Divinity for All Persuasions, Tomlin TJ

Employing a wealth of archival material, T.J. Tomlin analyzes the pan-Protestant sensibility distributed through the almanacs pages between 1730 and 1820. By disseminating a collection of Protestant concepts regarding Gods existence, divine revelation, the human condition, and the afterlife,
almanacs played an unparalleled role in early American religious life. Influenced by readers opinions and printers pragmatism, the religious content of everyday print supports an innovative interpretation of early American cultural and religious history. In sharp contrast to a historiography
centered on intra-Protestant competition, Tomlin shows that most early Americans relied on a handful of Protestant essentials rather than denominational specifics to define and organize their religious lives.