The Burdens of Church History | Church History | Cambridge Core (original) (raw)

Extract

In 1922, George Freeman Bragg, rector of an Episcopal Church in Baltimore, published a volume detailing the work of his fellow church members from the colonial era to the present. He painstakingly recorded baptisms, catechists, church growth, church debates, social outreach, and listed prominent leaders in the movement. His work was, in many respects, unremarkable, one of many garden-variety “church histories” that still line the shelves of seminaries and colleges around the country. Their production reminds us of an era of abundant confidence in the efficacy of religious institutions to shape society, and of histories to mold the future of Christian communities.

Type

Research Article

Copyright

Copyright © American Society of Church History 2013

References

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2 Rev. Tilman, W. H. Sr., “Baptist Church History,” in History of the First African Baptist Church, from its Organization, January 20th, 1788, to July 1st, 1888. Including the Centennial Celebration, Addresses, Sermons, etc., Emanuel King Love (Savannah, Ga.: The Morning News Print, 1888)Google Scholar, 233.

3 Robinson, Marilynne, The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998)Google Scholar, 149.

4 Woodward, C. Vann, The Burden of Southern History (1960; reprint ed., Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2008)Google Scholar, 8.

6 Hillerbrand, Hans, “Musings and Reflections,” Church History 80, no. 2 (June 2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 355; Corrigan, John, “From Unity to Locality,” Church History 80, no. 2 (June 2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 363.

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10 Amy O'Leary, “Building Congregations around Art Galleries and Cafes as Spirituality Wanes,” New York Times (December 30, 2012), A14.

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15 Gayraud Wilmore, Black Religion and Black Radicalism: An Interpretation of the Religious History of African Americans, first published in 1973, is the classic example of this tendency in the study of African American religious life.