Conceived in Doubt

"With sound scholarship and deep research, Porterfield offers a fresh interpretation of the symbiotic relationship between evangelical popular religion and libertarian politics in the early republic. I am confident that Conceived in Doubt will take its place as a seminal work in the study of American religion and politics."--Franklin Lambert, Purdue University

--Franklin Lambert "Purdue University"
"Amanda Porterfield is a rare historian and Conceived in Doubt is a gem of a book. She dives directly into the fear, doubt, and skepticism that Americans drank widely in the early national period and finds that religion did not save them, but contained them. The new evangelicalism of the era corralled doubt and then used it to create new definitions of religion and politics. In the process, they carved a space for themselves while carving others to pieces. Conceived in Doubt is a brilliant work. By forcing us to reconsider the relationship between religion and politics in the early republic, it helps untangle some of the knots that continue to lace them together today."--Edward J. Blum "author of Reforging the White Republic"

"Amanda Porterfield's subtle study of religio-political formations, intellectual virtue, and declension narratives marks a needed contrast to the tide of amateurish history and bloviations about the colonial era . . . Conceived in Doubt is a fresh inquiry into the emergence of the independent category 'religion' in American political life."

--Jason Bivens "Religion in American History"
"In this lively and provocative book, Amanda Porterfield counters the now commonplace notion that evangelicalism in post-revolutionary America served as an anti-authoritarian and democratizing force. Instead, Porterfield finds that evangelical groups fueled a culture of anxiety, mistrust, and bitter partisanship that paved the way for an eventual assertion of political authority. Conceived in Doubt covers much ground in cultural and political history, marshaling a wide array of evidence for Porterfield's innovative claims about the relationship of evangelical religion and politics in the early United States. The book should gain a wide readership and point scholars in productive new directions."--Kirsten Fischer "University of Minnesota"
"Amanda Porterfield convincingly challenges Nathan Hatch's assertions in his The Democratization of American Christianity, contending that Hatch over-emphasized evangelical aversion to religious and political authority. . . . Porterfield shows that nineteenth-century evangelicals' stance towards political authority was manipulation for religious purposes and enlightens readers about evangelical Christianity and politics during this era, as well as the relationship of the two to one another. Highly recommended"--Choice