"A study of antirevivalism is much overdue and James Bratt's book is something of a landmark. His command of the topic is impressive-full of surprises and previously unheard voices."-William R. Hutchison, Charles Warren Research Professor of the History of Religion in America, Harvard University

One of the most enduring images from the early years of American history is that of a preacher on horseback, slogging through mud and rain to bring folks in the backwoods the message of God and glory. Such religious revivals not only became the defining mark of American religion but also played a central role in the nation's developing identity, independence, and democratic principles.

But revivalism has always generated opposition, too, even in its century of glory. In Anti-Revivalism in Antebellum America, James D. Bratt offers extensive introductions to primary anti-revivalist documents. These works range from the Philadelphia Methodist John F. Watson's protests against camp meetings in 1819, to Elizabeth Cady Stanton's "Eighty Years and More," written in 1898, in which she recalls her youthful encounter with revival preaching and her rebound into political activism and religious agnosticism. Through the recovered voices of antebellum religious critics, Bratt shows how American culture was already being reshaped a generation before the Civil War and how evangelical religion stood at the center of a "culture war."

If revivals typified the era when Americans launched and defined their new nation, then objections to these revivals embodied the growing discontent at what the nation had become. An important and long overdue collection, this book urges an understanding of anti-revival literature both in the context of the era when it emerged as well as in terms of the broader dynamic of American life.

Includes selections from Orestes Brownson, Horace Bushnell, Calvin Colton, Orville Dewey, Albert Baldwin Dod, George Elley, Charles G. Finney, John Williamson Nevin, Stephen Olin, Phoebe Palmer, Daniel Alexander Payne, Ephraim Perkins, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Joseph Smith, Harriet Beecher Stowe, La Roy Sunderland, John Fanning Watson, Ellen G. White, and Friedrich C. D. Wyneken.

James D. Bratt is a professor of history at Calvin College and the director of the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1: Presenting the Issues
1. Camp Meeting Craziness
"Observer" [George Elley], "Methodistic Enthusiasm" (1845)
2. The Arrogance of Revival Theology
Albert Baldwin Dod, "Finney's Sermons" and "Finney's Lectures" (1835)
Part 2: Critiques from Populist Movements
3. A Methodist Against "Extravagance"
John Fanning Watson, Methodist Error (1819)
4. Attacking Pious Ignorance
Stephen Olin, "Duties of the Church" (1835)
La Roy Sunderland, "Essay on a Theological Education" (1834)
5. The Terrors of Calvinist Tyranny
Ephraim Perkins, A "Bunker Hill" Contest (1826)
6. The Dangers of Anti-Calvinist Tyranny
"Articles of Faith of the Kehukee Association"
"Black Rock Address" (1832)
Part 3: Critiques from Established Traditions
7. Good Taste and Tolerance
Orville Dewey, Letters of an English Traveler (1828)
8. A Plea for Pastoral Prerogative
Calvin Colton, Thoughts on the Religious State of the Country (1836)
9. The "Swarming Pests" of Methodism
Friedrich C. D. Wyneken, The Distress of the German Lutherans in North America (1843)
10. Not the Anxious Bench but the Communion Rail
John Williamson Nevin, The Anxious Bench (1843); The Mystical Presence (1846)
11. In Praise of Family Nurture
Horace Bushnell, Views of Christian Nurture (1847)
Part 4: Reconsiderations, Rehabilitations
12. Revivals in Need of Perfection
Charles G. Finney, Letters on Revivals (1845-46)
13. From Ecstasy to Scripture
Phoebe Palmer on Holiness (1843, 1881, 1861)
14. Dignified, Biblical Religion
Daniel Alexander Payne on Education and Worship (1845, 1859, 1888)
15. From Revival to Romance
Harriet Beecher Stowe, "The Revival of Religion" (1869)
Part 5: Renegades and New Departures
16. From Revival to New Revelation
Joseph Smith, "History, 1838"
17. From the New Heart to the End of the Age
Ellen G. White, Life Sketches (1915)
18. From Revival to Secular Psychology
La Roy Sunderland, Book of Psychology: Pathetism (1853)
19. From Revival to Women's Rights
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eighty Years and More (1898)
20. From Revival to Rome
Orestes Brownson, "Protestant Revivals and Catholic Retreats" (1858)
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index