Experimental Theology in America: Madame Guyon, Fénelon, and Their Readers

by Patricia A. Ward

Overview

In this study of Madame Guyon and, her defender, Francois de Fénelon, the Archbishop of Cambray, Patricia Ward demonstrates how the ideas of these seventeenth-century Catholics were transmitted into an ongoing tradition of Protestant devotional literature—one that continues to influence American evangelicals and charismatic Christians today. Down a winding (and fascinating) historical path, Ward traces how the lives and writings of these two somewhat obscure Catholic believers in Quietism came to such prominence in American spirituality—offering, in part, a fascinating glance at the role of women in the history of devotional writing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481311106
Publisher:	Baylor University Press
Publication date:	12/15/2018
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.67(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Patricia A. Ward is Professor Emerita of French and Comparative Literature at Vanderbilt University where she served as Director of the W.T. Bandy Center for Baudelaire and Modern French Studies and Chair of the Department of French and Italian. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter One
American Popular Piety and Continental Spirituality: The Ecumenical Contexts of Nineteenth-Century Holiness Camp Meetings

Chapter Two
The Reputation of Madame Guyon: Personalities, Politics, and Religious Controversy under Louis XIV

Chapter Three
The Dénouement of the Quietist Drama and Early Intermediaries to Protestant Circles

Chapter Four
Madame Guyon and the Pietist Mind-Set: The Transmission of Quietism to German-Speaking Pennsylvania

Chapter Five
The Praxis of Piety: Quaker and Methodist Mediation of the Works of Fénelon and Madame Guyon

Chapter Six
Persons of Eminent Piety and Writers of Spiritual Wisdom: Fénelon, Madame Guyon, and Their American Readership, 1800-1840

Chapter Seven
From Experimental Religion to Experimental Holiness: Contexts of Thomas Upham's Reinterpretation of Madame Guyon, 1840-1860

Chapter Eight
The Turn to Devotional Literature: Readers of Fénelon, From Boardman, Stowe, and Bushnell to Twentieth-Century Evangelicals

Chapter Nine
The Legacy of Madame Guyon from 1850 to 2000: From Romantic Sentimentalism to the Charismatic Movement

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

What People are Saying About This

This is an important book with an unusually convincing argument.

Mark A. Noll

This is an important book with an unusually convincing argument.

Editorial Reviews

Patricia A. Ward's Experimental Theology in America is a detailed and remarkably erudite study on the impact that Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon and François de Fénelon, the Archbishop of Gambray, had on Protestant devotional literature from the eighteenth century onward. Ward provides a comprehensive explanation as to why these two Catholic mystics have proven to be such an enduring force within Protestant, Evangelical, and charismatic circles in the United States, particularly among Methodists and Quakers.

Christianity and Literature

... this book is ecumenical history at its best.

Books and Culture

Ward... demonstrates the strong influence of seventeenth-century French Catholic Quietism on Protestant American piety.... This book will prove compelling not only to readers interested in Quietism but also to those interested in religious history, devotional literature and practice, or women's writing.

Rhodes College, Religious Studies Review - Leigh Pittenger

An immensely successful portrait of the sincerity and vigor of American faith.

Thomas Pavel

Ward's careful handling of primary sources and her detailed reconstruction of Quietism's legacy within American Protestantism guarantee her book an authoritative place at the table in future discussions of American popular piety.

Religion and the Arts - Chad P. Stutz

Patricia Ward's book presents the definitive history of the Quietist legacy in America. It is well written and carefully researched, and it helps to explain the persistent experimental appeal of American revivalism.

The Journal of Religion

"... this book is ecumenical history at its best."
--Books and Culture (2010)

"Patricia Ward's book presents the definitive history of the Quietist legacy in America. It is well written and carefully researched, and it helps to explain the persistent experimental appeal of American revivalism."
--The Journal of Religion (2012, 92:3)

"Ward's careful handling of primary sources and her detailed reconstruction of Quietism's legacy within American Protestantism guarantee her book an authoritative place at the table in future discussions of American popular piety."
--Chad P. Stutz, University of Mobile, Religion and the Arts (2010, 14)

"Patricia A. Ward's Experimental Theology in America is a detailed and remarkably erudite study on the impact that Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon and François de Fénelon, the Archbishop of Gambray, had on Protestant devotional literature from the eighteenth century onward. Ward provides a comprehensive explanation as to why these two Catholic mystics have proven to be such an enduring force within Protestant, Evangelical, and charismatic circles in the United States, particularly among Methodists and Quakers."
--Christianity and Literature (2011, 60:4)

"This is an important book with an unusually convincing argument."

--Mark A. Noll, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History, University of Notre Dame

"An immensely successful portrait of the sincerity and vigor of American faith."

--Thomas Pavel, Gordon J. Laird Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago

From the Publisher