The Roots of Appalachian Christianity: The Life and Legacy of Elder Shubal Stearns by Elder John Sparks (review)

authors cover what they term " deindustrialization"in the socalled Rust Belt that characterizes northeastern Ohio. If the authors arc correct, however, Ohio' s next phase of growth may he in the high tech sector that seems the key to the twentyfirst century. Perhaps there will lie a " clystal corridor" here similar to Silicon Valley. While there are doubtless other favorite texts that might illustrate the topics chosen by the editcirs, their ch(, ices seem representative. Their mc)st difficult jc)1) as editors must have been tc) excicise restraint. Ilistori : ins sce a fasciIiating possibility 11-1 evely scrap ( 31 primai·y evidence. What, the question must have been, should be included? What must be omitted? There is ali almost palpable tensic ) 11 created liy t]iis decisionmaking piocess. Skillfil] editors that they are, they tantalize us with the evi,cative inateri.] s, leaving us to fol](, w <) 112 own hiSIOric. 11 Culic) Sity In addition, the Ohio University Press should be thanked For designing a format that allows adequate rot, m fOr ellitc)rial headnotes, related passages from primary sources, : ind necessary bibliographical data. In short, anyone who wishcs to reflect on the st. ix cit Ohio% storied p., st ( 11· ( in her ccititributic )ns Ic) the natic)11. 11 reccird will find this an exciting bcnk James H. ()' Donnell [l] Marietta Collefe Elder John Sparks. The Roots of Appalochian Christianity: The Life tind Legacy of Elder Shul), 1/ Stearn. x. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 200 I. 3 51 p17. ISBN: 0813122136 Icl(} th), $ 14·99· There is a trembling and crying spirit nmong them," rem. ziked Elliathan [) avis, regarding the #< 31[ owers of the iici· y eighteenthCentury Appalachian prencher Shubal Stearns: " but whether it be the Spirit (, f God or the devil, [ don't know; if it be the devil, tile devil go with them, for I will never more venture myself among them."But most people whi) heard Stearns felt ] List the opposite. Hundreds, if I[(, t th(, usands, of frontiersmen and w(, men rallied to Stearns'pre: ching. And now, over two centuries later, the pc, pul. ir pasttir has a devi,ted hic, gr, ipher. Indeed, minister and histormn Elder ](, hn Sparks has ch<, sen to tollow thi path lh, il 1, avis i·drised; he ventures with Ste., Ins. Ultimately, while Sparks' biography of Stearns and his analysis of the preacher's legacy offer Appa]: tchian and religious hist(, rians a great deal of new information, it is marred by the biographer' s anliacademic bias and his tailure to connect Ste: irns's li fe to broader themes in American religious history. Although most religious histolions are prcib: thly unfamiliar with the name Sliulial Stear ns, they sh(, uldn't be any 1( inger. As Sparks ably shows, Stearns was more than a powerful orator and churchhuilder ;he was a key founder of a distinctive form of 11rc,testantism am<) 17g: the peciples of Spring 1002 Appalachia. Born in Massachusetts in I 706, Stearns became a Separate Baptist, marveled at the preaching of itinerant evangelist C: corge Whiteficid, and trekked int() western Virginia and North Carolina in the 17 fos. On the ircmtier, Stearns became :powerful religious leader. His enthusiastic preaching style, his indefatigable energy,and his abilities as : church organizer he[ped plant Protest: intism, especially the Arminianism of the Separate Baptists, deeply into the soil of the mountains. And allhough Stearns lost most of his religious authority during the Regulators' WAr : t mid-eighteenth century [part of an upsurge of frontici animosity toward casterners), lie nonetheless influenced religion in Appoinchia significantly afterwards. Sparks connects Stearns' ], i· caching and his followers with the conversion practices and prenching styles of Ikarton Stone of Kentucky and Jaines McC; ready, two (, f the most imp< irtant figures in America's Second Great Awakening. Moreover, in the last third of the hook, Sparks traces the ways Stearns and his Converts helped form the Protestant denominations that continue to mindle Appalachia tciday. Sparks has clearly demonstrated that Stearns played a pivotal role in bringing enthusiastic Baptist religicm to the mountain South. This biography, hwever, could h: ive been strengthened by more attention to current trends : ind writings in American religious history. Sparks derides c{) nlemp {} rary religious historians for their " socio]( igical jargon." Yet it does not appear that he has seriously Consulted their texts. Sparks'bibliography, in fact, includes only a handful of ]· eligious studies written si nec I 980. Morec,vcr, : iny(, ne famili: ir with Nathan Hatch's award-winning The Denit)(· rlitizliti,) 11 of American Christ; anity will recognize that Stearns was not as uniqite as Spai·ks would have reailers believe. Stearns was but Ime of a host of popular, enthusiastic , : ind antiCA ]vinist preachers on the frontier who garnered huge followings. Ti, Hatch, these frontier ministus cc)nstitutal a pc,1, ulist vanguard interested in taking religious authority out of the h:inds of elite cleigymen : ind distributing it among common Americans. The sttiry of Stearns ctimplicates Hatch's claims, thcugh. Stearns was not a populist; he was an autocrat, wiclding enorinous power over local Baptists and refusing to endorse gr: ssroots 1, olitical 111(, vements like the Regulators. Iii shoit, while Sparks has written an interesting book on Stearns, subsequent biogriphers and students of frontier preachers would be bettel served by reading widely abollt eighteenth-centu ry American religion, nither than dismissing the very , icademic literature that contextualizes their subjects. Reviews Edward j. Blum lniver.vity of Kentlicky 45 ...