Perfectionist Politics: Abolitionism and the Religious Tensions of American Democracy - Hardcover

Strong, Douglas M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0815627939 ISBN 13: 9780815627937

Publisher: Syracuse Univ Pr, 1999

Synopsis

This text tells the story of the American reform movement known as ecclesiastical abolitionism. Reconciling church and state through the ethical experience of evangelical perfectionism, these radical Protestants formed a network of abolition churches and campaigned for the Liberty party.

About this title

Review:

The struggle among the most radical religions to purge their churches and society of sin, especially slavery, and their uncompromising efforts to force morality into political discourse are nowhere better told than in historian Strong's informed exegesis of perfectionist ideas and personalities and his careful mapping of the schisms and political awakenings across western New York. . . . Strong reminds us that ethical issues were part of American politics long before the Civil Rights crusades and the Moral Majority.--Library Journal

Strong masterfully establishes a clear and specific tie between the revivalism of upstate New York's 'burned-over district' and the abolitionist Liberty Party.--Religious Studies Review

About the Author:

Douglas M. Strong is professor of the history of Christianity at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D. C. He is the author of They Walked in Spirit: Personal Faith and Social Action in America.

About this edition

• Publisher: Syracuse Univ Pr
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0815627939
• ISBN 13: 9780815627937
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 263