Godly Walkers
Godly Walkers
Drawing on an exceptional collection of church admission relations from the town of Haverhill, Massachusetts, Part 1 examines the widely shared religious vocabulary through which Congregational church membership candidates during the period between 1680 and 1740 pledged to "walk answerably" to their doctrinal professions in the hope that a vengeful deity would not pour out affliction on their bodies, families, and communities. The multiple demands of a "Godly Walk" entailed spiritualizing everyday occurrences, meditating in secret, baptizing children in a timely fashion, and raising them in church fellowship. During the early decades of the eighteenth century, the rhythms of church affiliation were closely tied to family formation and social maturation, and women emerged as the primary source of religious authority. A godly walk was the key to safety and prosperity in this world, if not salvation in the next.
Keywords: Haverhill, Massachusetts, church admission relations, godly walk, religion and family formation, baptism, church affiliation, women as religious authorities
North Carolina Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
