Religious Experimentation Brings More Diversity

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Religious Experimentation Brings More Diversity

• Chapter 7

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I. Revisiting the Bible Restoration

• During the early years of the 19th century, a
  primary impetus among new religious movements was
  a re-imagining, or really a return, to the
  original sense and meaning of the Bible
• Such a move endowed power (95) to the members
  of new movements, since their claim was that
  they, not everyone else, was recapturing the
  truth of apostolic times
• Restorationism (see p. 92) was a prime example
  of such an impulse, its two primary strains
  arising out of the same origin, the
  Stone-Campbell Movement

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I. Revisiting the Bible Restoration

• Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell both thought
  denominations were based on arbitrary divisions,
  and all Christians would be united if they read
  and understood the Bible through simple common
  sense
• They wished to return to a simple, biblical,
  apostolic Christianity (92)
• Both, however, were perceived as founders (or
  figureheads at least) of two separate
  denominations the Churches of Christ (Stone) and
  the Disciples of Christ (Campbell)

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II. Revisiting the Bible Innovation

• Like Stone and Campbell, Joseph Smith wished to
  return Christianity to its original, apostolic
  origins unlike the former two, he did so by
  introducing a new set of canonical writings and a
  new mythological history set entirely in America
• Central to Smiths Church of Latter-day Saints
  was the idea that Israels history continued in
  the New World and kept on continuing by the
  stream of new revelation that was ongoing from God

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II. Revisiting the Bible Innovation

• Having opened the canon to new truth, Smith took
  on the mantle of prophet, a move for which he
  would be persecuted, ending ultimately in his
  martyrdom in Illinois
• However, the movement continued, most prominently
  under the leadership of Brigham Young who
  migrated with the majority of Smiths followers
  to Utah, where they continued to experience great
  growth in the midst of oppression

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III. Utopia in America

• The early 19th century also bore witness to an
  explosion of communitarian communities, both
  religiously (primarily Christian) and
  economically-based
• Though most were short-lived, they did succeed
  for a time in bringing heaven to earth, given
  that the goal of many of these communities was to
  live as things would be during the millennium of
  Christs return

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III. Utopia in America

• The Oneida community, started by John Humphrey
  Noyes, was founded on the idea that Christ had
  returned in 70 A.D., that they were living in the
  millennium and thus, perfection was possible and
  all communal ties dissolved (especially marital
  ones)
• Complex marriage, where all spouses were held
  in common, and stirpiculture, the eugenic process
  of creating perfect children, were the beliefs
  for which Noyes and the community received the
  bulk of its critique (see pp. 96-97)
• Brook Farm, the Transcendentalist,
  Fourierist-inspired utopian community of George
  Ripley, was notable for intellectually-charged
  atmosphere
• Things dissolved when the economic endeavor
  failed, but difficulty arose early from the
  inability to balance the import of growth in
  Transcendental principles and sustainable work

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IV. The End is Near Adventism and Millennialism

• Expectation of Christs imminent return, and
  speculation as to Americas role in that event,
  color the landscape of American religious
  history, of which some of the most fervent
  examples occurred in the early-mid 19th century
• Speculation about history, reading endtimes
  into historical events became an endeavor common
  to those who saw history as coming to a close
• Theological camps tended to divide into two
  groups
• Pre-millennialists (Adventist) those who
  believed that the Rapture was set to occur prior
  to Christs 1000 year reign
• Post-millennialists (Millennialist) those who
  believed that the close of history would occur
  following Christs reign

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IV. The End is Near Adventism and Millennialism

• The Millerites, the Seventh-Day Adventists and
  the Jehovahs witnesses are the most prominent
  examples of such viewpoints
• William Miller, leader of the eponymous
  Millerites, through a sophisticated and complex
  reading of the Bible, determined that the Christ
  would return on October 22, 1844, a date that
  would later be known as The Great
  Disappointment (p. 99)
• Though the Millerite movement fractured, splinter
  groups grew out of it with the same
  expectational principles- the Seventh-Day
  Adventists, led by Ellen G. White being a primary
  example White promoted the idea that Christ did
  not return because his followers were not
  prepared, prompting her to promote reinstitution
  of the Seventh-Day sabbath and various health
  reforms
• The Jehovahs Witnesses, begun by Charles Taze
  Russell on the other hand felt that Christ had
  returned (in 1874), but in the spiritual realm
  only

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V. Religion and the Mind

• Many, instead of looking outward to history,
  turned inward at the human mind itself to
  uncover a larger frame of meaning for all of
  life
• Most saw the connection between the mind and
  body whatever was occurring bodily was often a
  problem originating in bad thought, thus,
  healing the mind became a primary objective of
  such movements
• Tapping into the mind meant connecting with God,
  an Oversoul or transcendent entity
• Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish religious mystic
  would influence many American-grown movements,
  such as the Transcendentalists, Phineas Quimby
  and his healing ministry and Mary Baker Eddy and
  Christian Science (see pp. 102-104 for more)