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More news today from publishing front, but first a few words on what I read today in the American Bible Society library and archive.
I managed to get up to 1846 in what is now called The American Bible Society Record. A lot of anti-Catholicism, nativism, and attempts to define the ABS position on slavery. Due to a meeting today (see below) I am behind schedule again. I am going to have to push very hard today and Friday in order to reach my goal of making it to 1865. I am already checking to see how late New Jersey Transit runs trains back to to Denville on Thursday and Friday nights.
I had a meeting today with the members of the ABS staff responsible for the Bicentennial. They reminded me of our agreement: to deliver a history of the American Bible Society by May 2016. Apparently the book is going to be given to those supporters of the ABS in attendance at a bicentennial gala on May 11, 2016 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.
I am still anxious about a publisher. When I returned from my meeting today I received an e-mail from a university press publisher who seemed to be very excited about the book until I told him that I needed the book in print by May 2016 and could not deliver a first draft until May 2015. He said that it would take his press one year to bring the book to fruition after the manuscript was reviewed by peers. This means that I would have to deliver the first draft of the manuscript to the press in January 2015. That is not going to happen. My fear–and it is a very real one–is that most university press editors will respond the same way. Oh boy. This is a very unique experience in history book publishing.
The proposal is just about done and I feel really good about it. I am sending it off to one of my research assistants for proofreading as soon as I finish this blog post and read it over one more time. Now all I need to do is finish the first chapter so I can use it as a writing sample. The fun will really begin once I send off the proposal and sample chapter. Stay tuned.
I am currently reading the 1845 _Biblical Recorder_, the organ of the North Carolina State Baptist Convention and as usual, they have reports from NC and national tract societies, the ABS, and state-based auxiliaries and the content is particularly focused on the successes of colporters in converting Catholics to Protestant denominations. They're particularly keen on getting to the German Catholics, while the Irish are rarely mentioned.
I just started randomly in 1845 but you have seen a wider range on these types of reports… Have you noticed an uptick in the targeting of RCs by the ABS to this point? Or has anti-Catholicism always been a major part of the effort.
What accounts for this? Mass immigration, I would suppose, but if so, why the focus on German Catholics and not the other obvious group? (Is there a more discrete wave of German immigrants in the 1845/6 years?)
Doesn't sound like you have much time to devote to responding… that's ok… It just sparked a thought because I'm looking at similar stuff down here.
Anyhow… following all this with great interest.
Chris
It might be unfair to focus on the anti-Catholic nature of the Bible Society endeavor without noting the opposition from the Roman Catholic Church. The 1907 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia indicates the RCC's intentional opposition to the endeavors. (As an aside, the criticisms leveled against Bible distribution only have only recently been answered by the Forum of Bible Agencies to begin thinking in terms of Bible Engagement – likely a positive impact of broader cooperation between traditions).
I suspect things did not start to shift until Vatican II. The TEV/GNT was released in 1966 and had, I believe, collaboration from Catholic Scholars in its preparation. In 1979, when the full apocrypha was available in that version, special editions were prepared and presented to the Pope from American Bible Society.
Chris, I would also wonder about the difference between German Catholics and Irish Catholics. I wonder if that is correlated to other cultural differences or regions of settlement.
Interestingly, Catholic Online just published an article encouraging the Catholic faithful to engage in Bible reading. Interesting to see the shift for both ABS (distribution only => engagement) and RCC (opposing popular Bible reading => encouraging Bible reading).
I just started randomly in 1845 but you have seen a wider range on these types of reports… Have you noticed an uptick in the targeting of RCs by the ABS to this point? Or has anti-Catholicism always been a major part of the effort.
Any link to the Bible riots of 1844?
This looks like fun, Theodore Frelinghuysen's “anti-Catholic” speech to the American Bible Society “just days after the first round of rioting in Philadelphia.”
[Catholics opposed the King James Bible, which is not identical in content to the Catholic Douay one.]
http://tinyurl.com/nfy5jf4
–Catholic bishop John Hughes noted that while Catholic churches and neighborhoods in Philadelphia were still in smoldering ruins, that this was hardly the time to call for Protestants to “live by the Bible OR TO DIE FOR THE BIBLE.”
This project has sounded like kind of a snooze, but this part is pretty rockin', John.
Chris: A quick answer: Not much anti-Catholicism before 1840s. I see two things at work in the change. One, obviously, is Irish immigration (and some German). Second, the papacy comes out in the 1840s and 1850s with several formal proclamations condemning Bible Societies. And the war is on!
Sam: So yes, the Catholic Church is condemning the Bible Society movement, but well before the 20th century. And the more recent history is VERY interesting to me. Did not know about the presentation to the Pope.