That religion in which all men agree : freemasonry in American culture / David G. Hackett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hackett, David G.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Freemasons--United States--History.

Freemasons.

Freemasonry--United States--History.

Freemasonry.

Group identity--United States--History.

Group identity.

United States--Religion.

United States.

United States--Social life and customs.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (330 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, California : University of California Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This powerful study weaves the story of Freemasonry into the narrative of American religious history. Freighted with the mythical legacies of stonemasons' guilds and the Newtonian revolution, English Freemasonry arrived in colonial America with a vast array of cultural baggage, which was drawn on, added to, and transformed during its sojourn through American culture. David G. Hackett argues that from the 1730's through the early twentieth century the religious worlds of an evolving American social order broadly appropriated the beliefs and initiatory practices of this all-male society. For much of American history, Freemasonry was both counter and complement to Protestant churches, as well as a forum for collective action among racial and ethnic groups outside the European American Protestant mainstream. Moreover, the cultural template of Freemasonry gave shape and content to the American "public sphere." By including a group not usually seen as a carrier of religious beliefs and rituals, Hackett expands and complicates the terrain of American religious history by showing how Freemasonry has contributed to a broader understanding of the multiple influences that have shaped religion in American culture.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Colonial Freemasonry and Polite Society, 1733-1776

2. Revolutionary Masonry: Republican and Christian, 1757-1825

3. A Private World of Ritual, 1797-1825

4. Anti-Masonry and the Public Sphere, 1826-1850

5. Gender, Protestants, and Freemasonry, 1850-1920

6. The Prince Hall Masons and the African American Church: The Labors of Grand Master and Bishop James Walker Hood, 1864-1918

7. Freemasonry and Native Americans, 1776-1920

8. Jews and Catholics, 1723-1920

Epilogue

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780520287600

0520287606

9780520957626

0520957628

OCLC:

867931422