Daniel Warner and the Paradox of Religious Democracy in 19th Century America

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Year:
Pages:404
ISBN:0-7734-8249-0
978-0-7734-8249-4
Price:$259.95 + shipping
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“Fudge’s work raises important questions and implications for American religious historiography. In the first place his study shifts and enlarges the bi-polar historiography that has dominated the study of American Protestantism, particularly in its conservative and Evangelical forms. . . . demonstrates that other polarities defined the work of significant leaders such as Daniel S. Warner. This in itself makes Fudge’s work an important historiographical step. . . . a solid foundation of thorough acquaintance with the scholarship in the area coupled with careful research in primary source material. Fudge has brought to light fugitive and, in some instances, highly charged materials that bear in important ways on the history of an American religious movement. He handles these materials with unusual sensitivity and a light touch.” – Merle D. Strege

Reviews

“Thomas Fudge makes a valuable contribution to nineteenth-century American religious history with a well-crafted study of the dichotomy between religious democracy and sectarian retrenchment. Creating a compelling portrait of Daniel Warner and the Church of God movement in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Fudge successfully places them within the larger social and political context of American religious culture while avoiding the hagiographic tendencies of earlier studies on the subject. . . . Fudge’s well-researched and readable case study. . . provides students of American religious history a fresh view of the inherent paradox at the heart of nineteenth-century American Protestantism.” – Canadian Journal of History

“It is probably one of the most thorough and coherent summaries of the issues of nineteenth-century American Christianity and its interconnectedness with American society of recent contribution. . . . Of particular interest to this reader are the pages devoted to an understanding of Sarah Kelly Warner’s role in the ministry of Daniel Warner. Dr. Fudge presents a careful and balanced look at the role Sarah has played in defining his ministry, particularly subsequent to denouncing ‘come-outism’ and afterward divorcing her husband. . . . Equally important is the author’s call to de-mythologize Daniel Warner, both positively and negatively. Fudge rightly makes the point that all historically significant leaders have been subjected to mythologization by their disciples, Warner not exempted. . . . There is not a doubt it will be a substantial addition to university libraries, as well as a text of interest to all students and readers of 19th-century American history.” – James D. Wilkins “It would be a welcome addition to college and university libraries, as well as for students of nineteenth century social and religious history. The research methods, analysis, and conclusions represent a high standard of scholarship. They are valuable in their own right as well as serving as a foundation for future works on related topics.” – Cole P. Dawson

Table of Contents

Table of Contents:
1. The 19th-Century American Religious Experience: The Fight between Carnival and Lent; Industrializing the new world; The Paradox of Religious Leaders - Responses to American Culture (Prophets, Preachers and Preaching, Popular Religion, the Culture of Religious Print); The Search for Order
2. Holiness as Challenge to Religious Culture: ‘Perfection’ in the thought of John Wesley; A Second Work of Grace; Holiness or Hell! – Contours of a Radical Cause (War on Worldliness, Divisions of Perfection,)
3. John Winebrenner and the ‘Come-Out’ Option: Origins of the Church of God; ‘A Narrower Way’
4. Daniel Warner and the Battle against ‘Babylon’
5. Conflict and Crisis in the Kingdom of God in Ohio: Denouncing ‘Come-Out Christianity; Creating the Warner Myth; Demonizing the Angel Sarah; God, the Devil and Warner’s Books; Shout at the Devil; Shadows in the Evening Light
6. Democracy and Dictatorship – A Gordian Knot
Appendices: Daniel Warner – ‘A Fallen Woman’; ‘Soul Cripple’; Charles Naylor – ‘The Teachings of D. S. Warner and his Associates’; Andrew Byers - ‘In Vindication of D. S. Warner and His Work’; The Hymns of Daniel Warner
Bibliography and Index

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