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Mennonites, Revivalism, Modernity—1683–1850
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
Extract
In his Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, Richard Hofstadter portrayed eighteenth- and nineteenth-century revivalism in America as part of a “revolt against modernity.” Others, however, have suggested the opposite. For instance, Timothy Smith in his Revivalism and Social Reform saw revivalism as fundamental to much nineteenth-century American benevolence, a progenitor of the very social gospel that Hofstadter associated with modernity. And Donald G. Mathews saw in the Second Great Awakening of 1780 to 1830 an “organizing process” that fostered institutional structuring, mobilization of people for action, and their nationalization—ingredients central to theories of modernization, although Mathews himself did not use the term.1
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References
1. Hofstadter, Richard, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (New York, 1963), pt. 2;Google ScholarSmith, Timothy, Revivalism and Social Reform in Mid-Nineteenth Century America (New York, 1957), chaps. 9–13;Google ScholarMathews, Donald G., “The Second Great Awakening as an Organizing Process, 1780–1830: An Hypothesis,” American Quarterly 21 (Spring 1969): 23–43.Google Scholar Modernization theory referred to herein derives from basic readings of Max Weber, David Apter, S. N. Eisenstadt, Marion Levy Jr., Alex Inkeles and David H. Smith, Mary Douglas, Peter Berger, Joseph Gusfield, Clifford Geertz, and others. Writings that were especially helpful in applying theory were Winter, Gibson, Religious Identity: A Study of Religious Organization (New York, 1968);Google ScholarHarrison, Paul M., Authority and Power in the Free Church Tradition: A Social Case Study of the American Baptist Convention (Princeton, 1959);Google Scholar and two by Brown, Richard D., “Modernization and the Modern Personality in Early America, 1600–1865: A Sketch of a Synthesis,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 2 (Winter 1972): 201–228,Google Scholar and Modernization: the Transformation of American Life, 1600–1865 (New York, 1976).Google Scholar
2. See my Gospel Versus Gospel: Missions and the Mennonite Church, 1863–1944 (Scottdale, PA, 1979), chap. 1;Google Scholar“Revielle for die Stillen im Lande,” The Mennonite Quarterly Review 51 (07 1977): 213–226Google Scholar (hereafter cited as MQR); and “The Humble Become ‘Aggressive Workers’,” MQR 52 (04 1978): 113–126.Google Scholar
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For United Brethren accounts, see Newcomer, Christian, The Life and Journal of the Rev'd Christian Newcomer… (Hagerstown, MD, 1834);Google ScholarGibble, Phares, History of the East Pennsylvania Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Dayton, OH, 1951), pp. 37–59;Google ScholarBerger, Daniel, History of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Dayton, OH, 1897), p. 163.Google Scholar
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14. Lemon, , The Best Poor Man's Country, chap. 6, especially pp. 173 and 216.Google Scholar Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Historical Library (hereafter cited as EPMHL) at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School, Lansdale, PA, has an exceptional collection of such account books; a published example is Keyser, Alan G., ed., The Account Book of the Clemens Family…1749–1857 (Breinigsville, PA, 1975).Google ScholarLandis, Ira, “Martin Mylin (Ca. 1675–1749),” Mennonite Research Journal 9 (04 1968): 16–17,Google Scholar in part quoting Daniel Rupp.
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21. Quoted and briefly discussed in MacMaster, Richard K., “Neither Whig nor Tory: The Peace Churches in the American Revolution,” Fides et Historia 9 (Spring 1977): 12.Google Scholar The phrase “distressed brethren” was used by Congress. For an interpretation that differs from MacMaster's “neither Whig nor Tory” thesis, instead presenting Pennsylvania sectarian pacifists as “static loyalists,” see Young, Henry J., “The Treatment of the Loyalists in Pennsylvania” (Ph.D. diss., Johns Hopkins University, 1955), especially pp. 74–80.Google Scholar
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24. Ibid.
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28. Ruth ('Twas Seeding Time) is eloquent on how problematic the revolution was for Mennonites. For their pre-Revolution feeling of “unlimited freedom,” see Wenger, Franconia Conference, app. 1.
29. The township study is found in MacMaster, Richard, “The Children of God and the Children of Men” (Paper given at Goshen College, Goshe, IN, 17 12 1976);Google Scholar comparison with Lehman, James, “The Mennonites of Maryland During the Revolutionary War,” MQR 50 (07 1976): 200–229,Google Scholar might suggest that the Mennonites' willingness to pay the levies depended more on neighbors' attitudes than the reverse. The basic story of the Funk schism is in Wenger, , Franconia Conference, pp. 345–351,Google Scholar and in Ruth, , 'Twas Seeding Time, pp.64, 81–101, 158–166, 177–186, 195–199;Google Scholar the basic primary source is Christian Funk, Ein Spiegel für Alle Menschen, or an English version, A Mirror for All Mankind (Reading, PA, 1813; Norristown, PA, 1814).Google Scholar The Sauer communication is in Durnbaugh, Donald, ed., The Brethren in Colonial America (Elgin, IL, 1967), pp. 407–408.Google Scholar
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33. David Metzler to Jacob Hostetter and Christian Herr, 2 September 1846, Jacob Hostetter letters.
34. Ibid.
35. For the preacher-farmer's reading, see Hollenbach, Raymond, comp., “Gehman Family Records and Papers,” copy at EPMHL, pp. 24, 27–33, 26;Google Scholar Funk letters, Menno Simons Historical Library, Eastern Mennonite College, Harrisonburg, VA (for example, 24 Dec. 1837 or 1 July 1839 for the “nature's God” references); ME, 2:879–880.Google Scholar
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