“The Kingdom of Matthias” by Johnson and Wilentz

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

The current essay provides the analysis of Johnson and Sean Wilentz’s work about King Matthias, who was a notable figure of the Second Great Awakening in the United States. The historical developments of that epoch were deeply connected with the growth and formation of a market society that deeply affected the lives of ordinary men and women and played a great role in the transformation of their values. All stable religious and moral values, as well as longstanding truth, were trembling under the assault of new material civilization, and hence many priests and their adepts engaged in the difficult struggle for changing the contours of existing society.

These struggles, as well as an ideological justification of them, are the main object of the current analysis. They are described through the prism of analysis of prophet Matthias’ personality and his struggles as they are depicted in the book of the abovementioned authors. His personality is difficult and multi-dimensional, which the current essay tries to show.

The book of Johnson and Wilentz reflects historical conditions and settings of The Second Great Awakening, an important period in American history (1800-1830) characterized by religious revival and the renewal of personal salvation discourse, and the struggle for social causes. Matthias was one of its major leaders such as Finney, Beecher, Stone, Cartwright, and others. These priests and kings of the church engaged in struggles against dominance trends in American society caused by new market forces such as intolerance, the absence of genuine suffrage for women, slavery, etc. But as the story shows, Matthias was strongly opposed to all these liberation struggles and defended other causes.

As the book showed, they put much emphasis on the liberation force of Evangelism which was regarded as the main component of social liberation as God providence. Matthias king thought that he realized God’s plans while struggling for a better society.

The beginning of the 19-th century was characterized by strengthening market trends in American society, particularly in the northern territories where capitalism was much more developed. This explains the fact why Johnson and Wilentz chose New York for their work. They thoroughly describe and analyze these processes, which resulted in the disintegration of traditional moral and religious worldviews and social institutions. The assault of material civilization was accompanied by the institutionalization of mercantilist, individualist, consumerist approaches to life, breaking social ties between people and their alienation.

The lack of religious values in people life was also accompanied by the rapid rise of scientific consciousness which though explaining that the world creation was nothing to do with God providence, couldn’t propose any other values which could give people sense and orientations in their life. All these, as the discussed books show, led to the considerable articulation of already existing social problems as poverty, the absence of liberty, and slavery.

As Johnson and Sean Wilentz argue in their book, notwithstanding the fact that the Kingdom of Matthias arose from the same conditions of the religious disquiet in the United States which formed a new generation of evangelicals, but it is noteworthy that it had been developed in opposition to the dominant movements but not in harmony with them. Wilentz and Johnson presented a marvelous tale of religious and social scandal and its facets such as sex, murder, salvation as well economic and social underpinnings of 19s century evangelicalism in the United States.

The entering pages of the story introduce readers into the atmosphere of the typical social trajectory followed by many evangelicals and mainly the followers of Finney. We meet Elijah Pierson, a son of a very wealthy farmer and strict Calvinist who quickly becomes a successful businessman in New York. Like other young entrepreneur, he engages in an evangelical subculture with its mission to African American people, prostitutes and Jews, and feminized strata. The evangelical circle in which he participated was characterized by the same social values that show its great connection with the developing market economy in the United States.

As Pierson, Robert Matthews, the future prophet Matthias was raised in a strict patriarchal atmosphere of Calvinist family. But in contrast to Pierson, his exceptionally angry and dissolute personality made him unacceptable in evangelical circles. Shocked by his personal attacks and rumors about his spousal abuse, Presbyterian elders rejected his membership while helping his wife and children. This was the final drop that made Matthews move to New York City and announce his identity as Father Matthias, Prophet of God. His main claim he screamed was that evangelical entrepreneurs were incapable of building a genuine church of God. Thus he revolted against them to realize the ‘new’ old truth.

Matthias quickly adapted to the new situation and found all necessary preconditions in place to widen the scope of his followers described by authors quite vividly: Ann Folger, who would seduce the prophet and his patriarchic vision; Benjamin – a wealthy entrepreneur, and ex-slave Isabella Van Wagenen whose personality is contested by many historians. The teaching that Matthias developed was very attractive for them and was rooted in two main points. New cultic teachings, diet, dress, and other practices are reflecting working-class hatred of materialistic, commercial, and respectable ethos peculiar to evangelicalism. Besides this, as the authors note, Matthias’ misogynist viewpoints were deeply opposed to the evangelical notion of females.

Matthias prophet dictated a new sexual ethic that can be regarded as intolerable by many strict Calvinists. He readily broke marriages, opposed many trends of market society, and quickly became intolerable to the conventional rules of this society.

All this, in pair with Matthias’ exploitation of his personal followers’ wealth, contributed to the chain of situations and events which resulted in the future Kingdom destruction and were tied with sex scandals, mob clashes, Pierson’s death, and Matthias trial for alleged murder.

It can be claimed that Matthias ideology deeply confronted rising capitalist society in the United States from a certain social standpoint. Rather than welcoming progressive aspects of capitalist society such as developing democratic rights (though partial but still important) and liquidation of the patriarchal form of women oppression represented in the ethics of European settlers, Matthias thought that it was completely immoral and vicious. Hence Matthias attacked the new market society and its values from a conservative standpoint defending all rules of tradition, patriarchy, fascism, oppression of physical sides of human nature, and loyalty to moral and religious authorities.

Matthias hated Evangelists for their engagement with capitalist norms and interest in material wealth, their self-satisfied views, and their confidence that they serve the cause of God. Hence Matthias can be claimed to be a conservative revolutionary embittered with everything capitalist and bearing authoritarian romanticism of the past. The story shows that such prophets were marginal in the new American society. Defending retrograde values of the past rather than trying to understand the dynamics of history made Matthias aggressive and inhumane. He thought that only power is the only way of returning society to patriarchic and conservative values. But it turned out that this vision contradicted reality, and thus Matthias, in some way, was subjected to imperatives of market society and was perverted by their strength. Notwithstanding the fact that he had many followers, Matthias was sole in the ‘American desert’ of market society. His interpretation of ancient religious and moral truths was contaminated by social conditions in which he had to realize them.

All this resulted in lascivious sex relations grounded on strange teaching of spirits, women inferiority, and apostolic priesthoods. Being a sect from the start, Matthias’ kingdom transformed into an illegal organization, and Matthias himself was arrested for the murder of a highly-respected Christian gentleman. Moreover, Matthias didn’t disdain financial support from New York businessmen but instead exploited their resources. This shows that the functioning of such sects is based on a great extent of hypocrisy as self-proclaimed prophets very often use their religious authority to capitalize on rich people’s endowments. They often use conservative façade and religious rigorism to deceive their followers. Partially as the authors show, this is true of Matthias, but it would be absolutely false to reduce his position to mere materialist desires. It was a strange mixture, one that was produced by market society, industrialization, and social displacement. Therefore, Matthias’ personality is not one-dimensional but deeply controversial.

What is notable about this story is that the authors constantly dynamically tie their plot with a modern situation which makes this story quite reflective. In the modern world which produced such messiahs as David Koresh and Jim Jones, the Matthias Kingdom demonstrates that “these extremist prophets have a long and remarkable continuous history in the United States; they speak to… persistent American hurts and rages wrapped in longings for a supposedly bygone holy patriarchy”.

To sum it up, Johnson and Wilentz’s account of rising market society, religion, sects, social and sexual relations are really insightful, and Matthias depiction proves it.

References

Johnson, Paul E., Wilentz, Sean. The Kingdom of Matthias: A Story of Sex and Salvation in 19th-Century America. Oxford University Press, USA, 1995.

Click Here To Order Now!

“The Kingdom of Matthias” by Johnson and Wilentz

Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?

We have qualified writers to help you.

We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.

You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)