History/Religion 345 – RELIGION IN AMERICA – September 7, 2005  

Religion in Colonial America  

I.                   Empirical data.  Be sure you can define EACH of the following:  

1. Cogliano, “Exposing the Idolatry”
2. Dunn, “Saints and Sisters”

Read each article.  Mark-up each article.  In your notes, outline each article so you know the key points of each.   

II.                Critical thinking.    

A.     Psychologist tell us that just about every group conjures up an image of the evil other, every US comes up with some notion of NOT-US.  For colonial Puritans, the "evil other" was Catholicism.  Partly this was entirely rational and accurate – Catholics and Puritans, though both Christians, did have real differences on dozens of issues.  But partly this anti-Catholicism seemed to take on an almost hysterical quality.  Describe carefully this Puritan anti-Catholicism – what were its main points?  By the way, do you think any of this irrational anti-Catholicism has survived to today?

 

B.     Think again about the connection between religion and society.  Consider the Quakers.  Look them up on the Internet.  Where did the Quakers come from?  What do they believe?  Now, look at Dunn’s article.  How did these beliefs get translated into society?  What groups adopted them?  Why?

 

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Modified by:  H.  Kamerling