Who Will Go For Us?

In the 1800s a Market Revolution began, changing the way in which America operated and in the midst of all that was a Second Great Awakening, causing people to once again, question their religious beliefs and practices. Paul Johnson and Sean Wilentz tell the story of Robert Matthews, or the Prophet Matthias and his followers. Matthias had an unconventional childhood, he became an orphan at a young age and was raised by church elders. He worked under one of the elders to learn the carpenter’s craft. He easily found work but had trouble keeping it because he was always preaching at his fellow workers about their sinful ways. Matthias was eager to make good but continually fell into misfortunes, “which led him on a prolonged and erratic religious journey” (49). The Kingdom of Matthias gained and lost members, had changes in beliefs, and was full of ever changing marriages. Although looking back on it now, Matthias’s messages and beliefs seem almost laughable, but at they time his followers found his message, ministry, and lifestyle very compelling.

To Stoddard, the idea of “fostering conversions was more important than discovering a perfect church order, and in that attitude he blazed the way for the most influential practice in American religious history: he was the first American to make periodic revivals a centerpiece of his ministry” . Every decade his congregation would experience an “awakening” in which many people were moved spiritually and often lead to conversion. Some of these revivals even made it past Northampton and into the neighboring communities, directly impacting young Edwards and his family, for Edwards’s father rejected the half-way covenant but endorsed revival. These disagreements divided his family and remained unresolved for decades .

Her physical ailments aside, Williams battles with vast inner-conflict, for her Mormon religion prevented her from speaking out and stating her struggle to the world. Overcome with frustration of misplaced authority, due to both her religion's suppression of ideas and governmental jargon, she finally offers her emotional pleas through a subtly persuasive narrative. By presenting only very common and well-known historical context, combined with personal examples through a narrative approach, Williams is targeting a large percentage of the population, especially women and those that lived through the events she speaks of and . Terry Tempest Williams indulges the reader with an aggregate of sympathetic narrative snippets, structural and stylistic shifts and a display of oppositional thinking, relating perspective and illustrating an alternative to blind obedience and emphasizing the need to civilly speak out against it.

The first quote I would like to share is, “The church was not only a social hub but also a constant reminder of that dangerous era when the U.S. government wanted Mohegans removed from the hill” (Fawcett, 12). I found this important to our readings because of the interconnection and symbol the church was to the Mohegans’ community. It represented their strength in standing their ground to their traditions and region in which they resided in with the hopes of the U.S. government to leave them alone. This type of establishment taught Gladys Tantaquidgeon to cherish the education she was being provided at home of learning the Mohegan traditions. Gladys showed a promising future to inherit the Mohegan traditions in which three nanus or otherwise

I sat down at my kitchen table with Michael Bruxvoort, a friend and fellow Tar Heel at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on October 25th, 2015. We laughed and talked about his journey through life and all the memories, obstacles and pleasures along the way. Among the many topics we spoke about, the ones that seemed most relevant to him and myself were: the family dynamics of religion within his household, his process of religion through secular spaces and lastly, his transition to Chapel Hill, NC and making it his home. Our conversation through Michael 's life shows how his faith has shaped him to be the man he is today. Through this paper, I will explain and analyze these topics in hopes of better understanding geographies of religion.

Chrisleine Temple is an eighteen-year-old student at Williams College from Sierra Leone. Before coming to Williamstown, she participated in Pentecostal services with her family every Sunday morning “unless on her death bed” and attended a Jesuit preparatory school. Asked about the presence of a God in her life, she told this story:

The Sioux Native Americans have a profound respect for their faith and hold true to their beliefs shown by the sacredness of the Great Mystery’s creations such as nature shown in Standing Bear’s “Nature” as well as Zitkala-Ša’s American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings. Differing from the Native Americans, the European settlers show a variation of different levels of reverence for Christianity and it’s beliefs. The European’s demonstrate a lack of respect for Native American religion shown by the tactical attempts to convert Native American culture to converge with their belief system and practices. However, Native Americans show a lack of respect for Christianity and its beliefs within Mary Rowlandson’s experience as a captive. She uses the Bible to pull her through heart-wrenching and painful experiences from being shot to loosing her daughter against the wishes of her master and mistress. Although the experiences within Native American literature display the importance of religion and devotion to the Native American beliefs and ceremonies, it also shows the presence and effect of religion among the European settlers both respectable and corrupt.

On February 10, 1676 a dreadful event hit the settlers of Lancaster. The Narragansett Indians attacked and killed countless people and destroyed several houses. One of the men they killed begged for his life and even offered them money. The Indians didn’t pay any attention to him and hit him on the head with a hatchet, then proceeded to strip him of his clothes. Throughout this account Mary Rowlandson show an amazing trust and reliance in God.

The A.A Meeting took place in the Church Notre Dame of Mt at Cedar Knolls. When the meeting started, I ask myself “where are the guys seeking for help”? When I realized that they all were seeking for help. They did not look like they need it help, they look like you and me. When the meeting started first they when in to “The twelve traditions” and then to the events that they have each week, at the first I could understand what was going on they were laughing one another. When an old man when to the front to introduced his self. At the end of his introduction he asks everyone (except us) to give money to him, because he has things to pay, when he pasted the pot all around the room, everyone started to give something. I thought it was a joke but

For this assignment, we had to attend a meeting of a spiritual tradition that is not our own. As this assignment's due date approached, I became very anxious! I didn’t quite know where I wanted to go. In my sewing class one day my friend, Kelly Jorgensen, had asked if I had finished the assignment. I had not. “Me and Karlie Mortensen are going to the Baptist church over by Riverton Hospital this Sunday at 6:00 PM if you want to join us” she offered. I found this rather funny. The day before, as I was driving home from work, the Harvest Valley Baptist Church sign had caught my eye. I thought to myself that I should

In the early 1930’s, Mrs. Tillery was born on a small farm located in the rural area of the Alabama town of Troy. She is now in her early eighties and a resident of Noble Manor Troy, AL. Mrs. Tillery is the wife of the late Mr. Tillery and mother of one (son). She has led an eventful life while traveling with her husband during his career, being a mother, and perfecting her relationship with Christ. Our interview session was conducted on the topics of the social, political, and technological changes that she has undergrown within the many decades of her life.

On the 10th of August, I received a telephone call from Doris, telling me that we needed to meet at mom’s house for prayer. A friend, who was like a sister, was going through some things and she needed a word from the Lord. Linda would always say that we needed some faith-believing saints around who knew God

Dayton, Tennessee, while technically christian, has, “only two or three resident pastors managed to sustain themselves by their ghostly science” (Mencken). Thus, the residents of Dayton do not put much emphasis on strictly adhering to Christianity.

In Talking to the Dead, by LeRhonda S. Manigault-Bryant (hereafter referred to as Manigault), Manigault explores the relatively unobserved—yet vital—role of Gullah/Geechee women in churches and society as a whole, as it pertains to the geographic area of the “lowcountry” in South Carolina. She addresses the significance of Gullah/Geechee women in preserving the distinct culture of Mt. Pleasant, James Island, and Moncks Corner. In the name of ethnography, Manigault inserts herself into the world of these women and assumes the duty of translating certain aspects of their lives to the reader, so that the reader can better understand, for example, the important role that “shouting” plays in lowcountry churches. Throughout the book, Manigault employs

Don’s story began in January 1989, at the Baptist General Convention of Texas in Lake Livingston. The convention was held annually at the Trinity Pines conference center. The night before leaving the convention, he walked around with his friend discussing the idea of starting a new congregation. Don described this walk as the last time he would ever walk normally. The next morning after finishing brunch he headed off for home.