Illusions of Innocence: Protestant Primitivism in America, 1630-1875

History helps us understand who we are and what we should become. This book demonstrates that primitivism is central to American religion. Primitivism is the dream of restoring religion to a purer order, as found in former times.

With generous support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and as part of the National Endowment of the Humanities Open Book program, the Abilene Christian University's ACU Press and Brown Library partnered with the Disciples of Christ Historical Society (DCHS) to digitize 25 important backlist titles relevant to Stone-Campbell tradition, theology, and church history. This open access version is hosted by Atla Open Press in furtherance of the purposes of the grant.