Abstract
By most standards the colonial world of the eighteenth century retained an essentially religious character. Church spires of colonial seaboard towns reached towards the heavens, church bells announced services and sang God’s praises, and at least in areas of considerable population, a neighborhood church stood usually only a short walk away. If religion is defined broadly as a resort to superhuman powers, the prevalence of a belief in magic and the occult serves as evidence for the strong religious sensibilities of the American people. Until 1765 and even during the American Revolution, the largest category of printed matter consisted of religious literature. Institutional churches also prospered; compared with the unsettled state of religious belief and practice in the seventeenth century, the eighteenth century witnessed consolidation for many denominations.
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Chapter 2 The Pre-Revolutionary Colonial Church of England
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© 1999 Nancy L. Rhoden
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Rhoden, N.L. (1999). The Pre-Revolutionary Colonial Church of England. In: Revolutionary Anglicanism. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230512924_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230512924_2
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