America experienced a number of religious revivals or awakenings from the eighteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century. These movements along with other factors may have contributed to fertile ground for the birth of several new religious movements, some that remain prominent to this day. These movements include the Church of LDS of Jesus Christ, the Jehovah Witnesses and the seventh day Adventist’s.
There was also the emergence of several new movements from the Islamic world in the nineteenth century that included the Baha’i Faith and the Ahmadiyya Muslim sect. The history of the Baha’i Faith particularly intersects with American religious history. Although it originally emerged from Shi’a Islamic Persia 1844, it was the same year Joseph Smith died and the year William Miller predicted the Return of Christ.
The Baha’i Faith was introduced to the USA in the late nineteenth century and it was the Baha’i community of North America, not Persia that enabled the rapid spread of this faith throughout the world. Through the development of the American community it became a socially progressive movement with a strong Christian identity in the West.
So we have the rise of new religious movements, particularly from America but also worldwide. So what were the conditions in America that led to this proliferation of new religious movements. What can this period of history teach us about the world today as well as the state of religion in the West?
There was also the emergence of several new movements from the Islamic world in the nineteenth century that included the Baha’i Faith and the Ahmadiyya Muslim sect. The history of the Baha’i Faith particularly intersects with American religious history. Although it originally emerged from Shi’a Islamic Persia 1844, it was the same year Joseph Smith died and the year William Miller predicted the Return of Christ.
The Baha’i Faith was introduced to the USA in the late nineteenth century and it was the Baha’i community of North America, not Persia that enabled the rapid spread of this faith throughout the world. Through the development of the American community it became a socially progressive movement with a strong Christian identity in the West.
So we have the rise of new religious movements, particularly from America but also worldwide. So what were the conditions in America that led to this proliferation of new religious movements. What can this period of history teach us about the world today as well as the state of religion in the West?