ABSTRACT the Great American Disappointment: an Introduction to the Great Disappointment Theory As a Way to Explain the Unique Ev
ABSTRACT The Great American Disappointment: An Introduction to the Great Disappointment Theory as a Way to Explain the Unique Evolutionary Processes of Socially-Guided Religion by Means of American Civil Religion Ethan Gjerset Quillen, M.A. Mentor: Douglas R. Ferdon, Ph.D. America is unique when compared to the rest of the world for many reasons, but especially so for its religion. To this, as human beings evolve socially, in the same way animal species evolve in order to seek out variable fitness toward survival, their religion follows suit. This has been particularly so in the United States where absolute religious freedom makes way for one of three processes of evolution within the American Church of Civil Religion. These three processes, Atheism, Fundamentalism and New Religious Movements, become the direction in which Americans evolve their religious beliefs in the wake of socially- guided religious disappointment. This Great Dis appointment Theory, based on the results of William Miller‟s Great Disappointment in the 19 th century, helps explain the means by which Americans, who act as individuals within an immigrant nation, are able to come together as a congregation within the American Church of Civil Religion. The Great American Disappointment: An Introduction to the Great Disappointment Theory as a Way to Explain the Unique Evolutionary Processes of Socially-Guided Religion by Means of American Civil Religion by Ethan Gjerset Quillen, B.A., M.A. A Thesis Approved by the Department of American Studies ___________________________________ Douglas R. Ferdon, Ph.D., Chairperson Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Baylor University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Approved by the Thesis Committee ___________________________________ Douglas R.
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