This book provides a history of Presbyterians in American culture from the early eighteenth to the late twentieth century. Longfield assesses both the theological and cultural development of American Presbyterianism, with particular focus on the mainline tradition that is expressed most prominently in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He explores how Presbyterian churches--and individuals rooted in those churches--influenced and were influenced by the values, attitudes, perspectives, beliefs, and ideals assumed by Americans in the course of American history. The book will serve as an important introduction to Presbyterian history that will interest historians, students, and church leaders alike.

Colonial Presbyterianism is a collection of essays that tell the story of the Presbyterian Church during its formative years in America. The book brings together research from a broad group of scholars into an accessible format for laymen, clergy, and scholars. Through a survey of important personalities and events, the contributors offer a compelling narrative that will be of interest to Presbyterians and all persons interested in colonial America's religious experience. The clergy described in these essays made a lasting impact on their generation both within the church and in the emerging ethos of a new nation. The ecclesiastical issues that surfaced during this period have tended to be the perennial issues with which Presbyterians have been concerned ever since that time. Now at the three-hundredth anniversary of Presbyterian organization in America, Colonial Presbyterianism is a timely reengagement with the old faith for a new day.

This fascinating book is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins. While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time. In this sense, nearly all Americans are "Albion's Seed," no matter what their ethnicity may be. The concluding section of this remarkable book explores the ways that regional cultures have continued to dominate national politics from 1789 to 1988, and still help to shape attitudes toward education, government, gender, and violence, on which differences between American regions are greater than between European nations.

This new biography on Robert Lewis Dabney presents Dabney as a representative southern Presbyterian who provides a window into the post bellum southern Presbyterian mind.

The first American presbytery was founded in 1706. In the following years, Presbyterians grew to form one of the largest and most eminent denominations in the United States. Now, more than three hundred years later, that church is dwindling. What has happened? Lively, bracing, and informative, Seeking a Better Country takes an honest look at the rise and decline of American Presbyterianism, giving context to Presbyterians of all stripes.