D. G. Hart - Böcker

The eighteen essays collected in this book originate from a conference of the same title, held at the Wingspread Conference Center in October of 1993. Leading scholars were invited to reflect on their specialties in American religious history in ways that summarized both where the field is and where it ought to move in the decades to come.The essays are organized according to four general themes: places and regions, universal themes, transformativeevents, and marginal groups and ethnocultural "outsiders." They address a wide range of specific topics including Puritanism, Protestantism and economic behavior, gender and sexuality in AmericanProtestantism, and the twentieth-century de-Christianization of American public culture. Among the contributors are such distinguished scholars as David D. Hall, Donald G. Matthews, Allen C. Guelzo, Gordon S. Wood, Daniel Walker Howe, Robert Wuthnow, Jon Butler, David A. Hollinger, Harry S. Stout, and John Higham.Taken together, these essays reveal a rapidly expanding field of study that is breaking out of its traditional confines and spilling into all of American history. The booktakes the measure of the changes of the last quarter-century and charts numerous challenges to future work.

Comprising papers by such distinguished scholars as John Headley Brooke, James R. Moore, Ronald Numbers, and George Marsden, this collection shows that questions of science have been central to evangelical history in the United States, as well as in Britain and Canada. It is an invaluable resource for understanding the historical context of contemporary political squabbles such as the debate over the status of "creation science" and the teaching of evolution.

Benjamin Franklin grew up in a devout Protestant family with limited prospects for wealth and fame. By hard work, limitless curiosity, native intelligence, and luck (what he called "providence"), Franklin became one of Philadelphia's most prominent leaders, a world recognized scientist, and the United States' leading diplomat during the War for Independence. Along the way, Franklin embodied the Protestant ethics and cultural habits he learned and observed as a youth in Puritan Boston. Benjamin Franklin: Cultural Protestant follows Franklin's remarkable career through the lens of the trends and innovations that the Protestant Reformation started (both directly and indirectly) almost two centuries earlier. His work as a printer, civic reformer, institution builder, scientist, inventer, writer, self-help dispenser, politician, and statesmen was deeply rooted in the culture and outlook that Protestantism nurtured. Through its alternatives to medieval church and society, Protestants built societies and instilled habits of character and mind that allowed figures such as Franklin to build the life that he did. Through it all, Franklin could not assent to all of Protestantism's doctrines or observe its worship, but for most of his life he acknowledged his debt to his creator, revelled in the natural world guided by providence, and conducted himself in a way (imperfectly) to merit divine approval. In this biography, D. G. Hart recognizes Franklin as a cultural or non-observant Protestant, someone who thought of himself as a Presbyterian, ordered his life as other Protestants did, sometimes went to worship services, read his Bible, and prayed, but could not go all the way and join a church.

D. G. Hart chronicles the transatlantic history of Presbyterianism as a political movement from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, tracing its evolution into a modern, liberal religion.Historians have often described Presbyterianism as a political orientation that leads to rebellion and revolution. D. G. Hart interrogates this assumption, presenting instead a complex narrative of Presbyterian understanding of political authority and the role of the church in society.Synthesizing Presbyterian developments in England, Scotland, Ireland, the United States, and Canada from 1560 to 1870, Hart compellingly explains first why Presbyterianism was politically disruptive in Britain for 150 years and then how these Protestants adjusted to liberal democracy.The truly revolutionary side of Presbyterianism took place during the religious and parliamentary wars of Scotland and England during the 1630s and 1640s—almost 150 years before the American Revolution. After 1640, Presbyterians remained politically assertive, but switched from state churches and covenanted monarchs to civil and religious liberties and republican government. Even so, fallout from the age of revolution extended to Presbyterian involvement in the American Founding and the formation of the Dominion of Canada.Ultimately, as a rigorous faith that refused political compromise, Presbyterianism unintentionally laid the groundwork for religious disestablishment and religious freedom. In so doing, Presbyterians became unlikely defenders of liberal democracy.

In The Lost Soul of American Protestantism, D. G. Hart examines the historical origins of the idea that faith must be socially useful in order to be valuable. Through specific episodes in Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Reformed history, Hart presents a neglected form of Protestantism—confessionalism—as an alternative to prevailing religious theory. He explains that, unlike evangelical and mainline Protestants who emphasize faith's role in solving social and personal problems, confessional Protestants locate Christianity's significance in the creeds, ministry, and rituals of the church. Although critics have accused confessionalism of encouraging social apathy, Hart deftly argues that this form of Protestantism has much to contribute to current discussions on the role of religion in American public life, since confessionalism refuses to confuse the well-being of the nation with that of the church. The history of confessional Protestantism suggests that contrary to the legacy of revivalism, faith may be most vital and influential when less directly relevant to everyday problems, whether personal or social. Clear and engaging, D. G. Hart's groundbreaking study is essential reading for everyone exploring the intersection of religion and daily life.

In The Lost Soul of American Protestantism, D. G. Hart examines the historical origins of the idea that faith must be socially useful in order to be valuable. Through specific episodes in Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Reformed history, Hart presents a neglected form of Protestantism—confessionalism—as an alternative to prevailing religious theory. He explains that, unlike evangelical and mainline Protestants who emphasize faith's role in solving social and personal problems, confessional Protestants locate Christianity's significance in the creeds, ministry, and rituals of the church. Although critics have accused confessionalism of encouraging social apathy, Hart deftly argues that this form of Protestantism has much to contribute to current discussions on the role of religion in American public life, since confessionalism refuses to confuse the well-being of the nation with that of the church. The history of confessional Protestantism suggests that contrary to the legacy of revivalism, faith may be most vital and influential when less directly relevant to everyday problems, whether personal or social. Clear and engaging, D. G. Hart's groundbreaking study is essential reading for everyone exploring the intersection of religion and daily life.

In The University Gets Religion: Religious Studies in American Higher Education, historian D. G. Hart examines the rise of religion to its current place as one of the largest academic disciplines in contemporary higher education. Protestant ministers and faculty, arguing for the importance of religion to a truly "liberal" education, were especially influential in staffing departments and designing curricula to reflect their own assumptions about the value of religion not just for higher education but for American culture in general. But the success of mainstream Protestantism in fostering the academic study of religion has become the field's greatest burden. Religion scholars have distanced themselves from traditional Protestant orientations while looking for topics better suited to America's cultural diversity. As a result, religion is in the awkward position of being one of the largest scholarly disciplines while simultaneously lacking a solid academic justification. It may be time, Hart argues, for academics to stop trying to secure a religion-friendly university.

American Catholic places the rise of the United States' political conservatism in the context of ferment within the Roman Catholic Church. How did Roman Catholics shift from being perceived as un-American to emerging as the most vocal defenders of the United States as the standard bearer in world history for political liberty and economic prosperity? D. G. Hart charts the development of the complex relationship between Roman Catholicism and American conservatism, and shows how these two seemingly antagonistic ideological groups became intertwined in advancing a certain brand of domestic and international politics. Contrary to the standard narrative, Roman Catholics were some of the most assertive political conservatives directly after World War II, and their brand of politics became one of the most influential means by which Roman Catholicism came to terms with American secular society. It did so precisely as bishops determined the church needed to update its teaching about its place in the modern world. Catholics grappled with political conservatism long before the supposed rightward turn at the time of the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.Hart follows the course of political conservatism from John F. Kennedy, the first and only Roman Catholic president of the United States, to George W. Bush, and describes the evolution of the church and its influence on American politics. By tracing the roots of Roman Catholic politicism in American culture, Hart argues that Roman Catholicism's adaptation to the modern world, whether in the United States or worldwide, was as remarkable as its achievement remains uncertain. In the case of Roman Catholicism, the effects of religion on American politics and political conservatism are indisputable.

Although evangelicals entered the century as full partners in the Protestant denominations and agencies that molded American cultural and intellectual life, since the 1970s evangelical Protestantism has been perceived as alien to other Americans. Mr. Hart unpacks evangelicalism's current reputation by tracing its development over the course of the twentieth century. An excellent interpretive synthesis. —Leo P. Ribuffo

The surprising story of how an ordinary buildingbecame—finally—a chief symbol of the American Founding and its politicalideals.Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence wassigned 250 years ago, is today a beloved American shrine and an internationalsymbol of political liberty. Yet it was not always so. In Independence Hall:The History of an American Icon, one of our most accomplished andprovocative historians unspools the surprising story of Independence Hall’sorigins, varied uses, and ultimate rise to national-landmark status.D. G. Hart, a Philadelphia native, has an eye for thefascinating and incongruous. He tells not only the stories surrounding thesigning of the Declaration of Independence and the framing of the Constitution.He also reveals Benjamin Franklin’s connection with Independence Hall’sorigins, how the building later became America’s first natural history museum(led by quirky portraitist Charles Wilson Peale), why Abraham Lincoln lay instate there following his assassination, the role of Kevin Bacon’s father, Edmund,in creating Independence National Park, and why it took so long for the nationto recognize Independence Hall’s significance and meaning.Written for the general reader, everyone interested in ournational story will find this quintessentially American history eye-opening andentertaining.