CHARITY, CHANGE, AND COMMUNITY: FRANKFORD’S SWEDENBORGIANS AND THEIR CIRCLE, VOLUME II: 1875-1971

An archivist and community historian explores a unique religious community in Philadelphia.

This sequel to McCormick’s previous volume traces the intersection of northeast Philadelphia’s Frankford neighborhood with the once locally prominent Christian sect of Swedenborgianism. The sect’s New Jerusalem Society of Frankford occupied the heart of the neighborhood’s community since the 19th century; its origins were the focus of the author’s first entry on the subject. This second volume explores the society’s history from the1870s through its decline in the post-World War II decades. Per the book’s fascinating history of the idiosyncratic theology of Swedenborgianism, what set the faith apart from the Christian evangelical revivalism that spread across the country in late 1800s was its refusal to blame Gilded Age poverty on the poor themselves; Rev. John E. Bowers, for instance, connected poverty to “rampant selfishness in business and politics.” A thorough work running over 700 total pages, this tome chronicles the history of the New Jerusalem Society of Frankford as it navigated the labor disputes and unionism of the late 1800s, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the advent of radio and broadcast religious programing in the 1920s. A local historian whose family history is intertwined with Frankford’s Swedenborgianist community, McCormick has a deep understanding of the neighborhood’s faith tradition and history, which she contextualizes within larger movements that impacted Philadelphia and the nation. The author commendably avoids hagiography as she admits that the sect’s leaders “exhibited both wisdom and folly.” Meticulously well researched, the text includes more than 1,300 endnotes based on both scholarly literature and a wealth of archival materials and primary sources. While Swedenborgianism itself may be an esoteric faith, the book provides an accessible narrative emphasizing the sect’s practical effects on Frankford’s community. McCormick’s emphasis on engaging readers is evidenced by the ample inclusion of maps, photographs, newspaper clippings, and other visual elements.

A well-researched, accessible history of a once-thriving religious community in Philadelphia.