A Gospel of Health and Salvation

Applying Computational Methods to the Study of Religious History

Jeri E. Wieringa | http://jeriwieringa.com

About Me

  • phd candidate in history (George Mason Univ.)
  • mar in history of christianity (Yale Divinity)
  • ba in philosophy and english (Calvin College)
  • comparative lit major (UC Irvine)



started programming in 2011

Structure of Talk

  • Research Question & Subject Area
  • Sources
  • Methods & Initial Findings
  • Presentation Methods
  • Conclusions on computational methods and religious history.

Research Area

Nineteenth-Century American Religion

  • Period of religious innovation, particularly in terms of millennialism and rise of new movements.

 

  • Marked by opportunities for women's religious leadership during periods of revival and unrest.

Research Question

What is the relationship between

  • religious beliefs and practices,
  • constructions of time (anticipation of a coming judgment or millennium), and
  • gender constructions

in the development of Seventh-day Adventism during the 19th and early 20th centuries?

What is Seventh-day Adventism?

  • Started around 1844 when the world didn't end
  • Formalized as a denomination in 1863
  • Organized around distinctive views regarding end-times and health principles
  • One of a handful of religious movements led initially by a woman - Ellen G. White
  • Currently boasts over 20 million members

Sources

  • Periodical literature
    • Produced from within four geographic regions of the U.S.
    • Published before 1921
    • Digitized by the denomination

Sources used for context:

  • Books and other literature
  • Institutional records
  • Letters and archival materials

Process & Methods

Preliminary Findings

  • Four cycles of end-times expectation between 1848 and 1920.
  • Expanding circles of focus in evangelical effort, seen as leading to the second coming, from belief to behavior to reaching the nation to reaching the world.
  • Vision of women's role in the church, as articulated by EGW and others, linked to that central concern.

Presentation

  • Website
  • Topic model browser
  • Jupyter notebooks
  • Python library (& docs)

Leading to:

  • Journal articles on methods and theory
  • Website 2.0 (essays and browser integrated)
  • Generalized code libraries

Conclusions

  • Able to use topic modeling to explore broad patterns in the literature.
  • Pair computational model with close readings and traditional archival research in constructing a historical argument.
  • Requires flexible and creative publishing strategies to manage requirements of reproducibility, interactivity, narrative, and methodological transparency.

Thank you!