Response Essay

CHRISTIANITY IN THE NEW WORLD II: North America

IS THE UNITED STATES A CHRISTIAN NATION?

SPANISH AND FRENCH TERRITORIES

• The earliest form of Christianity to come to North America was Roman Catholicism.

• Catholicism has continued to remain strong in many of these areas, such as New Orleans, St. Augustine, and St. Louis.

BRITISH COLONIES

• Church of England established in Colony of Virginia in 1619.

• Pilgrims arrive in Massachusetts in 1620 wishing to separate from the English state church.

• Puritans arrive in Massachusetts in 1629 wishing to purify the Church of England in the New World of Traces of Roman Catholicism.

18TH CENTURY

• Great Awakening: Northeastern Protestant revival movement.

• American Revolution

• U.S. Constitution: Separation of Church and State

• Local State Constitutions: Massachusetts

19TH CENTURY

• Second Great Awakening in response to growing skepticism and deism.

• First Great Awakening had focused on reviving spirituality in established churches; Second Great Awakening focused on unchurched and instilling deep sense of personal salvation as experienced at revival meetings.

• Abolition

• Civil War

WHAT IS MEANT BY “CHRISTIAN” NATION?

• Nicene?

• Chalcedonian?

• Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox? (Filioque?)

• Roman Catholic or Protestant?

WHAT IS AMERICAN CIVIL RELIGION?

• Who is the God of American Civil Religion?

• Church?

• Beliefs?

• Symbols?

• Rituals?

• Scriptures?

• Activist, moralistic, social vs. contemplative, theologically or innerly spiritual

BIBLICAL IMAGERY AND AMERICA

• Exodus

• Covenant (Chosen People)

• Promised Land

• Jerusalem

• Sacrificial Death and Martyrdom

• Rebirth