The Presence of the Dead among U.S. Protestants, 1800–1848
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7714723 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Erik R Seeman (0000-0002-1603-3371, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 88 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 381-408 |
| Publication date | 2019-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Church History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0009-6407 • E-ISSN: 1755-2613 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s000964071900115x |
| OpenAlex | W2965169475 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 36 |
Historians have long known that antebellum American Protestants were fascinated by death, but they have overlooked Protestant relationships with the dead. Long before the advent of séance Spiritualism in 1848, many mourners began to believe—contrary to mainstream Protestant theology—that the souls of the dead turned into angels, that the dead could return to earth as guardian angels, and that in graveyards one could experience communion with the spirits of the departed. The version of Protestantism these mourners developed was therefore, to use Robert Orsi's term, a religion of “presence,” a religion in which suprahuman beings—in addition to God—played an important role. Based on diaries and popular sentimental literature written mostly by women, this article brings to light an unexplored facet of antebellum Protestant lived religion: that the dead were “present with us tho’ invisible,” as one young woman wrote about her deceased sister
Guardian · Mainstream · Political science · Protestantism · Sister · Sociology · Spiritualism · Theology · Anthropology · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · History · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Religious studies · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
The feminization of American culture
Revolution and the word
Ghosts of Futures Past
Reformations
Funeral Sermons and Graveyard Poetry
The Reformation of the Dead
The Cemetery as Cultural Institution
The Sacred Remains
Elizabeth Singer Rowe and the Development of the English Novel
Women and the Book
The Reformation of the Dead
Reformations
The "Rural" Cemetery Movement
The Puritan Way of Death
The Reshaping of Everyday Life, 1790-1840
Bitter, Bitter Tears
The Last Great Necessity
The Reshaping of Everyday Life, 1790-1840
Mother Leakey and the Bishop
History and Presence
The Rural Cemetery Movement
The Puritan Way of Death
"Pale Blewish Lights" and a Dead Man's Groan
The Huron-Wendat Feast of the Dead
A Very Peculiar Sorrow
The Cemetery as Cultural Institution
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,14 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2019 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |