The Roots of Appalachian Christianity: The Life and Legacy of Elder Shubal Stearns (Religion in the South, 8) - Hardcover

Sparks, John

3.4

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9780813122236: The Roots of Appalachian Christianity: The Life and Legacy of Elder Shubal Stearns (Religion in the South, 8)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813122236 ISBN 13: 9780813122236

Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky, 2001

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Because central and southern Appalachia’s distinctive Christianity lacks a clearly recognizable “father figure,” religious historians have long struggled to fully explain its origins, traditions and folklore. In this well researched and authoritative account of the region’s religion, John Sparks focuses on Shubal Stearns, an influential early Baptist leader who did much to spread Christianity in southern Appalachia.

Stearns and a dedicated band of followers left New England in 1754 to minister on the frontiers of Virginia and North Carolina. Successful beyond his wildest dreams, Stearns established an association of churches that gave birth to many of the disparate denominations steadfastly maintained in the Appalachian region today.

Sparks’s lively discussion investigates the unique preaching and singing styles of the region and explores the disputes, theologies, and personalities that pushed Stearns to the forefront of Appalachian religion.

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From the Publisher:

“This is a special kind of book, written by a person mostly within the religious traditions discussed, and as such it has a distinct viewpoint and sense of authority. The book very carefully, clearly, and impressively recounts the biography and influence of Shubal Stearns on subsequent southern religious history.” —John B. Boles, editor of the Journal of Southern History

“A rare book. . . . Sparks is an astute observer, an indefatigable researcher, and he is gifted in his ability to express himself. A significant contribution . . . especially because it comes from one who is daily involved in the lives of an Appalachian congregation.” —Loyal Jones, author of Faith and Meaning in the Southern Uplands

From the Inside Flap:

Appalachia’s distinctive brand of Christianity has always been something of a puzzle to mainline American congregations. Often treated as pagan and unchurched, native Appalachian sects are labeled as ultraconservative, primitive, and fatalistic, and the actions of minority sub-groups such as “snake handlers” are associated with all worshippers in the region. Yet these churches that many regard as being outside the mainstream are living examples of America’s own religious heritage. The emotional and experience-based religion that still thrives in the hills and hollows of Appalachia is very much at the heart of American worship.

The lack of a recognizable “father figure” like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Knox compounds the mystery of Appalachia’s religious origins. Other major religious movements have been defined and traced by their leaders’ actions, but lacking records of such a person, the history of Appalachia’s strong religious base has gone largely undocumented. Ordained minister John Sparks determined that such a person must have existed, and his search turned up a man less literate, urbane, and well-known than Luther, Calvin, and Knox—but no less charismatic and influential.

Shubal Stearns, a New England Baptist minister, led a group of sixteen Baptists—now dubbed “The Old Brethren” by Old School Baptists churches in Appalachia—from New England to North Carolina in the mid-eighteenth century. His musical “barking” preaching is still popular, and the association of churches that he established gave birth to many of the disparate denominations prospering in the region today.

A man lacking in the scholarship of his peers but endowed with the eccentricities that would make their mark on Appalachian faith, Stearns has long been an object of shame among most Baptist historians. In The Roots of Appalachian Christianity, Sparks depicts an important religious figure in a new light. Poring over pages of out-of-print and little-used histories, Sparks discovered the complexity of Stearns’s character and his impact on Appalachian Christianity. The result is a history not just of this leader but of the roots of a religious movement. Tracing the customs and beliefs of the church to its early origins, Sparks reveals Shubal Stearns’s lasting influence on Appalachian preaching and worship.

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