In Earnestly Contending, Dickson Bruce examines the ways
in which religious denominations and movements in antebellum America coped with the ideals of
freedom and pluralism that exerted such a strong influence on the larger, national culture. Despite
their enormous normative power, these still-evolving ideals--themselves partly religious in
origin--ran up against deeply entrenched concerns about the integrity of religious faith and
commitment and the role of religion in society. The resulting tensions between these ideals and
desires for religious consensus and coherence would remain unresolved throughout the
period.Focusing on that era's interdenominational competition, Bruce
explores the possibilities for and barriers to realizing ideals of freedom and pluralism in
antebellum America. He examines the nature of religion from the perspectives of anthropology and
cognitive sciences, as well as history, and uses this interdisciplinary approach to organize and
understand specific tendencies in the antebellum period while revealing properties inherent in
religion as a social and cultural phenomenon. He goes on to show how issues from that era have
continued to play a role in American religious thinking, and how they might shed light on the
controversies of our own time.
Copyright:
2013
Book Details
Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:
9780813933641
Related ISBNs:
9780813933634
Publisher:
University of Virginia Press
Date of Addition:
05/07/13
Copyrighted By:
the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
