Islands of Holiness: Rural Religion in Upstate New York, 1790-1860 Book

Maps and Chart ix

Preface xi

Abbreviations xiv

Introduction 1

Part I Frontier Churches, 1790-1815

1 Adapting to the New York Frontier 13

2 The Development of an Island Mentality 22

Part II Growing Churches, 1812-1843

3 The Triumph of Arminianism 33

4 Women: Agents of the Gospel Message 53

5 Denomination, Institutional Circumstance, and Rural Revivalism 67

6 The Failure of Economic Explanations of Rural Revivalism 77

Part III Divided Churches, 1826-1846

7 Discipline and the Island Mentality 89

8 Competition Disrupts the Evangelical Order 94

9 Individualism and the Embattled Corporate Church 103

10 The Ultraist Revolt 113

Part IV "Modern" Churches, 1846-1860

11 Evangelical Churches Search for Unity 137

12 The Decline of the Island Mentality 145

13 Cortland County Churches as "Modern" Churches 159

Conclusion 165

Appendixes

A Methodological Notes 179

B Evangelicalism in Cortland County 182

C Church Discipline 188

D Religious Voluntarism 192

Bibliography 197

Index 209