Overview

Early American Quakers have long been perceived as retiring separatists, but in Holy Nation Sarah Crabtree transforms our historical understanding of the sect by drawing on the sermons, diaries, and correspondence of Quakers themselves. Situating Quakerism within the larger intellectual and religious undercurrents of the Atlantic World, Crabtree shows how Quakers forged a paradoxical sense of their place in the world as militant warriors fighting for peace. She argues that during the turbulent Age of Revolution and Reaction, the Religious Society of Friends forged a “holy nation,” a transnational community of like-minded believers committed first and foremost to divine law and to one another. Declaring themselves citizens of their own nation served to underscore the decidedly unholy nature of the nation-state, worldly governments, and profane laws. As a result, campaigns of persecution against the Friends escalated as those in power moved to declare Quakers aliens and traitors to their home countries. Holy Nation convincingly shows that ideals and actions were inseparable for the Society of Friends, yielding an account of Quakerism that is simultaneously a history of the faith and its adherents and a history of its confrontations with the wider world. Ultimately, Crabtree argues, the conflicts experienced between obligations of church and state that Quakers faced can illuminate similar contemporary struggles.

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9780226255767

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Reviews

With rare insight, Crabtree examines the travails and perseverance of the transatlantic community of Quaker ministers during the tumultuous, war-torn years of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. She shows how the Quakers' rejection of violent patriotism often served to strengthen their resolve, and provided them a way to critique the divisive and burdensome concept of 'citizenship' that was sweeping the Atlantic world. The Quakers gained some stature and influence, but also generated tremendous controversy, by positioning themselves as a pacifist transnational community during the Age of Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Though Crabtree concentrates on the Quakers, her work has much broader significance, casting light on the politics of this formative era, and the ways religious affiliation could complicate the spread of nationalism. --Geoffrey Plank, University of East Anglia

This absorbing and important book reconstructs a radical challenge developed by leading Quakers during the Age of Revolution to emergent ideologies of nationhood and citizenship. Crabtree's study provides a new and thought-provoking perspective on religious faith as an inspiration for political and social reform in the Atlantic World. --Richard Godbeer, Director, Humanities Research Center, Virginia Commonwealth University

Crabtree has presented a strong and compelling history of the Quaker challenge to emergent nationalism during the Age of Revolutions. Well-grounded theoretically and smoothly written, Holy Nation is highly intriguing, is deeply researched, and offers a creative and important intervention in the fields of religious and Atlantic history. (Katherine Carte Engel, Southern Methodist University)

"""Crabtree has presented a strong and compelling history of the Quaker challenge to emergent nationalism during the Age of Revolutions. Well-grounded theoretically and smoothly written, Holy Nation is highly intriguing, is deeply researched, and offers a creative and important intervention in the fields of religious and Atlantic history."" (Katherine Carte Engel, Southern Methodist University)"

Author Information

Sarah Crabtree is assistant professor of history at San Francisco State University.

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