EBOOK Divinity for All Persuasions: Almanacs and Early American Religious Life
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Almanacs and Early American Religious Life
A Divinity for All Persuasions uncovers the religious signifiance of early America&'s most ubiquitous popular genre. Other than a Bible and perhaps a few schoolbooks and sermons, almanacs were the only printed items most Americans owned before 1820. Purchased annually, the almanac was a calendar and astrologically-based medical handbook surrounded by poetry, essays, anecdotes, and a variety of practical information. Employing a wealth of archival material, T.J. Tomlin analyzes the pan-Protestant sensibility distributed through the almanac&'s pages between 1730 and 1820. By disseminating a collection of Protestant concepts regarding God&'s existence, divine revelation, the human condition, and the afterlife, almanacs played an unparalleled role in early American religious life. Influenced by readers&' opinions and printers&' pragmatism, the religious content of everyday print supports an innovative interpretation of early American cultural and religious history. In sharp contrast to a historiography centered on intra-Protestant competition, Tomlin shows that most early Americans relied on a handful of Protestant "e;essentials"e; rather than denominational specifics to define and organize their religious lives.
A Divinity for All Persuasions uncovers the religious signifiance of early America&'s most ubiquitous popular genre. Other than a Bible and perhaps a few schoolbooks and sermons, almanacs were the only printed items most Americans owned before 1820. Purchased annually, the almanac was a calendar and astrologically-based medical handbook surrounded by poetry, essays, anecdotes, and a variety of practical information. Employing a wealth of archival material, T.J. Tomlin analyzes the pan-Protestant sensibility distributed through the almanac&'s pages between 1730 and 1820. By disseminating a collection of Protestant concepts regarding God&'s existence, divine revelation, the human condition, and the afterlife, almanacs played an unparalleled role in early American religious life. Influenced by readers&' opinions and printers&' pragmatism, the religious content of everyday print supports an innovative interpretation of early American cultural and religious history. In sharp contrast to a historiography centered on intra-Protestant competition, Tomlin shows that most early Americans relied on a handful of Protestant "e;essentials"e; rather than denominational specifics to define and organize their religious lives.