"A Part of One's Soul": Spiritual Friendship and Evangelical Networks in Early America

Early American concepts of spiritual friendship became increasing important in the wake of religious revivalism and denominational growth during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.   Through religious networks, church meetings, and informal gatherings, middle class evangelicals forged intimate relationships based on common spiritual beliefs.  The forging of mind and heart through spiritual friendship made a friend into “a part of one’s soul.”  The components of spiritual friendship were not only a means of close intimacy with other believers; it also promoted a feeling of benevolence toward all humanity.  Christians exhibited friendliness in themselves by nurturing it in others and by spreading the love of Christ.  Yet spiritual friends were to be selective; by being friends only with likeminded Christians and by telling each other their faults, they kept one another on the path to righteousness.  Though friendship greased the wheels of society among family and neighbors in early America, it was not merely a social practice.  Friendship was a Christian duty that created a bond among true believers.  Spiritual friends were to devote their time to Christian fellowship; through church meetings, household gatherings, leisure activity, and letter writing, spiritual friendship was maintained.  Spiritual friends bolstered each other’s faith, promoted Christian conversation, and engaged in useful activities.  Drawing upon letters, albums, and commonplace books of middle class evangelicals, particularly Baptists and Methodists, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this paper will demonstrate the growing importance of spiritual friendship in early America.  The restrictive nature of evangelical friendship dictated separation from non-believers while it enhanced close intimacy among believers. This engendered vibrant networks among Protestant communities, with spiritual friendship as an integral part of the growing size and strength of American denominationalism during the nineteenth century.