Sacred Rebellion: Congregationalists in Revolutionary Massachusetts

Religion in the American Experience is a podcast of the National Museum of American Religion, which tells the story of what religion has done to America and what America has done to religion.

Season 3, Episode 29: Sacred Rebellion – Congregationalists in Revolutionary Massachusetts

Guest Bio
Kyle B. Roberts was appointed as the Executive Director of the Congregational Library & Archives in 2022. He received his BA in American Studies from Williams College and his PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a scholar of Atlantic World religion, print, and library history, and is the author of Evangelical Gotham: Religion and the Making of New York City, 1783-1860 and the co-editor, with Stephen Schloesser, of Crossings and Dwellings: Restored Jesuits, Women Religious, American Experience 1814-2014. Kyle is an accomplished public historian and digital humanist whose collaborative projects include the Jesuit Libraries Provenance Project.

Tricia Peone is the Project Director of New England's Hidden Histories at the Congregational Library and Archives. She previously worked at Historic New England, where she was a research scholar for the Recovering New England’s Voices project. She has also previously worked as the public programs director at New Hampshire Humanities, a university lecturer teaching classes on the Salem witch trials, early New England, and public history, and as a researcher for cultural heritage organizations. Her scholarship focuses on early modern magic and witchcraft and her work on these subjects has appeared in journals, books, blogs, and on radio and television. She holds a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in the early modern Atlantic world and history of science.

Background
The country’s 250th anniversary is almost here, and the National Museum of American Religion is working overtime to shed light on religion’s role in the founding of the American republic. One Christian denomination that looms large in the American founding is the Congregationalists of New England. The Congregational Library and Archives in Boston has put together an exhibit entitled “Sacred Rebellion: Congregationalists in Revolutionary Massachusetts” that tells their roles in the American Revolution.

Sacred Rebellion:
https://www.congregationallibrary.org...
The Congregational Library & Archives presents a new in-person exhibition, Sacred Rebellion: Congregationalists in Revolutionary Massachusetts. The exhibition highlights the stories of Massachusetts Congregationalists drawn from the CLA’s important collections.

By the time the war began, many Congregationalists had embraced a theological justification for war and revolution. They believed that God favored them and that their cause was a morally justified, sacred rebellion. Through sermons, books, poems, songs, and letters, Congregationalists shared their stories, reflected on their moral obligations to each other, and debated questions of liberty and loyalty. But consensus was elusive, and implementation proved difficult and unsatisfactory to many, especially those on the margins. These discussions shaped the legacy of Congregationalism and the way the Revolutionary War is remembered today, 250 years later.

Last year's digital exhibit, Religion of Revolution: https://congregationallibrary.quartex...

Call For Papers for an upcoming symposium on religion at the Library that might be of interest to your listeners (deadline extended to June 1): https://www.congregationallibrary.org...

Podcast Support
Scholarly support provided by Dr. Lauren Turek, Associate Professor of History at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

Technical audio and video assistance provided by Dr. Randall Stephens, a Professor of American and British Studies at the University of Oslo.