Beloved Strangers: Interfaith Families in Nineteenth Century America

Anne C. Rose

Published by Harvard University Press 2001

Beloved Strangers

Interfaith Families in Nineteenth Century America

Anne C. Rose

https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674423107

Overview
Contents

About this book

Interfaith marriage is a visible and often controversial part of American life--and one with a significant history. This is the first historical study of religious diversity in the home. Anne Rose draws a vivid picture of interfaith marriages over the century before World War I, their problems and their social consequences. She shows how mixed-faith families became agents of change in a culture moving toward pluralism.

Following them over several generations, Rose tracks the experiences of twenty-six interfaith families who recorded their thoughts and feelings in letters, journals, and memoirs. She examines the decisions husbands and wives made about religious commitment, their relationships with the extended families on both sides, and their convictions. These couples--who came from strong Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish backgrounds--did not turn away from religion but made personalized adjustments in religious observance. Increasingly, the author notes, women took charge of religion in the home. Rose's family-centered look at private religious decisions and practice gives new insight on American society in a period when it was becoming more open, more diverse, and less community-bound.

Author information

Rose Anne C. :

Anne Rose is Associate Professor of History and Religious Studies, Pennsylvania State University.

Reviews

This is a pioneering, eye-opening cultural history focused on American interfaith families begun by marriages celebrated between the War of 1812 and WWI. Rose examines 26 interfaith couples in 18 extended families, making available to readers a rich array of archival material, as well as memoirs and family histories. The result is a deeply contextualized, moving narrative tracing the contours of religious and social change during the pivotal century in which America became a "religiously diverse nation"...Rose shows readers the many complex ways in which "interfaith families helped change American religion," and she has bequeathed to future historians a whole array of new questions raised by this gracefully written, provocative, scholarly volume.

[T]his book is sure to find a sizable audience outside the academy. Not only did Rose hit upon a topic that will interest thousands of Americans, she has told the story of 19th-century intermarriage in crisp prose so accessible that Harvard ought to pass out copies to other scholars hoping to break out of the ivory tower.

Heavily documented with over 70 pages of footnotes and family trees, Rose's analysis stays closer to thoughts and feelings, rarely straying into what she terms 'quantifiable trends,' a thing one sometimes wishes for as a point of comparison. While the vision is limited to the elite sector of society, it still makes an interesting read for American studies and religion collections.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
INTRODUCTION: In Search of Ancestors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
CHAPTER ONE. Children of the Religious Enlightenment Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	14
CHAPTER TWO. Conversations about Interfaith Marriage Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	48
CHAPTER THREE. The Strange Intimacy of Piety and Politics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
CHAPTER FOUR. The Uncertain Limits of Liberalism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
CHAPTER FIVE. Fitting Religion into Complicated Lives Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	146
EPILOGUE: The Discovery of Interfaith Marriage Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	184
Appendix Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Abbreviations Used in the Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Edition: Reprint 2014
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Front matter: 12
- Main content: 288
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 9
- Tables: 1
- Other: 7 halftones, 2 genealogy charts, 1 table
Keywords: Interfaith marriage -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; Interfaith families -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; RELIGION / General; RELIGION / History

eBook

Published: October 1, 2013
ISBN: 9780674423107

Hardcover

Published: February 5, 2001
ISBN: 9780674423091