In 1743, sitting quietly with pen in hand, Sarah Osborn pondered how to tell the story of her life, how to make sense of both her spiritual awakening and the sudden destitution of her family. Remarkably, the memoir she created that year survives today, as do more than two thousand additional pages she composed over the following three decades. Sarah Osborn's World is the first book to mine this remarkable woman's prolific personal and spiritual record. Catherine Brekus recovers the largely...

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,...

A collection of the country's most respected historians, philosophers, and theologians examines the role of religion in the founding of the United States. This collection of never before published essays, originally delivered at the Library of Congress, presents the most original and recent scholarship on a topic that still generates considerable controversy. Anyone interested in colonial history, religion and politics, and the relationship between church and state will benefit by reading ...

Riveting and eloquent, the collected writings of a key figure—and one of the first female leaders—of the eighteenth-century evangelical movement Sarah Osborn (1714–1796) was one of the most charismatic female religious leaders of her time and one of relatively few colonial women whose writings have been preserved. This volume reprints selections from Osborn’s fascinating manuscripts, including her memoir, letters, and diaries.   An evangelical Christian who...

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 ...

From the founding of the first colonies until the present, the influence of Christianity, as the dominant faith in American society, has extended far beyond church pews into the wider culture. Yet, at the same time, Christians in the United States have disagreed sharply about the meaning of their shared tradition, and, divided by denominational affiliation, race, and ethnicity, they have taken stances on every side of contested public issues from slavery to women’s rights.This volu...