Christianity Commons^™

Recycling A Colonial Puritan Sermon: A Case Study, David M. Powers

Sermon Studies

Notes which the teenager John Pynchon took in the 1640s as he listened to the Rev. George Moxon’s sermons in frontier Springfield, MA, have become the inspiration and the ingredients for sermon performances in 21st century New England. The project began with a word-for-word transcription of a symbol-for-symbol manuscript based on a code invented by Pynchon. Then a very few words which the notetaker skipped, in his rush to record just what he heard, were added to provide essential clarification. So, too, was introductory material to frame the experience by encouraging the listening congregation to “stretch” a bit to appreciate …

“Wild Mobs, To Mad Sedition Prone”: Preaching The American Revolution, Barry Levis

Sermon Studies

The Church of England in the American Colonies was really not a single institution. Because no local bishop governed the church in America, falling as it did under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, the clergy tended to have differing loyalties. Especially in the southern colonies, local vestries ruled the clergy because they controlled their stipends; therefore the clergy followed the lead of the local squirearchy and suppressed their personal views regarding independence. The New England Anglican clergy were equally in a difficult position. Midst the hostility of Puritanism and the Sons of Liberty, they seemed like an alien …

Preaching In Britain’S “Parish Church”: Sermons At London’S St. Paul’S Cathedral, In The Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries, Frances Knight

Sermon Studies

This paper will address the conference themes of ‘space, place and context’ with an examination of the development of preaching at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, over the course of two hundred years. Completely rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666, on a scale which was intended to rival St Peter’s in Rome, the new St Paul’s was explicitly designed as a Protestant cathedral. Preaching, therefore, was highly valued. Yet, despite the adoption of Wren’s ‘preaching box’ plan, speaking in the colossal space, potentially to a congregation of many hundreds, presented considerable challenges. As one would expect over a two-hundred-year …

0856: Bible Of Mrs. Isabella W. Hite, 1857, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of a single bible. Published by E. Stevenson & F. A. Owen, Agents, for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1856, the title page states it is the English Version of the Polyglott Bible. The book itself contains fold-out maps and illustrations. On the first page is written “Mrs. Isabella W. Hite Cabel Co. Va. Feb 24th 1857” and then in a different ink/pencil, “Isa. H. Moore.” Throughout the book, passages are marked and near them, a name and date are written in the margins. Many of the days (not all were checked) appear to have fallen …

0836: M. Homer Cummings Papers, 1909-1968, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The 31 boxes in this collection contain the following materials by Cummings: college examination papers; sermons and radio addresses; newspaper columns; letters; poems (single copies, booklets, and a spiral-bound book); and songs (single copies, booklets, song books, printing plates, and recordings). There are also letters written to him; newspaper articles about him and his family; materials from the Literary and Bible Training School and McCrum Slavonic Training School (Rev. and Mrs. Cummings’ alma maters); song books and vinyl records from his collection; and various miscellaneous items.

To view materials from this collection that are digitized and available online, search the …

0819: Memphis Tennessee Garrison Papers, 1898-1981, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection contains the personal, religious, educational, and political possessions of Memphis Tennessee Garrison. The collection includes correspondence, photographs, newspaper articles, programs, books, financial documents, publications, newsletters, plaques, certificates, a diary, and a jewelry box. The materials document Garrison’s various roles on the local and national levels of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People as well as her participation in other civil rights activities.

To view materials from this collection that are digitized and available online, search the Memphis Tennessee Garrison Papers, 1898-1981 here.

0816: First Presbyterian Church Of Huntington Records, 1890-2008, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection contains the records of the First Presbyterian Church of Huntington from the 1890s to the early 2000s. Most of the collection falls between 1930 and 2002. Within the collection are administrative records such as minutes, registers, and accounting records; photographs of members, non-members, former members, church functions; scrapbooks of sanctuary renovations, church functions, and miscellaneous ephemera; newspaper clippings; an international collection; histories of the First Presbyterian Church; a large collection of lantern slides; and other various items.

To view materials from this collection that are digitized and available online, search the First Presbyterian Church of Huntington, 1890-2008 here.

0796: Shirley Foster Streeby Mathews Collection, 1939-2003, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The bulk of the collection contains newspaper clippings that Mrs. Mathews collected over the years about her former students. There are also a few dozen photographs, along with wedding invitations, school pageants and programs, commencements, handwritten and typed correspondence, reunion correspondence, Greenline newsletters (a publication for Marshall University alumni), church programs, funeral/death announcements and holiday cards. Most of the photos are identified on the back.

0771: Stump Photograph Collection, 1900-1904, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of 27 cyanotype and black and white photos mounted on board. Based on the identification of photographs by F.C. Stump, the photographs primarily depict river, dam, and boating scenes on the Levis Fork of the Big Sandy River in Floyd and Pike Counties of Kentucky. Also depicted are a baptismal service and Pike, Floyd, and Johnson County, Kentucky residents. The container list includes the full identification of photographs by Stump.

To view materials from this collection that are digitized and available online, search the Stump Photograph Collection, 1900-1904 here.

0760: Camp Creek Church Of Christ Register And Record, 1920-1950, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

A church record book for the Camp Creek Church of Christ located in the vicinity of East Lynn, West Virginia. The record book contains membership rosters, birth, death, and marriage information as well as financial information related to the congregation. Additional loose (un-numbered) register pages and correspondence are also included.

Mr. Tabor has created two digital copies of the Register book that are included. He also wrote a brief history (annotated) of the Camp Creek Church of Christ and compiled an index of the Christian and surnames of the congregation members. The history is boxed with the register, and the …

0712: Creed Neff Papers, 1908-1915, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of five photographs and one manuscript. The photographs depict school children and members of the Guyandotte Methodist Episcopal Church around 1908-1915 while the manuscript consists of a copy of a handwritten manuscript, author unknown, about life in Guyandotte.

To view materials from this collection that are digitized and available online, search the Creed Neff papers, 1908-1915 here.

0598: Marcia Myers Collection, 1895-1993, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection primarily documents Marcia Myers’ research into female Presbyterian missionaries in Appalachia, particularly West Virginia. Significant in the collection is the correspondence of Helen Desbrow, stationed in Raleigh Co., West Virginia, to her family in New Jersey, regarding her work in the Home Mission between 1922 and 1935, central to Myers’ thesis on female Presbyterian missionaries in Appalachia submitted for her M.Div at Princeton University. Correspondence by Hugh J. May and Frances H. Pindar are directly in response to Myers’ request for information on the same topic, and the Helen Disbrow correspondence was gifted possibly from Disbrow herself. Other …

0567: Low Gap United Baptist Church Records, 1898-1944, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists predominantly of copies of minute books for the Low Gap United Baptist Church from 1898-1944. Also included in this collection is a copy of “A Brief History of the Low Gap United Brethren Church” written by Brandon Kirk in 1993 and two photocopied photographs of the church and some church members. Because most of these materials are copies, legibility can be limited.

0548: Carl G. Wolfe Manuscript, 1987, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of a manuscript by Carl G. Wolfe for a Marshall University graduate course in history on the history of the Ceredo United Methodist Church from 1866 to 1987. Also included in the manuscript is a list of pastors and footnotes.

0513: Byron T. Morris Papers, 1967-1989, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Copies of Mr. Morris's newspaper column, "Out of the Past," written for the Wayne County News; subjects include histories of communities in Wayne County, West Virginia, genealogy of Wayne County families, registers of marriages in neighboring counties of Wayne County persons, and school and church histories.

0494: Huntington W.Va. First Congregational Church, 1872-1932, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Minutes, membership lists, deeds, and other documents related to the running of the Huntington, West Virginia First Congregational Church from 1872-1932.

0491: Carrie Eldridge Combined Collection, 1678-2014, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Carrie Eldridge is a genealogical researcher in Chesapeake, Ohio. This collection contains photocopies of many county record books of the Appalachian areas of West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, ranging from the American Revolution until the early twentieth century. It also contains her personal research files on topics related to slavery and the Underground Railroad in Ohio and West Virginia as well as local history topics such as church and family histories.

0441: Rev. Garrett Marriage Records, 1879-1912, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Marriage records of Rev. James Dolliver Garrett, Wayne Co., W.Va. from 1879 to 1912, transcribed and indexed.

0446: Mary Mckernon Papers, 1977-1983, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Material relates to Cabell County, West Virginia, history acquired during Mrs. McKernon's research on the Mud River Baptist Church. Includes minutes of the church, community histories, and other related materials.

0376: United Brethren In Christ. Huntington W.Va. Circuit Collection, 1871-1917, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Primarily membership rolls of church of rural Cabell County. Churches in circuit include Milton, Mercer's Bottom, Green Bottom, Nine Mile, Z. Warner Chapel and Cabell School House.

0257: Martha Elizabeth Carpenter Miller Collection, 1898-1962, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The majority of this collection consists of the handwritten and typed poetry of Martha Carpenter Miller. Many of the poems underwent multiple edits and rewrites, and her notes and corrections to her poems are included in this collection. The collection spans the years 1898-1962, with the bulk of the material from the 1930s-1950s. Miller wrote extensively, and the collection includes poems and partial poems, ideas, and short verses written on scrap paper, envelopes, paper towels, carboard, postcards, and various other types of paper. At the time of processing, original order was largely unknown. In organizing the materials, there were occasionally …

0126: Clarksburg, W. Va. Stealey Heights Methodist Church Manuscript, 1928, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

History of the founding, dedication and list of pastors until 1928.

0142: Mullens, W. Va. United Methodist Church, 1910-1975, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

History of the church from 1910 until 1975, containing rosters of pastors, elders, district superintendents, and bishops.

0092: Point Pleasant Presbyterian Church Records, 1873-1974, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Register, minutes, annual reports; records of the Flats Presbyterian Church before it merged with the Point Pleasant church during the Second World War, when the Flats area was taken over by the War Department.

0112: Jude Stewart Papers, 1975, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

`Activities of the Church of God in Jesus' Name,' a report on a Pentecostal church in Wyoming County, West Virginia, for the Oral History Collection at Marshall University.