Religious enthusiasm in the New World : heresy to revolution

In seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England and America, established society branded as "enthusiasts" those unconventional but religiously devout extremists who stepped across orthodox lines and claimed an intimate, emotional relationship with God. John of Leyden, Anne Hutchinson, William Penn, and George Whitefield all shared the label "enthusiast." This book is a study of the enthusiasts who migrated to the American colonies as well as those who emerged there--from Pilgrim Fathers to pietistic Moravians, from the martyr-bound Quakers to heaven-bent revivalists of the 1740s. This study of the role of religious enthusiasm in early America tells us much about English attitudes toward religion in the New World and about the vital part it played in the lives of the colonists. Both friends and enemies of enthusiasm revealed in their arguments and actions their own conceptions of the America they inhabited. Was religion in America to be an extension of Old World institutions or truly a product of the New World? Would enthusiasm undermine civilized institutions, not only established churches, but government, social structure, morality, and the economy as well? Calling enthusiasts first heretics, then subversives and conspirators, conventional society sought ways to suppress or banish them. By 1776 enthusiasm had spilled over into politics and added a radical dimension to the revolutionary struggle. This timely exploration of the effect of radical religion on the course of early American history provides essential historical perspective to the current interest in popular religion. Acknowledgments Contents Introduction 1. The Finger of God: Religious Conceptions of the New World 2. Whirligig Spirits: English Attitudes toward Enthusiasm, 1550-1660 3. Separatists and the New World: Plymouth's Pilgrims 4. Anne Hutchinson and the Naked Christ 5. New England Enthusiasts and the English Civil War 6. Quakers of the First Generation: The Martyrs 7. Quakers from William Perm to John Woolman 8. Continental Strains: From Plockhoy to the Benezets 9. The Great Awakening as Enthusiasm 10. The Great Awakening as Subversion and Conspiracy 11. Enthusiasm and the Cause of Mankind Notes. Index Abbreviations Used in the Notes Notes Index The Finger Of God: Religious Conceptions Of The New World -- Whirligig Spirits: English Attitudes Toward Enthusiasm, 1550-1660 -- Separatists And The New World: Plymouth's Pilgrims -- Anne Hutchinson And The Naked Christ -- New England Enthusiasts And The English Civil War -- Quakers Of The First Generation: The Martyrs -- Quakers From William Penn To John Woolman -- Continental Strains: From Plockhoy To The Benezets -- The Great Awakening As Enthusiasm -- The Great Awakening As Subversion And Conspiracy -- Enthusiasm And The Cause Of Mankind. David S. Lovejoy. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. [233]-279.