphases of individualism and democracy still have an influence in modern churches and are even considered by some as primary Christian values. Hatch notes that Americans “have taken faith into their own hands and molded it according to the aspirations of everyday life. American Christianity continues to be powered by ordinary people and by the contagious spirit of their efforts to storm heaven by the back door (pg 219).”
“The rise of evangelical Christianity in the early republic is, in some measure, a story of success of common people in shaping the culture after their own priorities rather than the priorities outlined by gentlemen… (pg 9).” Hatch’s book goes to the heart of what made the common early American tick. The ability of Christianity to successfully adapt made it the dominant culture until the Civil War and beyond. It’s importance to the common man of that day, both white and black, male and female, helps us to better understand ordinary, everyday life in those days. These beliefs were at the core of what was important to Americans. It had an influence on how they lived, worked, and raised the next generations.
September 8, 2025
This is a niche book. But it provided helpful context to what I have observed in my current ministry season.
Hatch’s basic premise is that after the American revolution, American Christianity began to be marked by populism. Movements like the disciples of Christ, American Methodists, Baptists, and Mormons began to prioritize outreach efforts to the common man on the American frontier. This dynamic occurred in direct opposition to the “gentlemen” emerging from established institutions like Yale Divinity School.
Figures such as Francis Asbury, Alexander Campbell, Joseph Smith, John Leland, and Elias Smith mobilized the common man for itinerant ministry. Ordinary people began to preach and plant churches.
The implications:
- Ordinary people were activated for ministry.👍🏼
- Evangelicalism began to be marked by anti-intellectualism and anti-clericalism. 👎
I think the latter is still present today.
This book is the goat. Well written!
Hatch’s basic premise is that after the American revolution, American Christianity began to be marked by populism. Movements like the disciples of Christ, American Methodists, Baptists, and Mormons began to prioritize outreach efforts to the common man on the American frontier. This dynamic occurred in direct opposition to the “gentlemen” emerging from established institutions like Yale Divinity School.
Figures such as Francis Asbury, Alexander Campbell, Joseph Smith, John Leland, and Elias Smith mobilized the common man for itinerant ministry. Ordinary people began to preach and plant churches.
The implications:
- Ordinary people were activated for ministry.👍🏼
- Evangelicalism began to be marked by anti-intellectualism and anti-clericalism. 👎
I think the latter is still present today.
This book is the goat. Well written!
January 6, 2022
This book has an excellent reputation, and now I understand why. Not only is the scholarship thorough, but the insights are keen, and the writing is crisp and clear. I now want to read more about the dialectic between American democracy and biblical church government that has occurred within the consciences of so many American Christians, and why so many have demanded the supremacy of the former.
February 23, 2024
An outstanding history of religion in the early Republic, this book helped me understand the current landscape of religion in America from historical perspective. I found myself increasingly perplexed by the populist impulses I was observing in the church, and this book helped me see where those impulses came from. Would highly recommend anyone who ask those same questions or just wants to get a better understanding of popular Christianity in America.
December 13, 2022
This should be a required reading for anyone involved in church leadership. I picked it up because Tim Keller said that it helps us understand how American churches function and it does explain a lot that I have seen in COVID, rise of Trump in evangelical circles and theological debates over sexuality. A definite read, though written in the 80s, it has aged well!
March 1, 2021
A seminal book for our understanding of American Christianity.
April 15, 2012
The Democratization of American Christianity is a immensely interesting picture of Protestant Christianity in the earliest days of the American republic. Hatch demonstrates that the egalitarian, populist impulses behind Jeffersonian anti-federalism were just as strong, if not stronger, in the early American church as he covers the rise to prominence of five Protestant sects/movements in America: the American Methodists, American Baptists, Mormons, Christians (American Restoration Movement), and the African-American church.
Though each sect carried their own distinctives, they were all linked by a pervasive populism that rejected authority by creed or clergy, carried a generally negative view towards education and church history, and spread their message through iteneracy, revivalism, the printing press, and a common sense approach to to theology and church. These movements were led by men of great charisma like Lorenzo Dow, Joseph Smith, and Francis Asbury who appealed to dignity of the common man. Few of the preachers in these movements were educated and many were even illiterate, yet they were tireless in their efforts to save souls wherever they may be found and appealed to the poor and sidelined in a way that the educated clergy of the confessional churches like the Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Episcopalians could not. They cared little for doctrine (though they were united in their opposition to Calvinism, even if it wasn't always apparent exactly what they meant by Calvinism), but rather emphasized enthusiasm and emotion and encouraged even the commonest of men to approach the Bible for themselves and to do so as if they had never read it before.
All of the leaders hoped that they could restore the unity of the church by having each man look at the Bible for himself in an attempt to remove what they saw as centuries of accumulation of elitist and human dogma. Ironically, as Hatch demonstrates, these movements instead served to increase the fragmentation of American Christianity manifold. Eventually, American Christianity moderated as the revivalist sects attempted to gain respectability by localizing and supporting educational institutions and the confessional churches appropriated elements of the revivalist methods to remain relevant. Nevertheless, the democratic impulse has remained strong in American Christianity and the populism and decentralization that it inherited from the Second Great Awakening has helped fundamentalism resist the threat of modernity and secularism.
Hatch's book is thoroughly scholarly, relying heavily on primary sources, and has established itself as a seminal work in American church history. It is an enormously interesting window into post-Revolution American culture and religion and is a must read for anyone interested in the period or American Christianity, as the events and personalities of those days still echo in the church today.
Though each sect carried their own distinctives, they were all linked by a pervasive populism that rejected authority by creed or clergy, carried a generally negative view towards education and church history, and spread their message through iteneracy, revivalism, the printing press, and a common sense approach to to theology and church. These movements were led by men of great charisma like Lorenzo Dow, Joseph Smith, and Francis Asbury who appealed to dignity of the common man. Few of the preachers in these movements were educated and many were even illiterate, yet they were tireless in their efforts to save souls wherever they may be found and appealed to the poor and sidelined in a way that the educated clergy of the confessional churches like the Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Episcopalians could not. They cared little for doctrine (though they were united in their opposition to Calvinism, even if it wasn't always apparent exactly what they meant by Calvinism), but rather emphasized enthusiasm and emotion and encouraged even the commonest of men to approach the Bible for themselves and to do so as if they had never read it before.
All of the leaders hoped that they could restore the unity of the church by having each man look at the Bible for himself in an attempt to remove what they saw as centuries of accumulation of elitist and human dogma. Ironically, as Hatch demonstrates, these movements instead served to increase the fragmentation of American Christianity manifold. Eventually, American Christianity moderated as the revivalist sects attempted to gain respectability by localizing and supporting educational institutions and the confessional churches appropriated elements of the revivalist methods to remain relevant. Nevertheless, the democratic impulse has remained strong in American Christianity and the populism and decentralization that it inherited from the Second Great Awakening has helped fundamentalism resist the threat of modernity and secularism.
Hatch's book is thoroughly scholarly, relying heavily on primary sources, and has established itself as a seminal work in American church history. It is an enormously interesting window into post-Revolution American culture and religion and is a must read for anyone interested in the period or American Christianity, as the events and personalities of those days still echo in the church today.
March 13, 2022
Such an informative read! I had so many "a-ha" moments in this one. Many of the idiosyncrasies of American Christianity can be traced back to the period between the Revolution and the Civil War. Dr. Hatch walks us through several movements that gained traction in this period of egalitarianism and an entrepreneurial spirit.
Hatch does a good job of pointing out the good and bad of each church tradition. For example, he shows how the presbyterians and congregationalists struggled to reach the frontier because of their commitment to an educated clergy, who in turn struggled to connect to the common man, especially African Americaans. Then, he shows how Methodists and Baptists adapted by sending any with a Bible and a horse. Yet this led to many serious distortions of the message itself and even further splintering of the visible church. In this context, a movement like Mormonism can quickly gain influence.
There is much from this work that I plan to continue to chew on.
Hatch does a good job of pointing out the good and bad of each church tradition. For example, he shows how the presbyterians and congregationalists struggled to reach the frontier because of their commitment to an educated clergy, who in turn struggled to connect to the common man, especially African Americaans. Then, he shows how Methodists and Baptists adapted by sending any with a Bible and a horse. Yet this led to many serious distortions of the message itself and even further splintering of the visible church. In this context, a movement like Mormonism can quickly gain influence.
There is much from this work that I plan to continue to chew on.
May 15, 2021
Excellent book. Worth rereading a time or three. Depressingly applicable to today.
January 19, 2025
Entertaining, informative, and historiographically provocative. I especially appreciated the appendix reconsidering how historians ought to think about the Second Great Awakening. Hatch basically argues that the period 1780-1830 laid foundations for a particularly American brand of Christianity that is still very much with us today. To his credit imo he mostly avoids the contentious, confusing, and now politically overloaded term Evangelical; at the same time, thanks to the early-career utopian aspirations of the Stone & Campbell Restoration movement, the term "Christian" as used in this text is occasionally a bit disorienting (these guys tried to boot up a new version of the church that would be completely free of all denominationalism, sectarianism, priestcraft, etc.; predictably, it ended up as another batch of denominations; for a generation or two they got away with calling their newly booted up system merely "Christian". c.f. here Christian Smith's The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism Is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture).
One of the funnier bits here is how much the lower class Western frontier religious entrepreneurs covered here leaned on an explicitly and implicitly anti-Catholic rhetoric, fulminating against "priestcraft", "Antichrist [organized religion]", "Popery", and, in one case, "poopery". Funny because the specific people they applied these terms to were, just about every time, East coast Presbyterians and Congregationalists, who, as we know, have their own deep roots in anti-Catholicism. Also funny and enlightening was the history of the anti-mission organizations in the American West in this time period: dudes getting so mad about Eastern interlopers telling them how to run their churches that they developed whole denominations and inter-denominational movements based on "actually being a missionary is bad and wrong".
This book gets five stars because for what it is it slaps, but I do wish there had been more on some of the later weird developments in American Christianity. The Adventists and a couple of Church of God instantiations make a couple of brief appearances, and one is left with a vague impression that the Church of the Nazarene was somehow some kind of revanchist Methodist movement, and I know that stopping at 1830 puts a lot of these things out of scope — but I'm not sure there is a book like this that gives a similarly sympathetic and critical view of the populist energies of American Christianity in later decades.
One of the funnier bits here is how much the lower class Western frontier religious entrepreneurs covered here leaned on an explicitly and implicitly anti-Catholic rhetoric, fulminating against "priestcraft", "Antichrist [organized religion]", "Popery", and, in one case, "poopery". Funny because the specific people they applied these terms to were, just about every time, East coast Presbyterians and Congregationalists, who, as we know, have their own deep roots in anti-Catholicism. Also funny and enlightening was the history of the anti-mission organizations in the American West in this time period: dudes getting so mad about Eastern interlopers telling them how to run their churches that they developed whole denominations and inter-denominational movements based on "actually being a missionary is bad and wrong".
This book gets five stars because for what it is it slaps, but I do wish there had been more on some of the later weird developments in American Christianity. The Adventists and a couple of Church of God instantiations make a couple of brief appearances, and one is left with a vague impression that the Church of the Nazarene was somehow some kind of revanchist Methodist movement, and I know that stopping at 1830 puts a lot of these things out of scope — but I'm not sure there is a book like this that gives a similarly sympathetic and critical view of the populist energies of American Christianity in later decades.
August 2, 2025
A Classic. I read this book in college thirty years ago, and picked it up again recently because it's one of those books that gets quoted and referenced often in other people's writing. In reading the book again, I was reminded of it's power. Far too often the church is shaped by culture more than culture is shaped by the church. This is true in the American context. My own faith tradition, Christian Churches and Churches of Christ grew out of early American roots and sought to restore a New Testament Christianity, and while they did some good, they in reality restored a 19th century American/Democratic Christianity. So many ideas that modern American Christians assume are biblical, are actually outgrowths of the American Revolution. A fear of authority. Every single person, no matter their education, is a theologian and ready to lead a church. The only book you need is the Bible. We should vote for our leaders in the church. These are American Democratic ideas that have invaded the church. Does that make all of these ideas wrong? Not necessarily. But wisdom is understanding the truth behind ideas, embracing the good, and leaving the wrong notions in the past. Blind acceptance of "that's the way we've always done it" is what leads to movements continuing to go astray. Thankfully, God's grace is bigger than our mistakes. Sadly, like Jesus's complaint of the Pharisees, if we are not careful we make our followers twice the sons of hell that we might become.
While this is an Academic read, it is an important read for those who want to be faithful leaders in the church today.
While this is an Academic read, it is an important read for those who want to be faithful leaders in the church today.
August 22, 2025
I cannot praise this work highly enough. There aren't enough stars to select. Thorough research, clear writing, and illuminating conclusions make Hatch's work academically significant and delightful reading. It provides valuable insight into the religious history of the early republic (1780-1830) and American (and Evangelical) identity.
Hatch follows the progress of 5 distinct traditions (mass movements) that developed during in the early 19th century: the Christian moment, the Baptists, the Methodists, the black churches, and the Mormons. Inspired by the spirit of the Revolution (and it chief virtue, freedom), a new democratic and populist vision of Christianity that was anti-clerical, anti-traditional, anti-intellectual, and remarkable entrepreneurial, won the hearts of the common man, largely through the efforts of tireless, uneducated, popular communicators. It was democratic religion for Jeffersonian democrats, and it was wildly successful until its success proved to be its own undoing. Even so, it left an indelible mark on American Christianity, and American history more broadly.
Hatch follows the progress of 5 distinct traditions (mass movements) that developed during in the early 19th century: the Christian moment, the Baptists, the Methodists, the black churches, and the Mormons. Inspired by the spirit of the Revolution (and it chief virtue, freedom), a new democratic and populist vision of Christianity that was anti-clerical, anti-traditional, anti-intellectual, and remarkable entrepreneurial, won the hearts of the common man, largely through the efforts of tireless, uneducated, popular communicators. It was democratic religion for Jeffersonian democrats, and it was wildly successful until its success proved to be its own undoing. Even so, it left an indelible mark on American Christianity, and American history more broadly.
November 16, 2022
The American Revolution catalyzed a total transformation of the political, cultural, and economic environments of the Early Republic. This book examines the ways in which the Enlightenment and Revolution’s appeal to the power and intuition of common people subsequently transformed religion (specifically Protestantism) in the United States.
The book makes the case that American Protestantism’s almost unique adoption of populism led to its rapid explosion and fragmentation into hundreds of denominations during the Second Great Awakening and subsequent decades. This insight into the origins of these new denominations (generally Evangelical/Charismatic groups) provides interesting insights into the political role that these groups have played in the last half-century.
This book provides a balanced look at the origins of almost every major American Protestant group that will doubtlessly serve as a better scholarly starting point than previous denominational histories.
The book makes the case that American Protestantism’s almost unique adoption of populism led to its rapid explosion and fragmentation into hundreds of denominations during the Second Great Awakening and subsequent decades. This insight into the origins of these new denominations (generally Evangelical/Charismatic groups) provides interesting insights into the political role that these groups have played in the last half-century.
This book provides a balanced look at the origins of almost every major American Protestant group that will doubtlessly serve as a better scholarly starting point than previous denominational histories.
August 16, 2023
Super interesting book! Dragged on in parts just because the overarching themes were effectively made clear. Thorough account of history and major figures that shaped it.
Hatch traces the story of post-revolution Christianity into the 20th century. It’s a fascinating story of how the new ideas of democratic equality and individualism gave birth to revivalist, traveling preacher centered movements of populism that had tremendous influence on American Christianity.
You can see traces of these movements still at work today: high views of individual interpretation vs historically rooted interpretation of the Bible, streams of anti-church authority/educated clergy, denominational disillusionment, deep and varied tribalism, etc. The seeds of this American period have grown into vines still attached to our religious institutions today. It’s not ALL bad, but it helps explain part of how we got here today (wherever that may be depending on who you ask).
Hatch traces the story of post-revolution Christianity into the 20th century. It’s a fascinating story of how the new ideas of democratic equality and individualism gave birth to revivalist, traveling preacher centered movements of populism that had tremendous influence on American Christianity.
You can see traces of these movements still at work today: high views of individual interpretation vs historically rooted interpretation of the Bible, streams of anti-church authority/educated clergy, denominational disillusionment, deep and varied tribalism, etc. The seeds of this American period have grown into vines still attached to our religious institutions today. It’s not ALL bad, but it helps explain part of how we got here today (wherever that may be depending on who you ask).
December 12, 2023
Wow that took me by surprise.
Tim Keller recommended this book in a podcast episode for understanding the rise of populist Christian leaders in the American church... I **NEVER** would have made it through a print version, but listening to the audiobook, I finally got hooked and enjoyed the ride.
I can see why Keller advised reading it to understand phenomena like Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill.
Learned SO MUCH about the history of the American church, the Second Great Awakening, and the impact of the Revolution on Christianity in America. Fascinating.
My husband and I talked through it in the evenings, and he enjoyed it second-hand 😅
Tim Keller recommended this book in a podcast episode for understanding the rise of populist Christian leaders in the American church... I **NEVER** would have made it through a print version, but listening to the audiobook, I finally got hooked and enjoyed the ride.
I can see why Keller advised reading it to understand phenomena like Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill.
Learned SO MUCH about the history of the American church, the Second Great Awakening, and the impact of the Revolution on Christianity in America. Fascinating.
My husband and I talked through it in the evenings, and he enjoyed it second-hand 😅
December 5, 2022
Great. Too short, if anything.
January 14, 2018
Chapter One: Introduction: Democracy and Christianity
Hatch opens by noting the explosive growth in Baptist and Methodist denominations from the Revolution to the middle of the 19th Century, at which time they greatly overshadowed the once dominant Congregational establishment of New England. These denominations' growth was the fruit of the Second Great Awakening, and it was this movement that did more to Christianize the American nation than at any other time in its history. But the other major effect was the "democratizing" of religion:
Abstractions and generalities about the Second Great Awakening as a conservative force have obscured the egalitarianism powerfully at work in the new nation. As common people became significant actors on the religious scene, there was increasing confusion and angry debate over the purpose and function of the church. A style of religious leadership that the public deemed "untutored" and "irregular" as late as the First Great Awakening became overwhelmingly successful, even normative, in the first decades of the republic. Ministers from different classes view with each other to serve as divine spokesmen. Democratic or populist leaders associated virtue with ordinary people and exalted the vernacular in word, print and song. (p. 5)
It was religious populism that distinguished the Second Great Awakening from the first.
The American Revolution loosed forces of egalitarianism and republicanism which greatly expanded the circle of people who believed that they could shape their own destiny. In the new nation, public opinion had become a force of its own. As the cement which had glued the old society together dissolved, religion too took part in the reshaping of social order. Evangelical firebrands like the Methodist Lorenzo Dow roamed the land, crazy Lorenzo Dow, as ecclesiastical establishments withered and the federal government remain a midget in a giant land. During these same years in England, as the pace of industrialization in Britain quickened, squire and parson struck a conservative alliance to protect themselves against the workers they exploited. Not so in America, where evangelical fervor mixed freely with popular sovereignty. It was time for the common people to shape their nation, as the churches became vital forces in popular culture. Though the individual denominations may indeed have brought forth internally authoritarian structures, the movements themselves extolled the common people and loosed a new experiential (and emotional) Christianity.
Enabled by the expansion of print culture in America, evangelists built structures of authority where there were none -- and they left behind records of their actions and thoughts in numerous diaries, pamphlets, books and biographical accounts. Hence the source material is plentiful and instructive. Focusing on the leadership of these democratic Christian movements, Hatch traces the rise of a full-fledged "populist" clergy. As Tocqueville commented, these new religious leaders were as much politicians as they were priests -- a tribute to the art of democratic persuasion which allowed these men to rise to lead movements. These new movements were modern in their individualism and voluntarism, partaking fully in a world awash in market liberalism and the ideology of laissez nous faire. These new men were, in a sense, religious entrepreneurs. The dark underbelly of the populist, as we would discover with the real "populists" later in the 19th and early 20th centuries, was often -- unfortunate though it might have been -- giving over the reigns of authority to demagogues.
Chapter Four: Thundering Legions
A diverse group, the five movements covered in this chapter seem to offer something for everyone in the new republic. Each had its own charismatic leader with his own style of leadership and unique appeal. In the open market of religious ideas, each gathered behind him Thundering Legions for Christ.
The Christian Movement
Elias Smith began his career as a Baptist and broke away in 1800 to lead a group of independent Christians from Portsmouth, NH after being inspired by the Jeffersonian political democracy in the writings of Benjamin Austin, Jr. The Virginia Methodist James O'Kelly, The Kentucky Methodist Barton W. Stone and the Scottish immigrant Alexander Campbell all broke away from existing Christian denominations to advocate a primitive, democratic form of Christianity in a new denomination called the Disciples of Christ. Placing the laity and the clergy on the same footing, abjuring the learned traditions of theology and urging the people to read the bible and interpret it for themselves, the Christians dismantled mediating elites. In rhetorical appeals to democratic sentiment, they lashed out at the tyranny of the sects and made a not too subtle appeal to class antagonisms. Calling for the abolition of organizational restraints, itinerants like Nancy Towle in NH and the boy preacher Joseph Thomas in NC traveled the countryside preaching the Disciples' message. The inclusion of women and youth was yet another hallmark of the radicalism of this movement in the tumultuous years of the Second Great Awakening.
The Spartan Mission of Francis Asbury
Seeking a return to the primitive apostolic order of Christianity, Francis Asbury called the clergy of the Methodist Episcopal Church to a life of sacrifice and itinerancy. As Bishop, he lead by example and never accumulated wealth or even "located". A man of the people and an authoritarian leader with a career that spanned 45 years, Asbury sent his preachers to the humble and the lowly in America's rural communities. Participating in and shaping the youth culture of the early 19th C, a young cadre of disciplined itinerates lived hard, Spartan lives and usually died young. Asbury send these itinerates on circuits away from the seaboard to thinly populated areas. In contrast to the Methodist leader in Britain, Jabez Bunting, Asbury was able to assiduously avoid the trappings of respectability as long as he was at the helm.
The Independent Conscience of John Leland
In the context of Baptist struggle for respectability in the new nation, the 1814 Baptist Convention General Missionary Convention in Philadelphia provides a starting point. There the many Baptist sects, led by the learned Richard Furman, sought to forge a single denomination out of many autonomous units. Ranged against Richard Furman was the radical John Leland, who resisted all such urges for respectability through professionalization of the clergy and urged instead an "empire of conscience." He preached against confessions of faith, against intellectualism of any kind, and against the evils of "priest-craft." He served as a marker and a catalyst for the centrifugal forces of localism during the period.
Black Preachers and the Flowering of African-American Christianity
Hatch discusses the willingness of Methodists and Baptists during a period from the Revolution until the end of the 18th C to include blacks, free and slave, as full participants in Christian worship. It was during this period that African-American Christianity took root, and it did so inside of mixed-race congregations of Methodists and Baptists. These denominations formulated a radical challenge to the doctrines of slave obedience formulated by earlier Anglicans, and offered a more open and heartfelt religious experience than the Presbyterians (whose cultural arrogance Hatch sees as a primary reason for African-American rejection of their overtures). As both Baptists and Methodists retreated from their earlier anti-slavery position in the early 19th C, the black preachers increasingly formed their own congregations in secret and in public. Breaking away from the Methodists, Joseph Allen formed the African Methodist Episcopal Church after the Methodists refused to ordain him. Along with the AME Church, other black preachers broke away from white congregations to form their own small communities. If anything was a testament to the democratizing effects of Christianity during this period it was the impetus which Christianity gave to African-American religion and culture in this period.
The Populist Vision of Joseph Smith
Coming from a family for which the promise of American life had been elusive in Vermont and then New York, Joseph Smith sought an escape from the cacophony of sectarian voices in a new revelation. When the Angel Moroni gave the golden tables to Joseph Smith, he used a seer stone to translate them into the Book of Mormon. This book reinterprets the history of the New World as the locus of God's great plan for humanity. As a document of social protest, this account decried distinctions based upon wealth, class and education. The rich, proud and mighty all find themselves in the hands of an angry God. Rage against the oppression of the poor is a consistent theme in the book, as is the message that the common people had the right to take charge of their own religious destiny. The foundation of the Mormon church was built upon resistance to the competitive and capitalist mores of Jacksonian America.
Chapter Seven: Upward Ascent and Democratic Dissent
Reverend Peter Cartwright wrote his memoirs at age 71 in 1856, in which he decried the modern tendency for the Methodist clergy to seek the trappings of respectability. In a unique position to see the transformation, he was astute in his observations. By the mid-19th C, the evangelical religions had moved from outsiders to insiders, from marginal to influential. A second generation of Methodists, Baptists and Disciples all yearned for (and gained) respectability. Yet the quest for respectability in these denominations did not mean the end of evangelical faith. Others would take up that call.
The Leaven of Democratic Persuasions
The career of Charles Grandison Finney, a Presbyterian evangelical, stands as a testament to the way in which the evangelical creed radicalized other denominations. Finney's importance is in his audience-centric approach, adapting his message to be more "respectable" in front of the middle class and more earthy in front of the lowly. Finney brought revivalism to the citadel of orthodoxy, claiming never to have read the Westminster Confession.
The Allure of Respectability
The Methodist transition is marked by the ascension in 1832 of Nathan Bangs to the Bishopric. From an early career as an itinerate, he rose to the position which he exercised from his church in New York City. He built powerful central agencies for the regulation of Methodism, advocated the higher education of the clergy, and domesticated the camp meeting. Founding over 30 colleges in 19 states in the three decades before the Civil War, Methodists had entered "the establishment." Much the same dynamic applied to the Baptists as well.
Firebrands of Democracy
Despite the cooptation of Methodists and Baptists at the time of the Civil War, there were still splinter Christian groups which grew up on the fringe under the influence of powerful leaders ...
Refining the Second Great Awakening: A Note on the Study of Christianity in the Early Republic
Why has more attention not been paid to this chapter in American religious history? Stuck between the Revolution and the Age of Jackson, this period has been glossed over. Worse yet, advocates of the "religion as social control" school have depicted the Second Great Awakening as an exercise in elite domination (see Johnson). More often than not, this school has focused on Congregationalists and Presbyterians and ignored Methodists and Baptists. Then too, denominational historians have seen the need to sanitize their histories. And neo-Marxists have focused on workers while ignoring religion out of an ideological conviction of their own that religion is a form of oppression. Hatch's conclusion is that we are missing a major contribution to the entrepreneurial spirit of the age by leaving out the story of democratic Christianity.
Hatch opens by noting the explosive growth in Baptist and Methodist denominations from the Revolution to the middle of the 19th Century, at which time they greatly overshadowed the once dominant Congregational establishment of New England. These denominations' growth was the fruit of the Second Great Awakening, and it was this movement that did more to Christianize the American nation than at any other time in its history. But the other major effect was the "democratizing" of religion:
Abstractions and generalities about the Second Great Awakening as a conservative force have obscured the egalitarianism powerfully at work in the new nation. As common people became significant actors on the religious scene, there was increasing confusion and angry debate over the purpose and function of the church. A style of religious leadership that the public deemed "untutored" and "irregular" as late as the First Great Awakening became overwhelmingly successful, even normative, in the first decades of the republic. Ministers from different classes view with each other to serve as divine spokesmen. Democratic or populist leaders associated virtue with ordinary people and exalted the vernacular in word, print and song. (p. 5)
It was religious populism that distinguished the Second Great Awakening from the first.
The American Revolution loosed forces of egalitarianism and republicanism which greatly expanded the circle of people who believed that they could shape their own destiny. In the new nation, public opinion had become a force of its own. As the cement which had glued the old society together dissolved, religion too took part in the reshaping of social order. Evangelical firebrands like the Methodist Lorenzo Dow roamed the land, crazy Lorenzo Dow, as ecclesiastical establishments withered and the federal government remain a midget in a giant land. During these same years in England, as the pace of industrialization in Britain quickened, squire and parson struck a conservative alliance to protect themselves against the workers they exploited. Not so in America, where evangelical fervor mixed freely with popular sovereignty. It was time for the common people to shape their nation, as the churches became vital forces in popular culture. Though the individual denominations may indeed have brought forth internally authoritarian structures, the movements themselves extolled the common people and loosed a new experiential (and emotional) Christianity.
Enabled by the expansion of print culture in America, evangelists built structures of authority where there were none -- and they left behind records of their actions and thoughts in numerous diaries, pamphlets, books and biographical accounts. Hence the source material is plentiful and instructive. Focusing on the leadership of these democratic Christian movements, Hatch traces the rise of a full-fledged "populist" clergy. As Tocqueville commented, these new religious leaders were as much politicians as they were priests -- a tribute to the art of democratic persuasion which allowed these men to rise to lead movements. These new movements were modern in their individualism and voluntarism, partaking fully in a world awash in market liberalism and the ideology of laissez nous faire. These new men were, in a sense, religious entrepreneurs. The dark underbelly of the populist, as we would discover with the real "populists" later in the 19th and early 20th centuries, was often -- unfortunate though it might have been -- giving over the reigns of authority to demagogues.
Chapter Four: Thundering Legions
A diverse group, the five movements covered in this chapter seem to offer something for everyone in the new republic. Each had its own charismatic leader with his own style of leadership and unique appeal. In the open market of religious ideas, each gathered behind him Thundering Legions for Christ.
The Christian Movement
Elias Smith began his career as a Baptist and broke away in 1800 to lead a group of independent Christians from Portsmouth, NH after being inspired by the Jeffersonian political democracy in the writings of Benjamin Austin, Jr. The Virginia Methodist James O'Kelly, The Kentucky Methodist Barton W. Stone and the Scottish immigrant Alexander Campbell all broke away from existing Christian denominations to advocate a primitive, democratic form of Christianity in a new denomination called the Disciples of Christ. Placing the laity and the clergy on the same footing, abjuring the learned traditions of theology and urging the people to read the bible and interpret it for themselves, the Christians dismantled mediating elites. In rhetorical appeals to democratic sentiment, they lashed out at the tyranny of the sects and made a not too subtle appeal to class antagonisms. Calling for the abolition of organizational restraints, itinerants like Nancy Towle in NH and the boy preacher Joseph Thomas in NC traveled the countryside preaching the Disciples' message. The inclusion of women and youth was yet another hallmark of the radicalism of this movement in the tumultuous years of the Second Great Awakening.
The Spartan Mission of Francis Asbury
Seeking a return to the primitive apostolic order of Christianity, Francis Asbury called the clergy of the Methodist Episcopal Church to a life of sacrifice and itinerancy. As Bishop, he lead by example and never accumulated wealth or even "located". A man of the people and an authoritarian leader with a career that spanned 45 years, Asbury sent his preachers to the humble and the lowly in America's rural communities. Participating in and shaping the youth culture of the early 19th C, a young cadre of disciplined itinerates lived hard, Spartan lives and usually died young. Asbury send these itinerates on circuits away from the seaboard to thinly populated areas. In contrast to the Methodist leader in Britain, Jabez Bunting, Asbury was able to assiduously avoid the trappings of respectability as long as he was at the helm.
The Independent Conscience of John Leland
In the context of Baptist struggle for respectability in the new nation, the 1814 Baptist Convention General Missionary Convention in Philadelphia provides a starting point. There the many Baptist sects, led by the learned Richard Furman, sought to forge a single denomination out of many autonomous units. Ranged against Richard Furman was the radical John Leland, who resisted all such urges for respectability through professionalization of the clergy and urged instead an "empire of conscience." He preached against confessions of faith, against intellectualism of any kind, and against the evils of "priest-craft." He served as a marker and a catalyst for the centrifugal forces of localism during the period.
Black Preachers and the Flowering of African-American Christianity
Hatch discusses the willingness of Methodists and Baptists during a period from the Revolution until the end of the 18th C to include blacks, free and slave, as full participants in Christian worship. It was during this period that African-American Christianity took root, and it did so inside of mixed-race congregations of Methodists and Baptists. These denominations formulated a radical challenge to the doctrines of slave obedience formulated by earlier Anglicans, and offered a more open and heartfelt religious experience than the Presbyterians (whose cultural arrogance Hatch sees as a primary reason for African-American rejection of their overtures). As both Baptists and Methodists retreated from their earlier anti-slavery position in the early 19th C, the black preachers increasingly formed their own congregations in secret and in public. Breaking away from the Methodists, Joseph Allen formed the African Methodist Episcopal Church after the Methodists refused to ordain him. Along with the AME Church, other black preachers broke away from white congregations to form their own small communities. If anything was a testament to the democratizing effects of Christianity during this period it was the impetus which Christianity gave to African-American religion and culture in this period.
The Populist Vision of Joseph Smith
Coming from a family for which the promise of American life had been elusive in Vermont and then New York, Joseph Smith sought an escape from the cacophony of sectarian voices in a new revelation. When the Angel Moroni gave the golden tables to Joseph Smith, he used a seer stone to translate them into the Book of Mormon. This book reinterprets the history of the New World as the locus of God's great plan for humanity. As a document of social protest, this account decried distinctions based upon wealth, class and education. The rich, proud and mighty all find themselves in the hands of an angry God. Rage against the oppression of the poor is a consistent theme in the book, as is the message that the common people had the right to take charge of their own religious destiny. The foundation of the Mormon church was built upon resistance to the competitive and capitalist mores of Jacksonian America.
Chapter Seven: Upward Ascent and Democratic Dissent
Reverend Peter Cartwright wrote his memoirs at age 71 in 1856, in which he decried the modern tendency for the Methodist clergy to seek the trappings of respectability. In a unique position to see the transformation, he was astute in his observations. By the mid-19th C, the evangelical religions had moved from outsiders to insiders, from marginal to influential. A second generation of Methodists, Baptists and Disciples all yearned for (and gained) respectability. Yet the quest for respectability in these denominations did not mean the end of evangelical faith. Others would take up that call.
The Leaven of Democratic Persuasions
The career of Charles Grandison Finney, a Presbyterian evangelical, stands as a testament to the way in which the evangelical creed radicalized other denominations. Finney's importance is in his audience-centric approach, adapting his message to be more "respectable" in front of the middle class and more earthy in front of the lowly. Finney brought revivalism to the citadel of orthodoxy, claiming never to have read the Westminster Confession.
The Allure of Respectability
The Methodist transition is marked by the ascension in 1832 of Nathan Bangs to the Bishopric. From an early career as an itinerate, he rose to the position which he exercised from his church in New York City. He built powerful central agencies for the regulation of Methodism, advocated the higher education of the clergy, and domesticated the camp meeting. Founding over 30 colleges in 19 states in the three decades before the Civil War, Methodists had entered "the establishment." Much the same dynamic applied to the Baptists as well.
Firebrands of Democracy
Despite the cooptation of Methodists and Baptists at the time of the Civil War, there were still splinter Christian groups which grew up on the fringe under the influence of powerful leaders ...
Refining the Second Great Awakening: A Note on the Study of Christianity in the Early Republic
Why has more attention not been paid to this chapter in American religious history? Stuck between the Revolution and the Age of Jackson, this period has been glossed over. Worse yet, advocates of the "religion as social control" school have depicted the Second Great Awakening as an exercise in elite domination (see Johnson). More often than not, this school has focused on Congregationalists and Presbyterians and ignored Methodists and Baptists. Then too, denominational historians have seen the need to sanitize their histories. And neo-Marxists have focused on workers while ignoring religion out of an ideological conviction of their own that religion is a form of oppression. Hatch's conclusion is that we are missing a major contribution to the entrepreneurial spirit of the age by leaving out the story of democratic Christianity.
August 8, 2019
A classic work by a renowned evangelical historian that traces the forces that changed the church in the early American Republic.
July 5, 2025
Fantastic book.
May 31, 2025
Explores the rise of populist “Christian” movements (Methodist, Baptist, Christian, Black Christianity, Adventist, and Mormonism) in the aftermath of the American Revolution to about the 1840s. Traces the “sea-changes” that occurred in Evangelicalism as it moved away from Calvinism and the more traditional denominations of Presbyterian, Congregational, and Episcopal. Particular attention is given to structures of authority and the impulse of restorationism.
June 14, 2020
Very helpful thought-clarifying book
September 2, 2008
I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about the history of the christian church after the American Revolution. I also recommend it to anyone wanting to learn how present-day American Christianity has been formed.
One of the points that struck me is how, despite the fact that many of these 'insurgent' denominations(like the Mormons, Baptists, Methodists and etc.) preached an egalitarian Christianity, they themselves eventually became hierchical. For instance, even though Joseph Smith consciously appealed to free people away from tyrannical, elitist denominations and preachers, they were called to follow the prophet Joseph Smith and subsequent leaders as well as the Church of Latter Day Saints.
Furthermore, the critique coming from these insurgent denominations was that mainline denominational preachers had become prideful and too concerned about wealth and social status. Ironically, as these insurgent denominations grew in number and their second generation of followers sprang up, they sought to become more respectable in the eyes of society.
A really great aspect of this book is how it expresses the unique, historical aspect of post-revolutionary christianity; that it isn't just another pietistic, revivalistic, pelagian faith. But also one that's been sharply defined by the particulars of time and space.
One of the points that struck me is how, despite the fact that many of these 'insurgent' denominations(like the Mormons, Baptists, Methodists and etc.) preached an egalitarian Christianity, they themselves eventually became hierchical. For instance, even though Joseph Smith consciously appealed to free people away from tyrannical, elitist denominations and preachers, they were called to follow the prophet Joseph Smith and subsequent leaders as well as the Church of Latter Day Saints.
Furthermore, the critique coming from these insurgent denominations was that mainline denominational preachers had become prideful and too concerned about wealth and social status. Ironically, as these insurgent denominations grew in number and their second generation of followers sprang up, they sought to become more respectable in the eyes of society.
A really great aspect of this book is how it expresses the unique, historical aspect of post-revolutionary christianity; that it isn't just another pietistic, revivalistic, pelagian faith. But also one that's been sharply defined by the particulars of time and space.
July 30, 2013
This book accomplishes what it claims to in its second sentence, arguing "that the theme of democratization is central to understanding the development of American Christianity." A fascinating read that answers a lot of questions about the uniqueness of American Christianity, and even why an infinite number of protestant denominations have endured so long in this land. Most fascinating to me was how fertile heresy is in the soil of democracy. Popular phrases such as "Just me and my bible", "I have no creed but the bible", etc., were especially prominent after the American Revolution, reflecting the attitude of time (and the enduring, autonomous attitude of Americans even today), and it was enlightening to see the host of heresies and errors that sprang out of such. The pattern most evident throughout the work was how Christianity, when loosened from its doctrinal (and traditional) moorings, is consistently re-shaped according to personal experiences and indigenous preferences. It serves as a warning to how the same thing is happening in our day, but also as a warning against high intellectualism, which is particularly prominent in Reformed circles. I highly recommend this book. However, the material is academic and intellectually stimulating, so don't expect to get through it quickly.
June 25, 2014
Superb analysis of an often overlooked era of American religion (1780-1830) and the populist, democratic movements that animated the age. Though Hatch's class-based analysis will certainly alienate many (who might smell a whiff of neo-Marxist social theory), his sobering conclusions about the tendency for movements to eventually sell out toward the pursuit of upward mobility and respectability are prophetic, a message for the non-theologian and historical theologian alike. Particularly damning are his critiques of church historians who have deliberately sugar-coated the past to hide their movement's own humble origins (i.e. Methodism's William Warren Sweet). This book was too short. Hatch has offered a classic to the field and to anyone interested in the landscape of American religion today.
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