Prophesies of Godlessness: Predictions of America's Iminent Secularization from the Puritans to Postmodernity
Prophesies of Godlessness: Predictions of America's Iminent Secularization from the Puritans to Postmodernity
Cite
Abstract
This book explores the surprisingly similar expectations of religious and moral change voiced by major American thinkers from the time of the Puritans to modern times. These predictions of “godlessness” in American society — sometimes by those favoring the foreseen future, sometimes by those fearing it — have a history as old as America, and indeed seem crucially intertwined with it. This book shows that there have been and continue to be patterns to these prophesies. They determine how some people perceive and analyze America's prospective moral and religious future, how they express themselves, and powerfully affect how others hear them. While these patterns have taken a sinuous and at times subterranean route to the present, when we think about the future of America we are thinking about that future largely with terms and expectations first laid out by past generations, some stemming back before the very foundations of the United States. Even contemporary atheists and those who predict optimistic techno-utopias rely on scripts that are deeply rooted in the American past. This book excavates the history of these prophesies. Each chapter attends to a particular era, and each is organized around a focal individual, a community of thought, and changing conceptions of secularization. Each chapter also discusses how such predictions are part of all thought about “the good society,” and how such thinking structures our apprehension of the present, forming a feedback loop of sorts.
-
Front Matter
-
Introduction: Prophesies of Godlessness
-
1
Puritans and Revolution: Remembering the Origin; Religion and Social Critique in Early New England
Wilson N. Brissett
-
2
The Early Republic: Thomas Jefferson's Philosophy of History and the Future of American Christianity
Johann Neem
-
3
The Romantic Era: Emerson's Churches of One
Matthew Mutter
-
4
The Civil War: Redeemer President and Warrior Prophet: Abraham Lincoln, William T. Sherman, and Evangelical Protestantism
Wayne Wei‐siang Hsieh
-
5
After the Civil War: Auguste Comte's Theory of History Crosses the Atlantic
Andrew Witmer
-
6
The Gilded Age and Progressive Era: Mastery, Modern Doubt, and the Costs of Progress
Christopher McKnight Nichols
-
7
World War I and After: Godlessness and the Scopes Trial
Kevin M. Schultz
-
8
The Thirties to the Fifties: Totalitarianism and the Second American Enlightenment
David Ciepley
-
9
The Sixties: Secularization and the Prophesies of Freedom
Slavica Jakelić
-
10
The Seventies and Eighties: A Reversal of Fortunes
Joseph E. Davis andDavid Franz
-
11
From 11/9/1989 to 9/11/2001 and Beyond: The Return of Jeremiad and the Specter of Secularization
Joshua Yates
-
Conclusion: Prophesies, in Retrospect and Prospect
-
End Matter
Sign in
Personal account
- Sign in with email/username & password
- Get email alerts
- Save searches
- Purchase content
- Activate your purchase/trial code
- Add your ORCID iD
Purchase
Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.
Purchasing informationMonth: | Total Views: |
---|---|
October 2022 | 3 |
October 2022 | 2 |
October 2022 | 1 |
October 2022 | 2 |
October 2022 | 3 |
October 2022 | 1 |
October 2022 | 4 |
October 2022 | 1 |
October 2022 | 1 |
October 2022 | 1 |
October 2022 | 3 |
October 2022 | 2 |
October 2022 | 12 |
October 2022 | 3 |
October 2022 | 4 |
November 2022 | 1 |
November 2022 | 1 |
November 2022 | 1 |
November 2022 | 4 |
November 2022 | 3 |
November 2022 | 2 |
November 2022 | 4 |
December 2022 | 8 |
January 2023 | 1 |
January 2023 | 1 |
January 2023 | 2 |
January 2023 | 7 |
February 2023 | 1 |
February 2023 | 1 |
February 2023 | 1 |
February 2023 | 2 |
March 2023 | 4 |
March 2023 | 6 |
March 2023 | 3 |
April 2023 | 3 |
April 2023 | 1 |
April 2023 | 1 |
April 2023 | 1 |
April 2023 | 1 |
July 2023 | 2 |
July 2023 | 4 |
August 2023 | 3 |
September 2023 | 1 |
September 2023 | 1 |
October 2023 | 3 |
October 2023 | 1 |
November 2023 | 9 |
November 2023 | 1 |
November 2023 | 4 |
December 2023 | 2 |
December 2023 | 3 |
December 2023 | 1 |
December 2023 | 1 |
December 2023 | 1 |
January 2024 | 1 |
February 2024 | 1 |
February 2024 | 1 |
February 2024 | 1 |
May 2024 | 4 |
May 2024 | 3 |
June 2024 | 7 |
June 2024 | 7 |
June 2024 | 2 |
June 2024 | 2 |
June 2024 | 2 |
June 2024 | 3 |
June 2024 | 1 |
June 2024 | 2 |
June 2024 | 1 |
June 2024 | 1 |
June 2024 | 5 |
June 2024 | 2 |
June 2024 | 5 |
June 2024 | 1 |
June 2024 | 3 |
June 2024 | 5 |
June 2024 | 8 |
July 2024 | 2 |
July 2024 | 1 |
July 2024 | 1 |
July 2024 | 1 |
September 2024 | 1 |
December 2024 | 1 |
December 2024 | 1 |
December 2024 | 1 |
January 2025 | 1 |
February 2025 | 2 |
March 2025 | 1 |
April 2025 | 1 |
April 2025 | 3 |
Get help with access
Institutional access
Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:
IP based access
Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.
Sign in through your institution
Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.
If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.
Sign in with a library card
Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.
Society Members
Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:
Sign in through society site
Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:
If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.
Sign in using a personal account
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.
Personal account
A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.
Viewing your signed in accounts
Click the account icon in the top right to:
Signed in but can't access content
Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.
Institutional account management
For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.