American originals: homemade varieties of Christianity

712 Pages·1997·1.7 MB·English

by  Paul Keith Conkin

American Originals : Homemade Varieties
title:
of Christianity
author: Conkin, Paul Keith.
publisher: University of North Carolina Press
isbn10 | asin: 0807823422
print isbn13: 9780807823422
ebook isbn13: 9780807860854
language: English
subject Christian sects--United States.
publication date: 1997
lcc: BR516.5.C65 1997eb
ddc: 280/.0973
subject: Christian sects--United States.
Page iii
American Originals
Homemade Varieties of Christianity
Paul K. Conkin
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS/CHAPEL HILL &
LONDON
Page iv
© 1997 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper in this book meets the guidelines
for permanence and durability of the Committee
on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council on Library Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Conkin, Paul Keith.
American originals: homemade varieties of
Christianity/Paul K. Conkin.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8078-2342-2 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 0-8078-4649-x (pbk.: alk. paper)
I. Christian sects United States. I. Title.
BR516.5.C65 1997
280'.0973 dc20 96-35270
CIP
01 00 99 98 97 5 4 3 2 1
Page v
Contents
Preface vii
1 1
Restoration Christianity
Christians and Disciples
2 57
Humanistic Christianity
Unitarians and Universalists
3 110
Apocalyptic Christianity
Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses
4 162
Mormon Christianity
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
5 226
Spiritual Christianity
Christian Science and Unity
6 276
Ecstatic Christianity
The Holiness and Pentecostal Movements
Afterward 316
Index 323

Page vii
Preface
North America provided special opportunities for religious
innovation. In the English colonies and then the United States, plenty
of space, the desire for immigration and population growth, and the
eventual absence of an established church all combined to provide
opportunities for religious prophets and reformers. Some of these
broke from the boundaries of Christianity, but none of the new, non-
Christian religions ever gained a large following. Because of the
heritage of Europeans in America, most religious innovations
remained within Christianity, if broadly defined. At the very least, the
most successful new prophets or reformers believed that Jesus was the
promised Messiah and that in some sense he opened a new path to
salvation.
To write a book on American originals is to confront all manner of
definitional and boundary problems. Every new Christian sect in
America had some European progenitors or anticipations, although
least so for Mormons and Christian Scientists. Universalists,
Unitarians, Adventists, and restorationists all had doctrinal roots in the
past or cousins back in Europe. Modern Pentecostals have had
counterparts in Britain and elsewhere. Thus, I do not claim that all
aspects of any of the religious groups treated in this book were
original or peculiarly American. I do believe that they now represent
quite distinctive versions of Christianity and that they have a special
home in America, however much they borrowed from abroad.
My topic is not specific denominations, but distinctive types of
Christianity, whether represented in America by only one
denomination or by many. Yet even this guideline faces problems, as
best illustrated by the present Disciples of Christ. They derive from
the broader Restoration

Page viii
movement, still reflect in doctrine and practice some of the distinctive
features of that movement, but have become so ecumenical and have
so loosened the bases of separate identity as to be virtually a part of
the Christian mainstream. A majority of Unitarian-Universalists no
longer claim a Christian identity and thus have moved, or are moving,
outside the boundaries of Christianity. The doctrinal divisions within
Pentecostalism are deep and perhaps intractable. Some doctrines of
the Mormons are so original and so far from any traditional
Christianity that many orthodox critics deny their Christian
profession.
I have not attempted a history of all original forms of Christianity in
America, just the largest and most influential. I believe that my six
clusters or groupings encompass well over 90 percent of Americans
who have embraced new or original forms of Christianity. But the
other 10 percent includes several identifiable sects, some very small,
some quite bizarre. Yet even tiny sects most often fit within one of my
six categories. That is, they are most often distinguished by
apocalyptic, spiritualistic, humanistic, restorationist, or ecstatic beliefs
and behaviors. Some are fascinating hybrids, such as the
Christadelphians, who combine restorationist, Adventist, and
Anabaptist doctrines. One communal group, the Shakers, made up (a
handful of survivors still make up) a quite original American religion,
even though its dominant prophet, Ann Lee, immigrated from
England. The doctrines about her, and the unique institutions of the
Shakers, were American inventions. The Shakers were unique, not
because of their communalism, but because of some doctrines closely
tied to it. The Hutterites, the largest communal sect in both the United
States and Canada, are, in doctrines and values, model Anabaptists.
Their roots are in Europe. So were the doctrines of the Amana
Society, the Harmonists, and others. Thus, unlike some other scholars,
I do not find, in a community of goods, a proper grouping category for
American Christian sects.
Neither do I find such in race or ethnicity. This does not mean that
Christian movements are exempt from cultural influences. Even
within a confessional tradition, the understanding of essential
doctrines as well as the nuances of self-expression in iconography and
music will vary according to culture. Thus, in ways not always easy to
define, Hispanic Catholics in America differ from those of English
and Irish derivation. These differences largely reflect the assimilation
of aspects of earlier Indian religions. But any religious tradition will
reflect cultural influences. In a sense, every expression of Christianity
has an ethnic component. These cultural differences are additive to
what is essential or definitive in any tradition. Hispanic Catholics, if
they adhere to the normative doctrines of the church, are as much
Roman Catholics as are Italians.
Page ix
In the United States, race has some additional dimensions. African
Americans derive from many areas of West Africa, each with a
different language and religious heritage. In most areas of North
America these African peoples were unable to retain their native
languages or, in pure form, their traditional religions. In time,
particularly in the United States, they had to learn English, but with
some retained linguistic elements from the old world, and in time
most would convert to various Christian confessions. At times slave
owners controlled access and choice, but at times blacks were able to
choose the Christian sect they preferred, although again in a context of
limited options. Yet, in each case, ranging from Roman Catholicism in
Louisiana to evangelical forms of Baptism and Methodism in most of
the South, they retained some influences from Africa. To an extent
difficult to measure, some African survivals, particularly in patterns of
worship, helped shape forms of popular white Christianity. In much of
the rural South a merging of religious styles soon blurred the
boundaries between blacks and whites, who in most cases worshiped
in the same congregations until after emancipation. Blacks eventually
joined all denominations, but because of location or culturally
influenced preferences, most became Baptists and Methodists in the
nineteenth century, while very recently a disproportionate number
have joined Pentecostal denominations. In each case, the flavor of
black Christianity has been different, but no more reflective of cultural
roots than white versions. Black Baptists are as authentically Baptist
as whites. It makes good sense to talk about African influences on
various Christian confessions in America, but no sense at all to
classify black Christians, who are present in every denomination, as
constituting a separate form of Christianity, at least so long as one
defines a religious tradition in terms of scriptures, doctrines, polities,
and moral standards.
Many of the major American originals have become world religions