Religion in the American
Colonies
Mr. Marston
Dominion Christian High School
Marietta, GA
U.S. History
Toleration of other Religions??
• Each colony was established with a religion
• VA: Anglican
• Massachusetts: Calvinist/Puritan
• Pennsylvania: Quakers
• Maryland: Catholics
• Religious toleration was forced to occur due to
the many different denominations being
practiced in the New World
New York: had different forms of Christianity on
every street corner.
As time went by, religious piety waned
1699: the Brattle Street Church in Boston observed a religion that was non-
doctrinaire, moral rather than pious, and viewed by Puritans as secular
Virginia: After initial colony survived, the insistence upon regular Sunday
church attendance was eliminated. People might attend church once per
month.
1752: Philadelphia: 12 churches, but 14 rum distilleries
Cotton Mather (1702) He could see the capitalist spirit was flourishing in the
streets. Conformist preachers pushed their congregations to amass more
wealth as an outward symbol of grace.
In Virginia, Anglican priests were paid for by their congregations. They were
afraid of preaching things that might upset their listeners. There was little
that was said about sin and repentance, or living a Godly life.
Materialism in New England took over (love of possessions and wealth)
England
• Henry VIII sought divorce from the Pope
(previous divorces had been granted to secular
rulers)
Pope was caught in a difficult position because
Catherine of Aragon was related to Charles V,
(Catherine’s nephew) King of Spain and Holy
Roman Emperor.
Henry VIII: remained a doctrinal Catholic: Only
wanted to break with the pope for political
reasons
Anglican Church (Church of England)
• Edward VI: advisors tried to push through Anglican
(Church of England) reforms
• Queen Mary: (Bloody Mary) tried to reinstate Roman
Catholicism, but failed
• Queen Elizabeth: (Henry VIII’s daughter) devised the
Elizabethan Settlement, a compromise (via media) that
blended a Protestant church with Roman Catholic
trappings (vestments, incense, holy water, music,
liturgy, etc)
• Via media: The middle way
• Anglican Church: Book of Common Prayer and the 39
articles put together by Sir Thomas Cranmer
Results of Elizabethan Settlement: no one
was happy, but it kept the Church of
England together
• Puritans: wanted to eliminate Roman Catholic
trappings
• Low Church Anglicans: Agreed with Puritans
doctrinally, but saw no problem with keeping
ceremonies and structure of Roman Catholic
Church
• High Church Anglicans: Almost Catholic. Believed
church hierarchical structure was divinely
ordained.
• Separatists: must separate from Church
Anglicanism
• Virginia in 1607 in Jamestown: a strong religious force in
America after Puritanism
• Early settlers not interested in creating a holy
commonwealth like the Puritans
• Evangelism efforts:
• SPCK: Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge.
Provided Christian literature for missionary work and
helped establish 40 libraries in the colonies.
• SPG: Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts: focused on securing ministers for the colonies.
• Became established church in VA, MD, (after 1689),
Carolinas, Georgia, and parts of NY and NJ.
Problems with Anglicanism
• Shortage of priests (1700) in VA for 60,000
people there were only 22 priests.
• Some were not qualified academically or
spiritually (received appointments based on
friendships or favors)
Puritans
• Justification by faith alone
• Sola scriptura
• Covenant: agreements that establish the
relationship between God and Man.
• For example, “covenant of grace”: salvation
granted by God in exchange of one obeying and
following God.
• “A City upon a Hill”
• Church melded with the state
Church government
• Anglican: Episcopal: (Hierarchical) Top Down
Monarch-archbishop-bishop-priest-deacon
Presbyterian: rule by elected officials. Laity
(members of congregation) elect their officials
(bottom-up)
Puritans: Congregationalist: each congregation
or church elected its own officers and
remained independent from other churches?
Advantages? Disadvantages?
Puritan new members
• As witnessed by church leaders, new members were
admitted upon their profession of salvation through faith in
Christ.
• Children of converted members were baptized as infants
(could not become full members and take communion until
they too, professed salvation through faith)
• Over time, fewer and fewer New Englanders professed
their salvation through faith: led to decline in church
membership.
• Did not want to leave the church because privileges of
membership (elected officials had to be church members,
standing in community, right to vote in colonial elections)
Half-way Covenant
• Church members who had not made the
profession of faith, but whose lives were
outwardly moral, could present their children for
baptism.
Covenant allowed unconverted members to enjoy
the full privileges of citizenship. (voting)
Could not become full members (take communion)
until they professed a personal faith in Christ.
Increased the number of members who did not
profess a personal faith. This was a serious
compromise of the original Puritans
Baptists
• Roger Williams in Rhode Island
• Suffered persecution from colonial authorities
in Massachusetts and Virginia
• Doctrine of Baptism
1. Practiced congregational polity
2. Only spiritually reborn should be church
members
3. Only professing believers should be baptized
(Full immersion)
Quakers: Shake, Rattle, and Roll:
George Fox
Get your quake on!
• Inner Light: an illumination from God found in
ever man.
• Means what?
1. Holy Spirit?
2. Spark of Divinity?
3. Christ working inside you?
4. New age??
Man is saved through obeying its leading, rather
through the atonement of Christ (heresy??)
Quakers
• Opposed participating in war
• Opposed taking oaths
• Opposed holding political office
• Worship was plain (sat in silence until
someone felt the urge or the calling to give a
word or testimony)
• Did not have regular ministers
• Did not practice Church sacraments (Baptism
or Holy Eucharist
Quaker Book of Discipline
• Book of guidelines covering
every aspect of Quaker life.
• Its purpose was to establish
"Decency and comely Order
in all our Meetings of
Worship, & Plainness in the
particular Members of our
Society.“
Quaker meeting
Revolutionary and definitely
Gender Equitable
• equality for women
• Women were allowed to speak in Meetings for
Worship and to preach the Gospel.
3 types of Quakers
• 1. Inner Light supporters: rejected the Bible
and claimed direct communications from God
• 2. Moralists: emphasized the performance of
good works alone as the essence of being a
Quaker
• 3. those who believed atonement only
through Christ and the authority of the Bible
Jews in America: early synagogue in Newport, RI (Only surviving one from
colonial period)
Jews in America
• Jews came to New Amsterdam in 1654.
• Religious services took place in the city the
following year.
• By 1658 Jews had arrived in Newport, Rhode
Island, also seeking religious liberty.
• Many settled in seaport towns in English
colonies.
Presbyterians
• Followers of John Calvin in Geneva,
Switzerland: similar to Puritans
• Organized along the Presbyterian polity:
bottom up
• Emphasized the authority and sovereignty of
God
• necessity of grace through faith in Jesus
Christ.
Francis Makemie
• Father of Presbyterianism
• Was arrested for preaching without a license
in New York: jailed for six weeks
• Considered to be a landmark case for religious
freedom in America
• Said that the Act of Toleration (1689) in
England applied to the colonies: This would
guarantee freedom of worship in America.
Francis Makemie
Lutheranism
• Based on the teachings of Martin Luther
• Justification by grace alone through faith
• Sola scriptura
• The Book of Concord or Concordia (1580) is
the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran
Church, consisting of ten creedal documents
recognized as authoritative.
Henry Muhlenberg: Father of
American Lutheranism
Muhlenberg
• German pastor was sent as a missionary to
America
• He ministered to the German language
populations he was assigned to, but also to
Dutch and English settlers in their language as
well.
• Muhlenberg was asked to resolve disputes
between Lutherans and other religious groups
because he was multi-lingual.
Lutherans
• Lutherans populated New York, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, and North Carolina
Other European Denominations
• Dutch Reformed: Calvinists. “State church” of the
Netherlands. Not many Dutch reformed because of the
religious toleration found in the Netherlands
• French Reformed: Huguenots. Religiously persecuted under
Louis XIV after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (This gave
freedom of religion to the Huguenots)
• German Reformed: Southern Germany. Calvinist and
unadorned, plain liturgy. (Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North
Carolina)
Anabaptist Groups (Mennonites,
Amish, and the Hutterites)
• Rejected church tradition such as wearing
wedding rings, taking oaths, and participating
in state-government.
• Believed in credobaptism (Believers baptism):
baptized upon the profession of faith: no
infant baptism. Usually by immersion.
• Bible as the sole rule of faith and practice
• Freedom of Religion
• Pacifism
Menno Simons
Mennonites
• Menno Simons: Catholic priest in the
Netherlands questioned infant baptism and
transsubstantiation.
• He would have a price on his head for the
remainder of his life.
• Many joined the Calvinists in Switzerland.
Those who stayed outside the state church, but
wanted to keep in communion remained
Mennonites. Those who wanted to sever ties
with the state church became Amish.
Jakob Amman
Amish
• Amish believed those who left the church
should be shunned (Meidung)
• known for their simple living, plain dress, and
resistance to the adoption of many modern
conveniences.
• Speak Pennsylvania Dutch
• Live in Pennsylvania
“Amish Airlines”
“Modern Amish”
Amish Cartoons
• http://www.cartoonbank.com/directory/Amis
h-cartoons.html
Jakob Hutter and the Hutterites
• Community of goods (community property
owned in common and managed by trustees
for the group)
• Absolute pacifism
Pietists
• Religious movement within Lutheranism
• Took place between 17th and 18th century
• Wanted to restore “life in the church”
• study of the Bible in private meetings
• Priesthood of all believers
• Christianity must be practiced
• Treatment those who do not believe with compassion and sympathy
• Theological university training should emphasis a devotional life
• A preaching style that will influence the soul, not just “sweet” sermons
that do not move the soul.
Philipp Jakob Spener: Father of
Pietism
John Hus: Moravians. Most
important Pietist group
Hus
• Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic)
• Wanted to reform Roman Catholic Church
• Doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone
• Married Priests
• Mass in the vernacular
• No indulgences
• No purgatory
• Burned at the Stake for his beliefs
Moravians
• Found in North Carolina and Pennsylvania
• Evangelism was a primary concern of the
Moravians
Roman Catholics
• Maryland
• Seen as persecutors because of happenings in
Europe
• Catholics could be subject to prejudice for
their “mysterious” beliefs.
• Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania
Early Colonial Churches
Churches
• Built near the center of town to indicate their
importance
• Used for public meeting places
• Plain interior
• Hierarchy among pew sitters: (people paid for
them) more affluent sat in front
• Balcony: servants, slaves, and free blacks
Video on Colonial Churches
• http://thoughtsactions.wordpress.com/2008/
04/03/early-american-church-buildings/
Early Colonial Church
Pews
• Pews were sold to families
• Wealthier sat in front of church
• Anglican churches had doors on pews that
would lock. No one could sit in “family pews.”
• ½ empty church and people were left to stand
because no one could sit in family pew
St. George’s Church in
Fredricksburg, VA
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Church Services
• Drum, later a bell, would summon people to
worship
• Morning and evening service
• No Sunday School
• Children attended catechism: (instruction
about faith in question and answer format)
• Episcopal Book of Common Prayer
• Presbyterian Westminster Confession of Faith
• Lutheran Concordance
Catechism
Outline of Service
• Long prayer and reading of scripture
• Singing (Psalm 100: Doxology) “Old Hundreth”
• Puritans published book of hymns called the
Bay Psalm Book (1640 first book written and
printed in English colonies)
• No instruments: later organ came into use
• Sermon was centerpiece of church service.
Singing
• Gloria Patria: Catholics
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, and
now, and always, to the ages of ages. Amen.
Doxology
Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise
Him above, ye Heavenly Host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doxology (Gloria Patria)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcyUMT7uhzE&feature=related
Missionizing to the Indians
• Converting Native American to the gospel was
a goal of the colonists from the beginning
• Isolated Efforts
• Roger Williams: Rhode Island. One of the first
white men to preach to the Indians.
Believed Indians should be treated with dignity
and respect. Fairly compensated them for
their lans.
• John Campanius: Swedish Lutheran: worked
among the Delaware Indians
John Eliot preaching to the
Algonquin Indians
Eliot’s success
• Eliot learned Algonquin and began to preach to them
• Translated bible into the Algonquian tongue (4,000 Indians
were said to have been converted) “Praying Indians”
• Ministry came to an end during the (King Philip’s War) war
with the Indians (1675-1676)
• The converted Algonquins sided with the English
• Eliot established Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
New England: the main Congregationalist agency for
conducting Indian mission work
Eliot’s Praying Indians
David Brianerd
• His Journal influenced others to missionize to
the Indians
Brainerd: Was expelled from Yale for disrespect to a teacher. Had a building named
after him. Only Yale expelled student to ever have building named after him.
Eleazer Wheelock
• Trained Indians as missionaries in his school
• School became Dartmouth College
David Zeisberger
• Moravian Efforts were successful in the middle
and southern colonies
• Inspired Indian converts to teach their own
people
• Led the most successful mission in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania called Gnadenhutten (sheltered
by grace)
David Zeisberger
The Great Awakening
• Series of revivals in the 1740’s
• Scholarly dispute when period actually was
Took place between 1730’s and 1740’s
Why?
Religious piety was waning
Began to question hierarchical authority
Need for religious upsurge
Why was the Great Awakening,
well great?
• It happened throughout the colonies
• All social classes were impacted
• Lasted several decades
• Conversions numbered in the thousands
• Changed religious life in the colonies
• Evangelism gained a new importance
Theodore Frelinghuysen
• Dutch Reformed Calvinist
• Preached practical Christian living
• Emphasized personal conversion
• Began series of revivals in the 1720’s
Theodore Frelinghuysen
Gilbert Tennent
• Preached the need for personal conversion
and holy living
• Did not prepare his remarks. Expected the
Holy Spirit to fill his mouth with the right
words
Gilbert Tennent
Great Awakening: Main Movers
• Jonathan Edwards: • George Whitefield:
Theologian preacher
Jonathan Edwards
• Minister of NorthHampton, Massachusetts
Congregationalist Church
• All around him, he saw evidence of God in the
natural world.
• “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
God should send us sinners to hell because we
are deserved of it, but only by his grace are we
not sent
Most important voice in 18th century English
Calvinism
Edwards
• Believed in predestination
• Justification by faith
Jonathan Edwards
George Whitefield
• Started off as an Anglican minister
• Made 7 different trips to the colonies between
1738 and 1770
• First revival preacher
• Used commercial newspapers and word of
mouth to promote his sermon tours
• Most widely known person in the colonies
before the Revolution
Whitefield continued
• Cross-eyed.
• First person to take religion out of church to
the outside (Church was too stuffy and
couldn’t hold the crowds) Boston Common
• Had collapsible pulpit that he carried with him
• Booming, powerful voice
• Memorized his sermons
• Made physical gestures
Whitefield continued
• Gravesite in Massachusetts became a
pilgrimage site for Protestants
George Whitefield
Old vs. New Lights
(Presbyterianism)
• Old Lights: concerned about doctrines
Churches should fulfill social disciplinary
function. Didn’t want change
Believed in the existing hierarchy
New Lights: against hierarchy and authority
Emotive form of worship
Great Awakening was appealing to them
Samuel Davies
• Preached in the South into Virginia
• Persuaded authorities to permit more
religious liberty for non-Anglicans
• Promoted education by supporting the
founding of the future Washington and Lee in
Lexington, VA and by serving as the president
to the College of New Jersey (Princeton)
Shubal Stearns
• Converted by George Whitefield
• Preached in North Carolina
• Saw the establishment of Baptists in the South
Results of the Great Awakening
• Church growth (Presbyterians and Baptists)
• Number of religious colleges increased
• Religious and spiritual life of the churches was
transformed (personal regeneration for
membership)
• Promoted unity and division among churches
• First true national movement in American
History: rights of free speech and assembly
• Questioned authority that was a precursor to