Becoming occult: Alienation and orthodoxy formation in American spiritualism

“Becoming Occult” explores the evolving relationship between Spiritualism and the normative, dominant Protestant culture of the nineteenth century. The thesis uses the Fourth National Convention of Spiritualists, held in 1867, as a case study for broader events in Modern Spiritualism. I argue that a faction of Spiritualists, which I call the Spiritualist orthodoxy, finalized their takeover of the movement at this convention. Once firmly in control, this group began the process of alienating groups of people that formed antebellum Spiritualism. These groups include Christian Spiritualists, politically moderate Spiritualists, and anti- ecclesiastical Spiritualists. The thesis consists of three chapters, each devoted to the alienation of the aforementioned groups. More importantly, “Becoming Occult” is one of the first applications of a new theoretical approach to emergent religious traditions. Introduced by religious scholars J. Gordon Melton and David Bromley, this interpretive framework rethinks the church-sect-denomination-cult framework that has dominated scholarship on the historical study of religion. I believe this new methodological approach will fundamentally shape the ways in which historians approach religions. I also extend the Melton-Bromley thesis further by arguing that the evolving relationship between an emergent religious tradition (Spiritualism, in my case) and dominant social institutions is key to understanding how a movement becomes considered “occult” by normative culture.