Adin Ballou's Spiritual Journey through Nineteenth-Century New England: Practical Christianity
(Hardback)
Publishing Details
Adin Ballou's Spiritual Journey through Nineteenth-Century New England: Practical Christianity
By (Author) Bryce Hal Taylor
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Lexington Books
28th December 2022
United States
Classifications
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
History of religion
277.407092
Physical Properties
Hardback
270
Width 157mm, Height 237mm, Spine 22mm
544g
Description
New England Christianity in the nineteenth century produced an almost unending stream of new and old denominations that speckled the landscape. Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, Universalists, Spiritualists, Unitarians, Restorationists, and Calviniststo name a fewbeckoned each individual to join their growing movements. Each professed its truths and some proclaimed theirs was the only path leading to salvation. Admist this Christian angst, Adin Ballou began his spiritual quest to obtain truth.
Through Ballou's lengthy spiritual quest, from 1820 to 1880, this book examines how denominational histories, however important, do not explain what a nineteenth-century New England Christian became. Ballou exemplifies this paradox. Always fixed, but never settled. Once a believer chose a path, new phenomena and teachings immediately appeared leaving one's truth claims transient. Through the Christian maze of nineteenth-century New England, Ballou's Christian faith was simply his own.
Reviews
Adin Ballou is a compelling figure, and Taylor has provided a valuable portrait of Ballou's life, work, and world.
-- "New England Quarterly"Author Bio
Bryce Hal Taylor teaches in the Department of History at Brigham Young University.
