Leigh Eric Schmidt

The history of Ida C. Craddock clearly demonstrates how deeply any idea that sex can be sacred threatens conventional Christianity. Her insistence on publishing information not just on the physical facts of marital relationships, but also her theories on the spiritual dimension of the sex act brought down the wrath of Anthony Comstock, self appointed guardian of American purity. Her history would probably have been entirely different if she could have found admittance to the university and show more obtained the academic credentials to compete in the marketplace of ideas. Even later crusaders against sexual censorship tended to dismiss her as a crank, at least partly because she wrote of her spiritual marriage with a deceased suitor. This book is an important resource for any student of sexology, marriage reform, anti-censorship movements, civil liberties and alternative spirituality in the US. show less

I greatly enjoyed this account of the 19th century crank who battled Anthony Comstock's suppression of free speech. I enjoyed this account of her pioneering attempt to bring a positive spin to and accurate information about human sexuality. A lot of good information about other 19th century volumes that discussed the sexual symbolism in Christianity and other religions. I appreciated the connection between Craddock's heavenly spouse and the legend of the Watchers in Genesis 6 (although show more Schmidt waits to late in his book to discuss this connection). I am glad that Schmidt debunks the attempt by Theodore Schroeder to turn Craddock into a "Religio-Sexual Maniac". show less

Slow to start but an interesting book about the commercialization of holidays. I just assumed that holidays like Christmas and Valentine's Day have been around for ever, so it was interesting to read about how fabricated they are by consumerism (even from the very start). I heard about this book in Bitch Magazine as they analyzed the gendered differences between Mother's and Father's Day, and this book does provide an interesting discussion on that as well.

This is a must-read for Presbyterians, for Protestants of American evangelical heritage, and for enthusiasts of American religious history.

Schmidt does a wonderful job of showing how revivalism and sacramentalism were of a piece with each other in early modern Scotland and how the Lord's Supper and rituals surrounding it -- some of them distinctively Reformed -- held a central place in the piety of early Protestantism.

As a historian, he engages the sources and figures he's writing about with show more such generosity, too -- I found it tremendously refreshing. A wonderful work. show less