"Such Confusion Followed as Nothing Was Done": Individualization and Rationalization in the First Church of Abington 1712-1757
Abstract
The First Church of Abington was incorporated in 1712. The church called Samuel Brown as its first pastor. However rising individualism, manifesting as family factions and contention affected the church in the 1720s. In the 1740s the religious revival of the Great Awakening and the resulting division between Old and New Lights, furthered individualism in Abington. Because of its reliance on communal bonds the ecclesiastical government lost influence. This loss of influence furthered contention in the church and led to the resignation of Samuel Brown in 1749. The church of Abington and its new pastor Ezekiel Dodge stopped the in-fighting by using the process of Rationalization. Rationalization, the clarifying, systemizing, and specifying of concepts, created a new system that did not rely on communal bonds and adapted to an individualizing laity. The rationalization of Abington�s ecclesiastical government did not secularize the church or cause declension. On the contrary, it stabilized the First Church of Abington.
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- OSU Theses [15752]