Sermons, systems, and strategies: The geographic strategies of the Methodist Episcopal Church in its expansion into New York State, 1788-1810
Date of Award
1988
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Geography
Advisor(s)
Donald Meinig
Keywords
Religious history, American Protestant
Subject Categories
Geography
Abstract
Institutions develop geographic strategies in order to diffuse their ideas and organizations. These strategies may be either or both explicit and implicit and involve the generation of organizational structures, the examination of problems and possibilities and the deployment of resources. American Protestant religious institutions expand territorially and numerically by establishing new congregations. Founding methods, operational relationships between judicatories and existing congregations, and deployment processes of six denominations; Dutch Reformed, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, and Methodist Episcopal; in upstate New York before 1810 are explored, with special emphasis on the Methodist Episcopal Church which showed the most successful expansion during that period. A series of maps and charts have been assembled to indicate the diffusion patterns of these six religious institutions. The various time periods examined, 1788 and before, 1789-1793, 1794-1798, 1799-1803, 1804-1810, correspond with significant growth and realignments of Methodist districts. The results of this study show that geographic strategies have directly affected the success and failure of denominational expansion.
Access
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Recommended Citation
Nickerson, Michael George, "Sermons, systems, and strategies: The geographic strategies of the Methodist Episcopal Church in its expansion into New York State, 1788-1810" (1988). Geography and the Environment - Dissertations. 35.
https://surface.syr.edu/geo_etd/35
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