10.1.2026
I found it fascinating to learn that many Christian leaders in America prior to the American Revolution were reformers rather than rebels, meaning they were more interested in bringing about change within their respective groups than in separating from them. The massive influence of the American Revolution on American Christianity cannot be denied. The separatist impulses of the self-ascribed “Christian” movement popularized by James O’Kelly, Abner Jones, Elias Smith, and Barton W. Stone may never have come to fruition without the language of liberty, equality, and resistance that the American Revolution made so convincing.
Daily thoughts on The Democratization of American Christianity by Nathan O. Hatch.
