Smitten : sex, gender, and the contest for souls in the Second Great Awakening / Rodney Hessinger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hessinger, Rodney, author.

Series:

Cornell scholarship online.

Cornell scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Second Great Awakening.

Christianity--United States--History--19th century.

Christianity.

Enthusiasm--Religious aspects--Christianity--History--19th century.

Enthusiasm.

Sex--Religious aspects--Christianity--History--19th century.

Sex.

Sex role--Religious aspects--Christianity--History--19th century.

Sex role.

Women in Christianity--United States--History--19th century.

Women in Christianity.

Christian communities--United States--History--19th century.

Christian communities.

United States--Church history--19th century.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (227 pages)

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2022.

Summary:

In Smitten, Rodney Hessinger examines how the Second Great Awakening disrupted gender norms across a breadth of denominations. The displacement and internal migration of Americans created ripe conditions for religious competition in the North. Hessinger argues that during this time of religious ferment, religious seekers could, in turn, play the missionary or the convert. The dynamic of religious rivalry inexorably led toward sexual and gender disruption. Contending within an increasingly democratic religious marketplace, preachers had to court converts in order to flourish. They won followers through charismatic allure and making concessions to the desires of the people. Opening their own hearts to new religious impulses, some religious visionaries offered up radical dispensations-including new visions of how God wanted them to reorder sex and gender relations in society.

Contents:

"Fanaticism can wield such a mighty influence over the female heart" : The Evolving Rhetoric of Anti-Mormonism in the Early Republic

"A Base and Unmanly Conspiracy" : The Hogan Schism and Catholicism in a Gendered Religious Marketplace

"The Fruits of Shakerism" : The Embodiment of Motherhood in Debates between Shakers and Their Rivals

Mixing "the poison of lust with the ardor of devotion" : Conjuring Fears of the Reverend Rake and the Rise of Anti-enthusiasm Literature

The Sexual Containment of Perfectionism : John Humphrey Noyes and His Critics.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Also issued in print: 2022.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Print version: Hessinger, Rodney Smitten

ISBN:

9781501766480