Church, Space, and Pluralism: Two Puritan Settlements, Territory, and Religious Tolerance
Sociologists argue that religious diversity motivates violent conflict and the embrace of religious tolerance in response. These accounts struggle to explain the histories of two coterminous Puritan ventures: Massachusetts, where religious intolerance became a legal norm, and Providence Island, a co...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford Univ. Press
[2019]
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| In: |
Sociology of religion
Year: 2019, Volume: 80, Issue: 2, Pages: 222-246 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ Puritanism
/ Dissenting opinion
/ Religious conflict
/ Religious tolerance
/ Geographical area
B Isla de Providencia / Puritans / Settlement / Massachusetts Bay |
| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy CB Christian life; spirituality CH Christianity and Society KBQ North America KDG Free church |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Sociologists argue that religious diversity motivates violent conflict and the embrace of religious tolerance in response. These accounts struggle to explain the histories of two coterminous Puritan ventures: Massachusetts, where religious intolerance became a legal norm, and Providence Island, a colony in the West Indies where religious infighting undercut the church-state. Drawing settlers from the same religious circles, both faced conflicts about the religious state's management of territory and banishment. Existing accounts overlook how the difference in territorial size between the colonies altered these debates. Weakened by a massive frontier, leadership in Massachusetts urged that religious toleration could be avoided through the territorial division of spiritual authority and limited confederation. In contrast, Providence Island's size precluded such divisions, and interaction among the settlers propelled religious conflict. Although frontiers are often theorized as refuge for religious dissenters, this account demonstrates that there are also contexts where frontiers can reinforce religious orthodoxy. |
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| ISSN: | 1759-8818 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Sociology of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/socrel/sry030 |