The House of David

Salvation, Scandal, and Survival in a Modern American Commune

Evelyn Sterne (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

288 Seiten

2025
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
9780197792339 (ISBN)

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In 1903, after seven years traveling the country as itinerant preachers, Benjamin and Mary Purnell moved to Benton Harbor, Michigan, where they founded a commune. Their settlement soon blossomed into a vibrant religious colony and booming business enterprise. They called it the House of David, and its members--hailing from across the United States and around the world--were Christian Israelites, members of a millennialist faith who seek to assemble the remnants of the lost tribes of Israel in a new Jerusalem. Once gathered, they believed, this community of 144,000 would never die. Over the next six decades about two thousand believers moved to Benton Harbor. They accepted stringent rules that included relinquishing all assets, practicing celibacy, and renouncing meat, hair-cutting, and traditional family ties--all in exchange for community, economic security, and the promise of immortality. Working in the commune's multiple business enterprises, they sought refuge from the abuses of industrial capitalism at a time of widespread social and economic upheaval, even as they brilliantly seized on the opportunities the modern economy had to offer. They also eagerly embraced popular culture by running a successful amusement park, performing in touring musical groups, and playing on barnstorming baseball teams that were the delight of audiences nationwide. The House of David thrived into the 1960s and lingers on as a tiny remnant today despite early decades characterized by a steady stream of financial and sexual scandals, a torrent of litigation, and obsessive coverage in the press.

In her study of this distinctive and little-known group, Evelyn Sterne reveals a larger story about religion and social change during a pivotal era in modern American history. Drawing upon extensive archival sources, many consulted for the first time, she sheds light on a host of questions, examining who joined this Christian Israelite community and why, and showing what their choices reveal about the strategies that immigrants and native-born Americans embraced at a time of disorienting economic, social, and cultural change. Sterne considers the critics who worked tirelessly to discredit the Michigan commune and what their efforts tell us about the limits of religious toleration and debates over what counts as "religion." Finally, she unveils how the House of David weathered decades of scandals to survive, becoming one of the longest-lasting intentional communities in American history.

Evelyn Sterne is a Professor of History at the University of Rhode Island, where she also serves as director of the Center for the Humanities. The author of Ballots and Bibles: Ethnic Politics and the Catholic Church in Providence, she is a historian of religion, ethnicity, class, and communal experiments in the early twentieth-century United States.

Acknowledgements
Introduction

Part One: Salvation
Chapter One: "The Acorn from which the Sturdy Oak Will Grow": The Origins of the House of David
Chapter Two: "Making Bare Acres Bloom": Building the Colony
Chapter Three: "Perhaps the Happiest Class of People in the World": The Appeal of the House of David

Part Two: Scandal
Chapter Four: "Heaven on Earth" or "Harem Heaven"?: Sex and Scandal at the House of David
Chapter Five: "A Menace to the Public Welfare"?: Shaking the Foundations of the House of David

Part Three: Survival
Chapter Six: "Everyone is Pulling Together": Rebuilding the House of David
Epilogue: The Last Israelites

Bibliography
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	06.08.2025
Zusatzinfo	26 figures
Verlagsort	New York
Sprache	englisch
Maße	166 x 239 mm
Gewicht	567 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Religionsgeschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie
ISBN-13	9780197792339 / 9780197792339
Zustand	Neuware