Evangelical Gotham: Religion and the Making of New York City, 1783-1860. By Kyle Roberts

Abstract

Readers of JAAR may know about the project “A Journey through New York City Religions” (http://www.nycreligion.info/). The endeavor seeks to document the varied religious expressions in contemporary New York City and demonstrate that the city is not a “Secular City” but rather is home to many vibrant religious expressions. In like manner, Kyle Roberts in Evangelical Gotham: Religion and the Making of New York City, 1783-1860 describes with great detail the way evangelicalism impacted, shaped, and even constituted the growing metropolis between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Roberts builds his description chronologically, structuring it historically. In Roberts’s description, evangelical experience in New York was broken down into three periods. The first lasted from the end of the American Revolution through the close of the War of 1812. During this time, New York City as a whole recovered from the dislocation of the American Revolution. Likewise, churches reassembled or gathered for the first time. Individuals who settled in New York found in evangelical conversion and community a fitting answer for the confusion and dislocation of a growing seaport. This early period also saw the first efforts at local outreach, missions, and benevolent work. The second period stretched from 1815 to 1840. This period witnessed confident evangelicals looking outward to evangelize and reshape city life. Local outreaches to young men, to the poor and destitute, and (creatively) to the sailor population all bore fruit, albeit not as much as the workers dreamed. The community also expressed itself and worked to win support through the expanded use of print culture at a time when New York City was establishing itself as one of the centers of print production for the American nation. The revivalism of the later Second Great Awakening, inspired by Charles Finney, also energized New York evangelicals, leading to a new church organization. Many evangelicals were inspired to create “free” churches, which would be supported by offerings rather than the traditional pew rentals that had favored established families and reified class divisions. The Free Church movement and this second period came to an end with urban riots as leading evangelical figures like Arthur and Lewis Tappan confronted the issue of slavery and argued for abolitionism. In the face of such strenuous public opposition, evangelicalism tended to turn inward.