A collection of America's historians, philosophers and theologians examines the role of religion in the founding of the United States. These essays, originally delivered at the Library of Congress, presents scholarship on a topic that still generates considerable controversy. Readers interested in colonial history, religion and politics, and the relationship between church and state should find the book helpful. Contributors include Daniel L. Driesbach, John Witte Jr, Thomas E. Buckley, Mark A. Knoll, Catherine A. Brekus, Michael Novak and James Hutson.

More than a generation after the rise of women's history alongside the feminist movement, it is still difficult, observes Catherine Brekus, to locate women in histories of American religion. Mary Dyer, a Quaker who was hanged for heresy; Lizzie Robinson, a former slave and laundress who sold Bibles door to door; Sally Priesand, a Reform rabbi; Estela Ruiz, who saw a vision of the Virgin Mary - how do these women's stories change our understanding of American religious history and American women's history? In this provocative collection of twelve essays, contributors explore how considering the religious history of American women can transform our dominant historical narratives. Covering a variety of topics - including Mormonism, the women's rights movement, Judaism, witchcraft trials, the civil rights movement, Catholicism, everyday religious life, Puritanism, African American women's activism, and the Enlightenment - the volume enhances our understanding of both religious history and women's history. Taken together, these essays sound the call for a new, more inclusive history.

Margaret Meuse Clay, who barely escaped a public whipping in the 1760s for preaching without a license; ""Old Elizabeth,"" an ex-slave who courageously traveled to the South to preach against slavery in the early nineteenth century; Harriet Livermore, who spoke in front of Congress four times between 1827 and 1844--these are just a few of the extraordinary women profiled in this, the first comprehensive history of female preaching in early America. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Catherine Brekus examines the lives of more than a hundred female preachers--both white and African American--who crisscrossed the country between 1740 and 1845. Outspoken, visionary, and sometimes contentious, these women stepped into the pulpit long before twentieth-century battles over female ordination began. They were charismatic, popular preachers, who spoke to hundreds and even thousands of people at camp and revival meetings, and yet with but a few notable exceptions--such as Sojourner Truth--these women have essentially vanished from our history. Recovering their stories, Brekus shows, forces us to rethink many of our common assumptions about eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American culture. |Profiles the women preachers--white and African-American--who struggled to forge an enduring tradition of female religious leadership in early America