Book Review

Canada and the United States

For scholars studying religion at the turn of the nineteenth century, Jonathan D. Sassi's book on "the public Christianity of the post-revolutionary New England clergy" adds to an already crowded field. Part of the "Religion in America" series under the general editorship of Harry S. Stout, it ambitiously sets out to explore the "public Christianity" at the core of southern New England clerics' religious vision of America. As such, the book ultimately is a study of the ideology of a select group of religious leaders. Its great strength rests in its breadth and scope. In one work, Sassi examines the beliefs and values of both the ministers of the established churches as well as their dissenting opponents, which is quite a challenge in so far as these adversaries seemed to disagree on a great many issues related to "public Christianity." What is more, Sassi traces this complex story from the American Revolution through the fourth decade of the nineteenth century.

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The author begins with the obligatory rejection of the old canards "that depict the Congregational clergy as in a steep decline in the post-Revolutionary period" (p. 20). The postrevolutionary era, which according to Sassi spans the years 1783–1833, was one of great change and uncertainty for southern New England's religious leaders, but it was not one that can be facilely described by sweeping generalizations such as status anxiety. Examining virtually all of the major thematic issues in the historiography of the past two generations (in two hundred pages), the author refines the claims of previous scholars (including Ruth H. Bloch, Jon Butler, Nathan O. Hatch, David W. Kling, and James R. Rohrer). The particular strength of his book lies in its generous consideration of previous as well as current scholarship and in its balanced attempt to offer correctives.

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