A cheerful and comfortable faith : Anglican religious practice in the elite households of eighteenth-century Virginia

This enlightening book examines the physical objects found in elite Virginia households of the eighteenth century to discover what they can tell us about their owners' lives and religious practices. Lauren F. Winner looks closely at punch bowls, needlework, mourning jewelry, baptismal gowns, biscuit molds, cookbooks, and many other items, illuminating the ways Anglicanism influenced daily activities and attitudes in colonial Virginia, particularly in the households of the gentry. This book examines the physical objects found in elite Virginia households of the eighteenth century to discover what they can tell us about their owners' lives and religious practices. The author looks closely at punch bowls, needlework, mourning jewelry, baptismal gowns, biscuit molds, cookbooks, and many other items, illuminating the ways Anglicanism influenced daily activities and attitudes in colonial Virginia, particularly in the households of the gentry. In the highly laicized environment that was Virginia's Anglican Church, laypeople not only adapted English forms of church governance to the new Virginia environment. The book also focuses on religious education and girls' education, both of which were highly charged issues in eighteenth-century Virginia. It further examines the Anglicans' sturdy defences of liturgical prayer, their concomitant critiques of more self-reflexive prayers that had softened, and their prayerful sensibilities, which had begun to encompass both traditional liturgy and the more subjective prayer associated with evangelicalism by the last decade of the century Contents 7 Illustrations 8 Introduction. Kitchenware That Wants You to Love Your Neighbor: Household Religious Practice in Anglican Virginia 12 1. With Cold Water and Silver Bowls Becoming an Anglican in Eighteenth-Century Virginia 38 2. Becoming a ‘‘Christian Woman’’: Needlework and Girls’ Religious Formation 71 3. People of the Book Liturgical Culture and the Domestic Uses of Prayer Books 101 4. Sarah Foote Stuart’s Fish Sauce: The Liturgical Year around the Table 130 5. ‘‘To Comfort the Living’’ The Household Choreography of Death and Mourning 152 Epilogue. Lucy Smith Digges’s ‘‘Little Old Fashioned Oblong Black Walnut’’ Table: Household Religious Practice in Episcopalian Virginia 189 Notes 200 Bibliography 242 Acknowledgments 276 Index 280 This volume examines the physical objects found in elite Virginia households of the 18th century to discover what they can tell us about their owners' lives & religious practices. The author illuminates the ways Anglicanism influenced daily activities & attitudes in colonial Virginia, particularly in the households of the gentry Examines the physical objects found in elite Virginia households of the eighteenth century to discover what they can tell us about their owners' lives and religious practices. The author illuminates the ways Anglicanism influenced daily activities and attitudes in colonial Virginia, particularly in the households of the gentry.