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The Spiritual Pilgrimage of Rachel Stearns, 1834–1837: Reinterpreting Women's Religious and Social Experiences in the Methodist Revivals of Nineteenth-Century America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Candy Gunther
Candy Gunther
Affiliation:
Ms. Gunther is a doctoral candidate in the history of American civilization at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Extract

“Again am I commencing another manuscript,” wrote Rachel Stearns in October of 1836, a “brief record of the most interesting events of my life, of the Lord's dealings with me, and of my own feelings and conduct. Faithful monitors in future years to warn me against departing from my God, by a detail of past sufferings in consequence of wandering; to encourage me to trust in God, by a recollection of the many deliverances I have experienced. Very joyful has been my path sometimes, at others very sad, but in sadness or in joy the Lord has never forsaken me.”

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 65 , Issue 4 , December 1996 , pp. 577 - 595
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1996

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References

1. Journals of Stearns, Rachel Willard, 31 10 1836, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar

2. Stearns, , 15 01 1837, 1 January 1835, 24 May 1835, 17 December 1837, 1 January 1837, 12 September 1835, and 13 June 1835.Google Scholar See also Cott, Nancy, The Bonds of Womanhood: “Woman's Sphere” in New England, 1780–1835 (New Haven, Conn., 1977), pp. 14–17.Google Scholar

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7. Stearns, , 18 10 1834, 1 January 1835, and 5 December 1834;Google Scholar Ahlstrom, Sydney E., A Religious History of the American People (New Haven, Conn., 1972), pp. 605–608;Google Scholar and Reid, Daniel G. et al. , eds., Dictionary of Christianity in America (Downers Grove, Ill., 1990), p. 1019.Google Scholar

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21. Stearns, , 15 11 1835.Google Scholar See also Turner, Victor and Turner, Edith, Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture: Anthropological Perspectives (New York, 1978), pp. 249–251;Google Scholar and Bell, Catherine, Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice (Oxford, 1992), pp. 81–83.Google Scholar

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24. Stearns, , 24 05 1835, 5 July 1836, 10 October 1834, and 17 October 1834.Google Scholar

25. Stearns, , 27 10 1834, 7 October 1834, 9 June 1835, 7 November 1834, 27 September 1835, and 4 October 1835. When she moved to Mississippi, Stearns found Southern Methodism closer to Congregationalism in structure; Stearns, 19 May 1837.Google Scholar

26. Among the women cited were Anna, Mary, Elizabeth, Martha, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, Phoebe, Lydia, Priscilla, Junia, Dorcas, Tryphena, and Tryphosa;Google Scholar Stearns, , 7 10 1834, 5 December 1834, 11 November 1834, 13 May 1835, 29 August 1836, 19 May 1835, 3 August 1835, and 20 September 1835.Google Scholar

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28. Stearns, , 2 07 1836.Google Scholar

29. Stearns, , 4 01 1837 and 19 July 1835.Google Scholar

30. Stearns, , 3 11 1834, 27 May 1835, 10 June 1835, 5 April 1835, 8 October 1835, 17 October 1834, 27 October 1834, 1 February 1835, 6 October 1835, and 8 October 1837.Google Scholar

31. See Bell, p. 101. Ritualization was effective in this situation because Stearns's negotiations of power were based on indirect claims, such as her claim that God spoke through her, and because her experience had to be “rendered socially redemptive in order to be personally redemptive,” as when the group validated the genuineness of her claim to forgiveness and perfect love.Google Scholar Stearns, , 17 11 1834, 11 October 1834, 3 May 1835, 8 November 1834, and 19 July 1835.Google Scholar

32. Stearns, , 17 10 1835, 27 October 1835, and 20 September 1835.Google Scholar

33. Stearns, , 18 06 1836, 3 August 1835, 4 October 1835, 19 October 1835, 24 October 1835, 15 April 1837, 17 May 1835, 9 October 1835, and 3 May 1835.Google Scholar

34. Stearns, , 15 06 1836, 26 January 1837, and 19 June 1836.Google Scholar See Hall, David D., “The Uses of Literacy in New England, 1600–1850,” in Printing and Society in Early America, ed. Joyce, William L., et al. (Worcester, Mass., 1983), pp. 22, 23, 32.Google Scholar

35. Stearns, , 2 08 1836.Google Scholar

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37. Stearns, , 7 10 1834, 12 November 1835, 16 May 1835, and 19 October 1835; see Welter's argument.Google Scholar

38. Stearns, , 4 11 1834, 21 October 1836, 8 October 1834, and 11 May 1835.Google Scholar

39. Stearns, , 22 11 1836, 25 June 1836, 29 November 1835, 12 July 1835, 16 October 1834, 15 October 1834, 19 November 1834, 23 August 1835, 19 October 1834, 3 May 1835, 5 December 1834, 1 January 1835, 28 May 1835, 7 June 1835, 24 October 1835, 2 July 1836, 25 August 1836, 23 November 1834, 15 December 1834, 15 November 1835, and 21 October 1836.Google Scholar

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41. Stearns, , 19 03 1835, 8 August 1836, 27 September 1835, 3 May 1835, 18 May 1837, 5 December 1834, 17 May 1835, 18 October 1835, and 8 November 1835.Google Scholar

42. Stearns, , 15 11 1835 and 26 March 1837.Google Scholar

43. Stearns, , 12 04 1837, 15 April 1837, 19 May 1837, and 17 December 1837; see Psalms 23:4.Google Scholar

44. Stearns, , 31 03 1835, 12 March 1837, and 19 March 1837; see 2 Timothy 4: 7–8.Google Scholar

45. Stearns, , 23 August 1835, 22 November 1835, 18 May 1837, and 23 August 1835.Google Scholar