Women in Early American Religion, 1600-1850: The Puritan and Evangelical Traditions (Christianity and Society in the Modern World) [Paperback]

Marilyn J. Westerkamp (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415194482 | ISBN-13: 978-0415194488 | Publication Date: May 12, 1999 | Edition: 1

Women in Early American Religion, 1600-1850 explores the first two centuries of America's religious history, examining the relationship between the socio-political environment, gender, politics and religion
Drawing its background from women's religious roles and experiences in England during the Reformation, the book follows them through colonial settlement, the rise of evangelicalism with the 'great awakening', the American Revolution and the second flowering of popular religion in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Women in Early American Religion, 1600-1850 traces the female spiritual tradition through the Puritans, Baptists and Shakers, arguing that it was a strong empowering force for women.

Editorial Reviews

Review

a fine synopsis of the early years of Protestantism in North America.
–The Historian

Marilyn Westerkamp has written an informative and intelligent overview of women's religious experiences within the Puritan and evangelical traditions in early America...In elucidating the complex and shifting character of women's religious experience, Westerkamp gives an unexpected meaning to the idea of declension in early American religious history. Journal of the Early Republic. Vol, 21, No. 4. .
By examining the seventeenth-century witchcraft trials and preaching women's endorsement of traditional female roles, she demonstrates how religion afforded opportunities for women's empowerment, while also placing limits on that power. Although specialists in women and religion will find much of this book familoiar, and Westerkamps' vauge definition of evangelicalism confuse the relationship among Purtanism, Quakeism, and Methodism, this book provides a helpful introduction to the study of women and religion.
–Linda S. Neal, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Much needed synthesis . . . written with grace and clarity. Westerkamp leads the reader through important transformations that have marked American women's place in the radical Protestant tradition.
–Susan Juster, University of Michigan

Westerkamp weaves a skillful synthesis of both the constraints on and the opportunities for women in the colonial manifestations of English dissenting traditions..
–The Journal of American History, September 2001

About the Author

Marilyn J. Westerkamp is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is the author of Triumph of the Laity: Scots-Irish Piety and the Great Awakening (1988).

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (May 12, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415194482
• ISBN-13: 978-0415194488
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #911,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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