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Disorderly Women : Sexual Politics and Evangelicalism in Revolutionary New England / Susan Juster.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2018]Copyright date: ©1996Description: 1 online resource (224 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9781501731389
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 286/.082 20
LOC classification:
  • BX6239 .J87 1994
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. "Breaking" the Sabbath: The Evangelical Challenge in the Great Awakening -- 2. "Things Are Become New": The Conversion Experience -- 3. "To Watch Over Each Other's Conversation": Church Discipline -- 4. "To Grow Up into a State of Manhood": The Sexual Politics of Evangelicalism in Revolutionary America -- 5. "The Disorder of Women": The Feminization of Sin, 1780-1830 -- 6. "In a Different Voice": Postrevolutionary Conversion Narratives -- Conclusion -- Index
Summary: Throughout most of the eighteenth century and particularly during the religious revivals of the Great Awakening, evangelical women in colonial New England participated vigorously in major church decisions, from electing pastors to disciplining backsliding members. After the Revolutionary War, however, women were excluded from political life, not only in their churches but in the new republic as well. Reconstructing the history of this change, Susan Juster shows how a common view of masculinity and femininity shaped both radical religion and revolutionary politics in America.Juster compares contemporary accounts of Baptist women and men who voice their conversion experiences, theological opinions, and proccupation with personal conflicts and pastoral controversies. At times, the ardent revivalist message of spiritual individualism appeared to sanction sexual anarchy. According to one contemporary, revival attempted "to make all things common, wives as well as goods." The place of women at the center of evangelical life in the mid-eighteenth century, Juster finds, reflected the extent to which evangelical religion itself was perceived as "feminine"—emotional, sensional, and ultimately marginal.In the 1760s, the Baptist order began to refashion its mission, and what had once been a community of saints—often indifferent to conventional moral or legal constraints—was transformed into a society of churchgoers with a concern for legitimacy. As the church was reconceptualized as a "household" ruled by "father" figures, "feminine" qualities came to define the very essence of sin. Juster observes that an image of benevolent patriarchy threatened by the specter of female power was a central motif of the wider political culture during the age of democratic revolutions.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781501731389

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. "Breaking" the Sabbath: The Evangelical Challenge in the Great Awakening -- 2. "Things Are Become New": The Conversion Experience -- 3. "To Watch Over Each Other's Conversation": Church Discipline -- 4. "To Grow Up into a State of Manhood": The Sexual Politics of Evangelicalism in Revolutionary America -- 5. "The Disorder of Women": The Feminization of Sin, 1780-1830 -- 6. "In a Different Voice": Postrevolutionary Conversion Narratives -- Conclusion -- Index

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http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Throughout most of the eighteenth century and particularly during the religious revivals of the Great Awakening, evangelical women in colonial New England participated vigorously in major church decisions, from electing pastors to disciplining backsliding members. After the Revolutionary War, however, women were excluded from political life, not only in their churches but in the new republic as well. Reconstructing the history of this change, Susan Juster shows how a common view of masculinity and femininity shaped both radical religion and revolutionary politics in America.Juster compares contemporary accounts of Baptist women and men who voice their conversion experiences, theological opinions, and proccupation with personal conflicts and pastoral controversies. At times, the ardent revivalist message of spiritual individualism appeared to sanction sexual anarchy. According to one contemporary, revival attempted "to make all things common, wives as well as goods." The place of women at the center of evangelical life in the mid-eighteenth century, Juster finds, reflected the extent to which evangelical religion itself was perceived as "feminine"—emotional, sensional, and ultimately marginal.In the 1760s, the Baptist order began to refashion its mission, and what had once been a community of saints—often indifferent to conventional moral or legal constraints—was transformed into a society of churchgoers with a concern for legitimacy. As the church was reconceptualized as a "household" ruled by "father" figures, "feminine" qualities came to define the very essence of sin. Juster observes that an image of benevolent patriarchy threatened by the specter of female power was a central motif of the wider political culture during the age of democratic revolutions.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Apr 2024)