Charity, Change, and Community : Frankford's Swedenborgians and their Circle-Volume 1: 1817-1875
Mc Cormick, Gail Rodgers2024
Book
Total copies: 2
Main title:
Author:
Work:
Imprint:
AMZ Publishing Pros, 2024
Collation:
821 pages : ill, maps
Notes:
Spurred by a surprising family discovery, Gail McCormick embarked on an historical journey to uncover the story of a unique society of Swedenborgians, a Christian sect inspired by the works of eighteenth-century scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg. Unlike most investigations of American Swedenborgianism that have emphasized Swedenborg’s influence on the elite, eccentric, and esoteric, McCormick focuses on the experience and impact of this community of faith in the Northeast Philadelphia neighbourhood of Frankford. Independent until its consolidation within the city of Philadelphia in 1854, the neighbourhood has maintained its own identity for generations, retaining a sense of its colonial past, industrial heritage, and the contributions of its diverse population. Frankford’s Swedenborgian congregation, officially the New Jerusalem Society of Frankford, was founded in 1817 as a “Free-Will Baptist” congregation by former Quakers, German Pietists, and English immigrants who had embraced religious Nonconformity in their homeland. They maintained strong family and faith connections to their “Bible Christian” neighbours, the English vegetarian and teetotaling Swedenborgians who arrived in Philadelphia about the same time. The congregation developed deep roots in its neighbourhood but also was engaged, and often influential, in many city-wide and national issues. It made its mark not only on religious affairs but also on local business and industry; art, literature, and music; science and medicine; social and political reform; and even communication technology. McCormick uses a wide variety of primary and secondary resources to highlight a special community of faith, whose historic trajectory reflects that of the neighbourhood it sought to influence and inspire.
ISBN:
9781916787797
Dewey class:
R 289.4289.4
Language:
English
BRN:
3866340