American Culture: Religion and the Romanticism Movement

The Fundamentalist-Modernist dispute was a religious dispute that occurred in the 1920s and 1930s within the confines of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America that ended up creating separation in most of the American Christian movements also. In fact, convinced that the literal truth of the Bible formed the basis of Christian belief, fundamentalists initiated a campaign to eradicate Protestant denominations of modernism and to fight the new individual freedoms that seemed to contradict traditional morality (Foner 788). What is more, the press portrayed fundamentalism as a movement of backwoods bigots. Yet, it was a national phenomenon. Fundamentalism continued to be an important strain of 1920s politics and culture (Foner

Puritan Influence on America “Three things exercise a constant influence over the minds of men: climate, government, and religion” (Anderson 1). Voltaire excellently captures the very essence of life with this one simple quotation. It is true that climate and government have a large influence as well, but religion is one of the biggest, especially to the Puritans. They play a rather large part in many of the American ideals and values.

U.S. Religious History took the class on an epic religious journey; looking at the foundational principles outlining the religious movement in America. We started our journey looking at the founding fathers and the governing principles which precipitated religious freedom and the need to seek out a land in which that freedom could be practiced. They no longer wanted to be restricted and governed by the principles established in England; therefore they felt separation was the only viable response. Thusly, a distinct culture arose from that expedition; and the Puritans essentially ostracized, ridiculed, and even outcast those persons whose beliefs countered their own. Continuing

The Romantic Movement, or period, was from the year 1828 to about 1865. The main feature of the American Romantic period was the celebration and praise of individualism. This time is also considered to be the first period of genuine American creativity. Emotion, instead of reason, became the largest source of inspiration and creativity during this period. All of this was a reaction to all of the constraints that were forced on people during the era of Realism. At this time in history, America was in a great period of expansion, the writers of the American Romantic period were discovering that could create a new and vastly different voice for this new era in

From the first settlers in the New World, religion had a place in this country. While Puritans had a foothold, it wasn’t until the mid-eighteenth century that religion became tightly woven into the fabric of the fledgling Nation. This essay will address the rise of Methodism in the United States; the growth of the evangelicals and the highlights of the politically charged aspects of religion in America from the mid-18th century to the Civil War. While there have been many events occur around politics and religion in America, the two that hold the most significance were African Americans being brought into the fold of the evangelical Church and the Civil War.

Spirituality is one of the most important aspects of life to some communities, cultures, and nations. People who believe in God usually become more spiritual as they age. In American societies, the mosques and churches have older people than younger people. In most cases, we become more spiritual or at least start looking for religious answers when we are faced with a death in the family. In a study by Moremen,(2005), 26 older women who had not experienced a life changing even or recent death in their families were interviewed on their views in terms of “their place” in society” and the “order of things”. None of the participants were facing a terminal illness. The majority stated that they wanted to understand things and were looking towards

The Romanticism period in the United States was focused mainly on nature which introduced progressiveness as one of the quintessential characteristics of America and its citizens. Romanticism was a movement in which the people believe that nature is at the epicenter of all ideas and inspirations. This sentiment of nature’s greatness only increased amongst Americans after the Louisiana Purchase and the migration of the Americans to the west that came shortly afterward. The Louisiana purchase was a deal made with the French for control over most of the mid-west and other western areas in 1803. The deal was made by Thomas Jefferson during his presidency for only 15 million dollars (May-Beaver). The Louisiana Purchase was one of Jefferson’s best decisions as president due

American Literature, especially of the early settler and colonial period is marked by a deep sense of religion and a stress upon writing about matters related to religion. The development of early American literature thus can be seen to be a reflection of the religious ideals followed by the early settlers and colonists and it became a means of promoting a moral and ethical way of life.

American Romanticism is a journey away from the corruption of civilization and the limits of rational thoughts, and toward the integrity of nature and the freedom of imagination. In other words, it is a journey away from industrialism or rationalism, which is working hard and earning money. This movement, originally started in Europe and later reached in America. It can be best defined as a thought that values feeling and intuition over reason. Some of the characteristics include the importance of feeling and intuition over reason, placing faith in inner experience and the power of imagination, preferring youthful innocence over educated sophistication, finding beauty and reality in exotic locales. It encouraged people to enjoy the integrity of nature and freedom of imagination. It also encouraged one to have faith in imagination and inner experience. In addition, romanticists found inspiration in myth, legend, and folk culture and found poetry as the highest expression of imagination. Romanticists believed that the landscape was regarded as an extension of the human personality, capable of sympathy with man 's emotional state, whereas nature was regarded as a vehicle for spirit just as man; the breath of God fills both man and the earth. However, romantics would create chaos when the issues were connected with human rights, individualism, and freedom from oppression (Arpin 138-150).

In the beginning times of American Literature, Puritan writers were prevalent which grew into the Age of Reason by way of scientists and philosophers, which eventually emerged into Romanticism and the Renaissance writers, which developed into Realism by the middle of 19th century. Throughout American Literature, religious ideologies and philosophies influenced the way that writers portrayed the time period, characters, feelings, and God.

There have been three major influential movements in American history—Puritanism, Rationalism, and Romanticism. Each occurring during generally different time periods, they produced a number of different types of literature reflecting their beliefs at the time. The Puritans, being some of the first settlers in modern day America, relied heavily on beliefs they brought with them from the Church of England. Rather than simply being followers of their prior Church, Puritans believed in the Church as less of a structured organization and more of a spiritual journey or community. In these beliefs, the Puritans sought to bring religion, spirituality, and the Bible into mainstream thought. The Puritans had a number of other important beliefs

To understand how Romanticism changed the way society thought, you must first understand the meanings and reason behind the movement. The Romantic Movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries was described as a movement in the history of culture, an aesthetic style, and an attitude of mind. (Fiero) Romanticism provided expression of their thoughts and ideas toward their own societies, which was in effect predominantly in Europe and in the United States. The movement was a reaction to the Enlightenment which provided strict ideology and rationalism. The Church had much to do with the Enlightenment seeing as if religion and the importance of God were incorporated into most aspects of their culture. Thus, Romanticism was a response to

The American romanticism lasted through 1800-1860. They believed everything is a reflection of the Divine soul and self-reliance and individualism must outweigh external authority/tradition. The five characteristics are rapid growth of industrialization, education, transportation, and cities transforms society. Numerous reform movement, centered in new England, seek to improve social conditions. Discontent over slavery

“Another great victory of heart over head was the Romantic movement in thought, literature, and the arts.” (Tindall 503) This movement was

The Romantic period developed in America in the 19th century, with the Gothic/Romantic stories of Edgar Allan Poe and the quasi-religious, transcendentalist poetry of Ralph Waldo