Date of Award

January 2015

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Document Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

Department Name when Degree Awarded

History

First Advisor

Ronald K. Huch

Department Affiliation

History

Second Advisor

Bradford J. Wood

Department Affiliation

History

Third Advisor

Catherine L. Stearn

Department Affiliation

History

Abstract

Revivalism existed as a cultural feature within Scottish Presbyterian society decades before the famous transatlantic revivals of the eighteenth-century. Although many aspects of those revivals have been examined, such as the Holy Fairs, historians and scholars have largely overlooked the extensive body of memoirs and accounts featuring Scottish Presbyterian women in Scotland and the greater Atlantic world, and their experiences within these revivals. This study seeks to uncover the relationship of those women to evangelicalism and revivalism as it exists as a cultural event embedded with symbols. In order to accomplish that goal, this paper looks at the history of Holy Fairs and revivals within Scottish society and how three women wrote about their experiences of those events. By experiencing the workings of the Holy Spirit during times of revival those woman were able to lay claim to spiritual authority within their communities, they did so by writing about their spiritual lives and extending their voices to generations beyond their own through publication which suggests that evangelicalism within the Presbyterian Church created a public space for religious women that can be traced from the denomination’s beginnings, and even before within Scottish Catholicism.

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