A Spiritual Home: Life in British and American Reformed Congregations, 1830–1915

By Charles D. Cashdollar

A Spiritual Home explores congregational life inside British and American Reformed churches between 1830 and 1915. At a time when scholars have become interested in the day-to-day experience of local congregations, this book reaches back into the nineteenth century, a critically formative period in Anglo-American religious life, to examine the historical roots of congregational life.Taking the perspective of the laity, Cashdollar ranges widely from worship and music to fund-raising and administration, from pastoral care to social work, from prayer meetings to strawberry festivals, from the sanctuary to the kitchen. Firmly rooted in broader currents of gender, class, notions of middle-class respectability, increasing expectations for personal privacy, and patterns of professionalization, he finds that there was a gradual shift in emphasis during these years from piety to fellowship. Based on records, publications, and memorabilia from about 150 congregations representing eight denominations, A Spiritual Home gives us a comprehensive, composite portrait of religious life in Victorian Britain and America.

• Language: English
• Publisher: PSUPress
• Release date: Aug 15, 2000
• ISBN: 9780271031057

Charles D. Cashdollar

Charles D. Cashdollar is a Professor of History at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His previous book, The Transformation of Theology, 1830-1890: Positivism and Protestant Thought in Britain and America, was published by Princeton University Press in 1989. His articles have been published in Church History, Harvard Theological Review, Journal of Presbyterian History, Journal of the History of Ideas, and Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography.

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Reviews for A Spiritual Home

[sweetfrank · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The subject is Presbyterian churches (rather than Reformed), but the conclusions are broadly applicable to mainstream Protestant churches in this country: in 1830, "a congregation engaged in little except worship, pastoral care, and mission; by 1900 a fully functioning church included sports teams, literary clubs and organized groups of every sort." With the change in function, the physical nature of the church had to adapt, which usually meant a larger church, specialized rooms and considerably more comfort. The author draws on a large number of churches for his generalizations.