Protestant Communalism in the Trans-Atlantic World, 1650–1850

Download or read book Protestant Communalism in the Trans-Atlantic World, 1650–1850 written by Philip Lockley and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-29 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the trans-Atlantic history of Protestant traditions of communalism – communities of shared property. The sixteenth-century Reformation may have destroyed monasticism in northern Europe, but Protestant Christianity has not always denied common property. Between 1650 and 1850, a range of Protestant groups adopted communal goods, frequently after crossing the Atlantic to North America: the Ephrata community, the Shakers, the Harmony Society, the Community of True Inspiration, and others. Early Mormonism also developed with a communal dimension, challenging its surrounding Protestant culture of individualism and the free market. In a series of focussed and survey studies, this book recovers the trans-Atlantic networks and narratives, ideas and influences, which shaped Protestant communalism across two centuries of early modernity.