The Protestant Clergy in the Great Plains and Mountain West, 1865-1915 - Softcover

Szasz, Ferenc Morton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0803293119 ISBN 13: 9780803293113

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 2004

Synopsis

The mainline Protestant churches played a vital role in the settlement of the West. Yet historians have, for the most part, bypassed this theme. This account recreates the unique religious and cultural mix that sets this region apart from the rest of the nation.

From itinerant circuit riders to powerful urban bishops, western clergy were continually involved in the maturation of their communities. Their duties on the frontier extended far beyond delivering Sunday sermons; they also served as librarians, counselors, social workers, educators, booksellers, peacekeepers, and general purveyors of culture.

Weaving together the varied experiences of men and women from the five major Protestant denominations—Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational, and Episcopal—the author discusses their responses to life on the frontier: the violence, the tumultuous growth of the cities, the isolation of farm life, and the widespread hunger, especially among women, for “refinement.”

About this title

About the Author:

Ferenc Morton Szasz is Regents’ Professor of History at the University of New Mexico and the author of Religion in the Modern American West and The Day the Sun Rose Twice: The Story of the Trinity Site Nuclear Explosion, July 16, 1945.

Review:

"Essential to understanding not only the vitality of American religion today, but also the process of creating Christian hegemony in the United States."—Christian Science Monitor (Christian Science Monitor)

"An enjoyable and informative volume." —Anglican and Episcopal History (Anglican and Episcopal History)

"[Szasz] has reopened the trans-Mississippi West in a book that will prove indispensable not only to historians of American religion but to those of social, cultural, and, of course, frontier history as well."—American Historical Review (American Historical Review)

“Literate clarity and impressive detail. . . . An intriguing-eye opener for considering the West from a different view.”—Chuck Lewis, True West Magazine (Chuck Lewis True West Magazine)

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0803293119
• ISBN 13: 9780803293113
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288