SHEAR for American Religious Historians

The Society for Historians of the Early American Republic (SHEAR) will meet next month in St. Louis, from July 18-21. I’ll be at the annual conference, and I thought I’d offer a preview of panels that focus on religion (the complete program is here). These panels indicate some interesting trends, including new scholarship on early American Catholicism, religion and social capital, and, unsurprising in light of recent discussions on this blog, reason, irreligion, and secularism. RiAH’s own Mike Pasquier will participate in the first of two panels on Catholicism, “Anti-Catholic America.”

I hope to see some of you in St. Louis!

Friday, July 19 8:30

Authority and Social Capital among Early American People of Faith

Chair: James Bratt, Calvin College
“‘If they will but think for themselves’: Lessons in Critical Thinking in Nineteenth-Century Evangelical Children’s Literature.” Lisa Zevorich, Ohio State University

“‘For the Peace of Society’: Baptist Church Discipline and the Secular World in Early Kentucky.” Jeffrey Thomas Perry, Purdue University

“A Foundation for Social Change: The Impact of the Eighteenth-Century Nantucket Quaker Women’s Meeting on Nineteenth-Century Female Reform Movements.” Jeffrey D. Kovach, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Comment: Johann N. Neem, Western Washington University

Friday, July 19 10:30

Anti-Catholic America: Citizenship, Nativism, and Religious Identity in Early American Politics

Chair: Alexis McCrossen, Southern Methodist University
“Charles Carroll, the American Revolution, and Catholic Identity: Constitutional Discourses in Revolutionary Maryland.” Maura Farrelly, Brandeis University

“Catholic Nativism, Catholic Racism, and the Limits of Catholic Unity in Antebellum New Orleans.” Michael Pasquier, Louisiana State University

“The Significance of the Know-Nothing Party: Religious Citizenship in the Antebellum West.” Luke Ritter, Saint Louis University
Comment: Christine Heyrman, University of Delaware

Friday July 19, 4:00-5:45

Celestial Cities, Babylons, or Vanity Fairs? New Work on Antebellum Urban Religion

Chair: Margaret Sumner, Ohio State University, Marion
“Constructing the Antebellum Urban Self: The Broadway Tabernacle Church Conversion Narratives, 1843-1864.” Kyle Roberts, Loyola University, Chicago

“‘The Un-National Church of America’: Sectarianism and the Making of National Identity in Antebellum Cincinnati.” Matthew Smith, Miami University Hamilton

“‘Treason Against the Government of God and Man’: Antebellum Evangelicals, Mormons, and the Problem of Politics.” Nate Wiewora, University of Delaware
Comment: Terry Bilhartz, Sam Houston State University

Saturday, July 20 8:30

Beyond Maria Monk: Catholics Navigating a Protestant Republic

Chair: Jonathan Sassi, The Graduate Center, SUNY
“Paper Faith: Catholic Newspapers and Religious Toleration in Early National New York and Charleston.” Susanna Linsley, University of Michigan

“‘You can be Catholic if you want’: Social Capital and Catholic Education 1820-1850.” Kara French, University of Michigan

“Albany’s First Irish Families and the Establishment of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church.” Margaret Lasch Carroll, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Comment: Moren McIntosh Hodgetts, DePaul University

Saturday, July 20 10:30

Religion, Rationality, and Freedom in the Early Republic

Chair: William Pencak, Pennsylvania State University
“Evangelical Identities in the Revolutionary Black Atlantic.” Kyle T. Bulthuis, Utah State University

“Eliza’s Disposition: Freedom, Free Will, and Religion in The Coquette.” Abram Van Engen, Washington University

“‘Reason Kept Within Its Own Province’: Evangelicals and the Rationalist Other in the Early Republic.” Nathan S. Rives, Weber State University
Comment: Anna M. Lawrence, Fairfield University

Saturday, July 20 2:00-3:45

Irreligion, Radical Deism, and the Shape of Early National Culture

Chair: Eric R. Schlereth, University of Texas at Dallas
“The Truth of the Matter: Dr. Isaac Ledyard’s Vitalism in Revolutionary America.” Kirsten Fischer, University of Minnesota

“Tom Paine’s Return: Free Exercise, Free Enquiry, and the Fate of Irreligious Expression in the New  Nation.” Chris Beneke, Bentley University

“Losing Sight of Common Sense: The American Response to Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason.” Patrick W. Hughes, University of Pittsburgh
Comment: Amanda Porterfield, Florida State University

Sunday, July 21 8:30

The Logic and Limits of Christian Nationalism in the Early Republic

Chair: Mary Cayton, Miami University
“Covenanters and the Limits of Christian Nationalism in the Early Republic.” Joseph S. Moore, Gardner-Webb University

“Denominational Formation and American Christian Nationalism.” Ben Wright, Rice University

“The ‘American colony’ at Singapore: Failures of American Christian Imperialism.” Emily Conroy-Kuntz, Michigan State University
Comment: Jewel Spangler, University of Calgary, and Mary Cayton

A Group Blog on American Religious History and Culture