Radical Ethics: Race, Women, and Holiness Considered and Reconsidered

This chapter argues the existence of antimodern elements in radical holiness culture, but the weight of its habits and values were plainfolk modernist. This is evident in its social and demographic contours, its language and values, its message and the means by which this message was propagated, the facility with which it perceived and exploited social change, and in the self-understanding of the holiness of saints. These antimodern elements within radical holiness, in light of the movement’s modernity, demonstrates how thoroughly it bore the imprint of its times.

This chapter argues the existence of antimodern elements in radical holiness culture, but the weight of its habits and values were plainfolk modernist. This is evident in its social and demographic contours, its language and values, its message and the means by which this message was propagated, the facility with which it perceived and exploited social change, and in the self-understanding of the holiness of saints. These antimodern elements within radical holiness, in light of the movement’s modernity, demonstrates how thoroughly it bore the imprint of its times.