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The Burdens of Church History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2013

Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp
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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
Information
Church History , Volume 82 , Issue 2 , June 2013 , pp. 353 - 367
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 2013 

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References

1 Bragg, George Freeman, History of the Afro-American Group of the Episcopal Church (Baltimore, Md.: Church Advocate Press)Google Scholar, 39.

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.

5 Ibid., 232, 192, 210.

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.

7 Pauck, Wilhelm, “The Idea of the Church in Christian History,” Church History 21, no. 3 (September 1952), 191–92CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Bowden, Henry Warner, “Science and the Idea of Church History, an American Debate,” Church History 36, no. 3 (September 1967)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 326.

9 Porterfield, Amanda, “Leaving Providence Behind,” Church History 80, no. 2 (June 2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar: 366.

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

11 Amy Hollywood, “Spiritual but not Religious: The Vital Interplay between Submission and Freedom,” Harvard Divinity Bulletin 38, nos. 1–2 (Winter/Spring 2010), http://www.hds.harvard.edu/news-events/harvard-divinity-bulletin/articles/spiritual-but-not-religious.

12 Schmidt, Leigh Eric, Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality (San Francisco, Calif.: HarperOne, 2006)Google Scholar.

13 Robinson, 3–4.

14 John Blake, “Are there Dangers in Being ‘Spiritual but not Religious?,’” posted June 9, 2010, CNNLiving, http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/personal/06/03/spiritual.but.not.religious/index.html.

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.