Hall Lecture 2010: U of Tokyo, Komaba Campus, Sept. 15

Lecture title: "Women as Actors and Subjects in Religion: Protestant
America, 1650-1850." In the lecture, Hall paid attention not much to
ideology but to actual 'practices' women conducted during the period.
The sacrament of Baptism as a special legacy handed down from mothers
to children in the early American religious life was a fascinating aspect he
pointed out. This means that women played crucial roles in the colonial
New England where the church covenant was extended to function as
the social covenant. In late 18th to 19th c, sentimental power was used
by women to become active and influential agents not only in a domestic
but in a public sphere. This lecture emphasized the empowering dimension
of religion for American women.
My grad seminar students came to the lecture.