Description
Book SynopsisStudies the development of religious congregations in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 1730 to 1820. Focuses on German Reformed, Lutherans, Moravians, Anglicans, and Presbyterians. Also examines how Roman Catholics, Jews, and African Americans were absorbed into this predominantly white Protestant society.
Trade Review“Thorough and persuasive. The people of Lancaster come across as devoted and essentially conservative, supporting their churches and attached to their ways of worship, even if individuals among them occasionally changed their minds. Häberlein persuasively shows that the laity provided the true continuity of the church.”
—Ned Landsmann,Stony Brook University
“No other recent scholarly study provides as thorough an account of the diversity of religious practice in a single community in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century America.”
—Scott Paul Gordon Journal of Moravian History
“One of the book’s major strengths is its research. Häberlein has meticulously assembled biographic and economic data on a large portion of the pastors, deacons, elders, vestrymen, and other lay leaders in Lancaster during this period. This excellent book adds much to the understanding of religion in the early mid-Atlantic and the maturation of backcountry American society.”
—Steve Longenecker The Catholic Historical Review
“This meticulously researched book explores the complex religious landscape of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, during the long eighteenth century.”
—S. E. Imhoff Choice
Table of ContentsPREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
1
A Quest for Order:
The German Reformed Congregation, 1733–1775
2
Growth and Disruption: Lutherans and Moravians
3
The English Churches of Colonial Lancaster
4
Religious Pluralism in an Eighteenth-Century Town
5
Lancaster’s Churches in the New Republic
6
The Transformation of Charity, 1750–1820
Conclusion
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
