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Prostituting the Pulpit? the Negotiated Authority of Eighteenth-Century New England Clergy

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Prostituting the Pulpit? the Negotiated Authority of Eighteenth-Century New England Clergy University of Kentucky UKnowledge University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2008 PROSTITUTING THE PULPIT? THE NEGOTIATED AUTHORITY OF EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY NEW ENGLAND CLERGY Janice Ellen Wood University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Wood, Janice Ellen, "PROSTITUTING THE PULPIT? THE NEGOTIATED AUTHORITY OF EIGHTEENTH- CENTURY NEW ENGLAND CLERGY" (2008). University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations. 608. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/gradschool_diss/608 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Janice Ellen Wood The Graduate School University of Kentucky 2008 PROSTITUTING THE PULPIT? THE NEGOTIATED AUTHORITY OF EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY NEW ENGLAND CLERGY _________________________________________ ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION _________________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Science at the University of Kentucky By Janice Ellen Wood Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Daniel Blake Smith, Professor of History Lexington, Kentucky 2008 Copyright © Janice Ellen Wood 2008 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION PROSTITUTING THE PULPIT? THE NEGOTIATED AUTHORITY OF EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY NEW ENGLAND CLERGY Despite the growing population in the colonies throughout the eighteenth century, decreasing numbers of men chose to train for the ministry. New England Congregational clergy not only declined in number; the status, authority and influence enjoyed by their seventeenth-century forbears had drastically declined as well. Early in the century, ministerial authority was bolstered by the clergy’s educational and financial superiority, a virtual monopoly over religious sacraments and the force of localism in small covenanted communities. But the social impact of explosive population growth, a series of currency crises, and warfare throughout the eighteenth century eroded conditions supporting ministerial hegemony. In the midst of these social and economic changes, clergy faced the temptation to prostitute their ministries for the security of their positions. The loss of educational and financial superiority, their monopoly on the sacraments, and the conforming force of localism, drove eighteenth-century clergy to negotiate for more control over their own futures. Late in the century, Congregational clergy largely managed to escape the confines of a life-long tenure with one congregation, but their newfound freedom did not restore their declining prestige and authority; rather the weakened lay-clerical bond accelerated the decline of the office of the ministry. Ultimately, ministerial authority was a negotiated process between clergy and congregations throughout the colonial period. In spite of the overall decline of clerical status, the theme of negotiation remained constant as the social and economic developments altered the degree of leverage and type of negotiation each could utilize. KEYWORDS: Clergy, Congregations, Lay-Clerical Relationships, Negotiation, Ministerial Authority. ____Janice Ellen Wood______________________ Student’s Signature ________4-16-2008_________________________ Date PROSTITUTING THE PULPIT? THE NEGOTIATED AUTHORITY OF EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY NEW ENGLAND CLERGY By Janice Ellen Wood _____ Dr. Daniel Blake Smith __________ Director of Dissertation ______Dr. Kathi Kern_______________________ Director of Graduate Studies ___________4 – 16-2008____________________ RULES FOR THE USE OF DISSERTATIONS Unpublished dissertations submitted for the Doctor's degree and deposited in the University of Kentucky Library are as a rule open for inspection, but are to be used only with due regard to the rights of the authors. Bibliographical references may be noted, but quotations or summaries of parts may be published only with the permission of the author, and with the usual scholarly acknowledgments. Extensive copying or publication of the dissertation in whole or in part also requires the consent of the Dean of the Graduate School of the University of Kentucky. A library that borrows this dissertation for use by its patrons is expected to secure the signature of each user. Name Date ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ DISSERTATION Janice Ellen Wood The Graduate School University of Kentucky 2008 PROSTITUTING THE PULPIT? THE NEGOTIATED AUTHORITY OF EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY NEW ENGLAND CLERGY _________________________________________ DISSERTATION _________________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Science at the University of Kentucky By Janice Ellen Wood Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Daniel Blake Smith, Professor of History Lexington, Kentucky 2008 Copyright © Janice Ellen Wood 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS Section 1. Introduction……………………………...……………………………………..1 Section 2. The Social Importance of Colonial Ministry……………………..……………8 2.1 The Basis of Clerical Authority…….…..…………….………………….…....8 2.1.1 Congregational Expectations………………………………………15 2.1.2 Expectations of Clergy…………….……………………………….28 2.1.3 Pillars of Ministerial Authority…………………………………….41 Section 3 The Negotiation of Authority……………………………………….…………58 3.1 Clerical Tools of Negotiation……………………………………….……..…58 3.1.1 Ministerial Candidacy…………………………………………...…60 3.1.2 Settlement and Salary Negotiation…………………………………79 3.1.3 The Middle Years of Ministry….………………………………….93 3.1.4 The Final Years of Ministry…………………………………..…..100 3.1.5 Exit Strategies…………………………………………………….109 3.2 Congregational Tools of Negotiation……………………………………….123 3.2.1 Candidacy and Settlement Negotiations…………………...……..127 3.2.2 Maintenance of Clerical Image…………………………………...135 3.2.3 Negotiating Through Sermon Responses…………………………139 3.2.4 Congregational Factional Disputes…………………………….…146 3.2.5 Salary Compliance………………………………………………..151 Section 4 The Decline of Clerical Authority…………………………………………...172 4.1The Loss of Educational Superiority and the Itinerant Invasion…………. 172 4.1.1 Decline among the Educated Clergy……………………………...175 4.1.2 Invasion of Uneducated Clergy Itinerants …………………….....185 4.1.3 Competition between Clergy……………………………..………202 iii 4.2 The Loss of Localism in the Revolutionary Era………………………….216 4.2.1 The Power of Conformity………………………………………..220 4.2.2 Population Growth and Social Realignment………….………….232 4.2.3 Opportunities for Ministers………………………………………237 4.2.4 Revolutionary Impact on Pastoral Relations……………………..240 Section5 Epilogue……………………………………………………………………..263 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………279 Vita……………………………………………………………………………………..293 iv List of Files JaniceWood007 v Section I. Introduction Despite the growing population in the colonies throughout the eighteenth century, decreasing numbers of men chose to train for the ministry. New England clergy not only declined in number; the status, authority and influence enjoyed by their seventeenth- century forbears had drastically declined as well. Historians of the colonial period have not missed this phenomenon and have offered various interpretations of this deterioration of ministerial authority. The most provocative theories discover the seedbed of revolutionary thought and American democracy in Congregational churches.1 Indeed the drama of the Great Awakening and the American Revolution has preoccupied scholars of the eighteenth century and ministers are often interpreted through that lens.2 Unlike puritan divines of the seventeenth century who have garnered their own full length monographs, this next generation of ministers are usually studied as players in the larger theological and political disputes of the period.3 While it would be naive to examine 1 Alan Heimert, Religion and the American Mind: From the Great Awakening to the Revolution, (Harvard University Press, 1966); Nathan Hatch, The Democratization of American Christianity, (Yale University Press, 1989); and The Sacred Cause of Liberty: Republican Thought and the Millennium in Revolutionary New England, (Yale University Press, 1977); Patricia U. Bonomi, Under the Cope of Heaven: Religion, Society and Politics in Colonial America, (Oxford University Press, 1986). 2 Edwin Scott Gaustad, The Great Awakening in New England, (Harper and Row, 1957); C. C. Goen, Revivalism and Separatism in
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