In “A Shopkeeper’s Millennium” Paul Johnson asserts that the tensions amongst the classes propelled American society in Rochester, New York to the increased spiritual interest of an American revivalism. Johnson refutes the popular claim which reasons that American revivalism spawned out of the independent instability which resided in society saying: “...historians of religion generalize that revivals represented a quest for community or emotional stability among a nation of rootless individualists” (Johnson 22). Johnson reasons that the evangelical religious fervor emerged as a sort of tool in which to organize the disorderly commune of working class men. He notes failed attempts at regaining control of society, for example, through the restriction of the sale and subsequently the consumption of liquor which added to the unorganized functioning of society.
Johnson narrates the downward spiral of Rochester into the political and societal struggle between the classes and the growing resentment with came with it. Johnson’s argument then shows the effects the revivalism waves had on the communities and the developing cultural ideas as a result of conversions. New evangelical beliefs allowed for the regeneration of society and authority, and the …show more content…
But once created they take on autonomous power, governing and legitimating the relationships that made them” (Johnson 25-26). This shows how Johnson came to believe his argument of revivals being tools of organization and a means of “governing” society; the power and deep significance they have over individuals and the communities as a whole grants religious zeal to have power over American society. Johnson argues that through this process American society is given a chance to assemble together through the mutual relationship or “kinship” of being a religious
Johnson narrates the downward spiral of Rochester into the political and societal struggle between the classes and the growing resentment with came with it. Johnson’s argument then shows the effects the revivalism waves had on the communities and the developing cultural ideas as a result of conversions. New evangelical beliefs allowed for the regeneration of society and authority, and the …show more content…
But once created they take on autonomous power, governing and legitimating the relationships that made them” (Johnson 25-26). This shows how Johnson came to believe his argument of revivals being tools of organization and a means of “governing” society; the power and deep significance they have over individuals and the communities as a whole grants religious zeal to have power over American society. Johnson argues that through this process American society is given a chance to assemble together through the mutual relationship or “kinship” of being a religious