Shenandoah Religion: Outsiders and the Mainstream, 1716-1865.

By Stephen L. Longenecker. (Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, c. 2002. Pp. xiv, 247. $16.95, ISBN 0-918954-83-5.)

Stephen L. Longenecker's new book explores the experience of "outsider" and "mainstream" status among a variety of religious groups--Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Dunkers, Mennonites, Reformed, Anglicans, and Quakers--in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia from the eighteenth century to the Civil War. Longenecker's aim is to "explain the influence of daily nonconformity, or daily crosses, on outsiders and the mainstream" (p. xi). He emphasizes spiritual rather than behavioral aspects in order to understand why some religious traditions "remain on the fringes of society while others slowly sink into the majority" (p. 4). While acknowledging the impact of external factors on outsider status, Longenecker argues for the primacy of internal factors in determining the fate of a specific group: "[F]ellowships with a strong theological sense of outsiderness and with reinforcing practices that emphasize separation from the mainstream in daily life stand a better chance of remaining on the margins" (p. 7).

The book begins with a delineation of the differences and similarities among the beliefs and practices of these religious groups, the impact that the American Revolution had on them, and the consequences of religious freedom on the ethnically and spiritually diverse Shenandoah region. The bulk of this book, however, examines outsiderness in the context of four other significant developments: "The Methodist Revolution," "The Market Revolution," "The South's Revolution, I: The Slavery Debate," and "The South's Revolution, II: The Civil War." Longenecker discusses these four "revolutions" in terms of their influence on these denominations and the ways that particular groups challenged or conformed to mainstream issues and attitudes during these key periods in Virginia history.

However, why analyze the "Methodist revolution" and not other evangelical faiths, such as the Baptists, in the early national period? Though a growing denomination, the Methodists were but one of many religious groups. Similarly, the author discusses the "market revolution" by looking at social behaviors and fashion trends, but he does not discuss other important economic issues, such as debt or property disputes, and their impact on the daily practice of religious faith or changing ideals of spiritual community. Finally, Longenecker's concept of the "mainstream" is not fully demonstrated, nor does he clearly explain the nature of the "daily nonconformity" that believers invoked to maintain their outsider status. In particular, how was nonconformity perpetuated on a daily basis? Was it an individual or a communal practice for believers--or both? Despite these concerns, Longenecker has written an accessible and lucid account for scholars interested in the religious history and spiritual diversity of early Virginia.

JANET MOORE LINDMAN

Rowan University