MACMILLAN Sectarianism and Orestes Brownson in the American Religious Marketplace (Histories of the Sacred and Secular, 1700–2000)

This book reveals the origins of the American religious marketplace by examining the life and work of reformer and journalist Orestes Brownson (1803-1876). Grounded in a wide variety of sources, including personal correspondence, journalistic essays, book reviews, and speeches, this work argues that religious sectarianism profoundly shaped participants in the religious marketplace. Brownson is emblematic of this dynamic because he changed his religious identity seven times over a quarter of a century. Throughout, Brownson waged a war of words opposing religious sectarianism. By the 1840s, however, a corrosive intellectual environment transformed Brownson into an arch religious sectarian. The book ends with a consideration of several explanations for Brownson’s religious mobility, emphasizing the goad of sectarianism as the most salient catalyst for change.  Review “This cogent, fluently written account illuminates the diversity of 19th century American society and religion through the surprising career of Orestes Brownson.  By turns a Universalist, Presbyterian, nonsectarian, Unitarian, and Transcendentalist, Brownson finally converted to Catholicism, but never escaped controversy.” (Daniel Walker Howe, author of Pulitzer-Prize-winning What Hath God Wrought:  The Transformation of America, 1815-1848) “Orestes Brownson -- Presbyterian, Universalist, Freethinker, Transcendentalist, and finally Roman Catholic apologist -- has long puzzled historians of American religion and intellectual life. At times he appears no more than a smart and articulate shuttlecock, bouncing from creed to creed for his own idiosyncratic, ever-changing reasons. By placing Brownson in the context of the sectarian Protestant religious marketplace of pre-Civil War America, Angel Cortes allows us to grasp the coherent dynamic underlying the apparent instability of this major American intellectual.” (James Turner, Cavanaugh Professor of Humanities Emeritus, University of Notre Dame, USA) From the Back Cover This book reveals the origins of the American religious marketplace by examining the life and work of reformer and journalist Orestes Brownson (1803-1876). Grounded in a wide variety of sources, including personal correspondence, journalistic essays, book reviews, and speeches, this work argues that religious sectarianism profoundly shaped participants in the religious marketplace. Brownson is emblematic of this dynamic because he changed his religious identity seven times over a quarter of a century. Throughout, Brownson waged a war of words opposing religious sectarianism. By the 1840s, however, a corrosive intellectual environment transformed Brownson into an arch religious sectarian. The book ends with a consideration of several explanations for Brownson’s religious mobility, emphasizing the goad of sectarianism as the most salient catalyst for change.  About the Author Ángel Cortés is an Associate Professor of History at Holy Cross College, USA. Cortés holds degrees in Psychology, Religious Studies, and History.