Earlier this year, I reviewed Jonathan Todd Hancock’s fascinating new book on the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811, Convulsed States: Earthquakes, Prophecy, and the Early America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2021). A great read—essential scholarship for historians of religion in the early American republic. Here’s my review in the Journal of Church and State 64 (2022): 354–356.
Review of Grasso's Skepticism and American Faith
Christopher Grasso’s elegant new monograph, Skepticism and Faith: From the Revolution to the Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018), is a towering achievement—a sweeping historical narrative told through a fascinating cast of characters. A must read for anyone interested in the religious history of the early American republic! Check out my review in Early American Literature 55 (2020): 273–276.
DFLL Now in Paperback!
Darkness Falls on the Land of Light is now available in paperback. Happy reading!
Review of Gin Lum's Damned Nation
Kathryn Gin Lum's acclaimed Damned Nation: Hell in America from the Revolution to Reconstruction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014) provides a fascinating itinerary for readers seeking to navigate the sprawling religious landscape of the early American republic. Check out my review in Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture. Then read Gin Lum's deeply researched and beautifully written book!
DFLL @ ASCH
Looking forward to a spirited discussion of Darkness Falls on the Land of Light with Jon Butler, Heather Miyano Kopelson, Jon Sensbach, Adrian Weimer, and Molly Worthen at the upcoming winter meeting of the American Society of Church Historians in Washington, D.C. The panel will take place on Friday, January 5, from 3:30–5:00 p.m. in the Foxhall Ballroom of the Dupont Circle Hotel. Many thanks to T.J. Tomlin for organizing and moderating. Hope you'll share this post with interested friends and colleagues. Click here for the full ASCH conference program.
Winner!
Darkness Falls on the Land of Light recently was named co-winner of the Book of the Year award by the Jonathan Edward Center at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. I'm deeply grateful to the editors of Edwardseana for this wonderful accolade! For a review of the book and an interview in which I share some thoughts on the current state of scholarship on Jonathan Edwards and the Whitefieldian revivals, click the button below.
Definitive!
A strong endorsement of Darkness Falls on the Land of Light by a leading historian of early American evangelicalism.
Review of Tomlin's Divinity for All Persuasions
A Divinity for All Persuasions (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), by University of Northern Colorado historian T.J. Tomlin, provides a powerful new analysis of early American religious culture through the understudied but ubiquitous genre of almanacs. I recently was invited to review this important book for the William & Mary Quarterly.
Defining the People Called New Lights
A thoughtful commentary on my book and recent scholarly debates over the definition of evangelicalism by George Mason University scholar John Turner. For an excellent related discussion published shortly after Darkness Falls on the Land of Light went to press, see Linford D. Fisher, “Evangelicals and Unevangelicals: The Contested History of a Word, 1500–1950,” Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation 26 (2016): 184–226.
First Fruits
An early review of Darkness Falls on the Land of Light by Douglas Sweeney, director of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.