Social Souls / Faith, Culture, And Cognition

The first paper, "Social Souls: Three Quaker Women Navigate Self and Society at the Turn of the Eighteenth Century," explores the lives of three Quaker women, each of whom traveled in the itinerant ministry throughout the British Atlantic between 1690 and 1740. In telling the interconnected stories of Elizabeth Webb, Jane Fenn, and Elizabeth Ashbridge, this paper explores how these women balanced their individual identities and spiritual callings with their roles within the Quaker community and broader society. Through analysis of their writings and actions, this paper uses three women as examples for exploring broader questions about the relationship between individuals and communities as well as the interplay between self and society in Christian context. It argues that although community was essential to Quaker identity, the risks and paradoxes of these women’s behavior reveal that the Quaker self was not entirely constructed in relation to social factors, but also was characterized by a strong intrinsic element of faith often overlooked by historians. The second paper, "Faith, Culture, and Cognition: Experimental Methods in Historical Analysis of Indigenous Christians in Seventeenth-Century New England," examines the relationship between religion and culture in the context of seventeenth-century Martha's Vineyard, focusing on the indigenous Wampanoag community's encounter with Puritan Christianity. Central to the analysis are the stories of several Wampanoag Christian individuals including Wuttununohkomkooh, Hiacoomes, and Japheth Hannit, which serve to illustrate the paradoxical relationship between cultural practices and spiritual beliefs. The paper argues that while religion is embedded within culture and shapes individuals' lifestyles and worldviews, it also possesses a transcendent aspect that surpasses cultural boundaries. By exploring this duality, the paper sheds light on the broader implications for understanding religious faith and the historical discipline's methodological challenges. This analysis moves beyond traditional historical methodology and explores insights from interdisciplinary cognitive cultural studies in order to understand experiences of faith with a paradoxical relationship to culture. The research emphasizes the need to consider both the cultural expression of faith and its intrinsic, extra-cultural component to fully appreciate the nature of religious experiences and the indigenous response to colonial missions.