ABSTRACT
Women in Early American Religion, 1600-1850 explores the first two centuries of America's religious history, examining the relationship between the socio-political environment, gender, politics and religion. Drawing its background from women's religious roles and experiences in England during the Reformation, the book follows them through colonial settlement, the rise of evangelicalism, the American Revolution, and the second flowering of popular religion in the nineteenth century.
Tracing the female spiritual tradition through the Puritans, Baptists and Shakers, Westerkamp argues that religious beliefs and structures were actually a strong empowering force for women.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |8 pages
1 Women, the Spirit, and the Reformation
part |63 pages
Part I The Puritan heritage
chapter |24 pages
2 Wives and mothers in the colonial New England landscape
chapter |20 pages
4 The devil's minions
part |109 pages
Part II The rise of evangelical religion