Disgraced: How Sex Scandals Transformed American Protestantism

Summary

Disgraced is a sweeping religious and cultural history of Protestant sex scandals in nineteenth and twentieth century America. From the birth of the modern press to the advent of the internet age, the book traces the public downfalls of religious leaders who purported to safeguard the morality of the nation.

At first hesitant to report on sexual misconduct among the clergy in order to protect the reputation of Protestantism writ large, newspapers embraced the genre of pastoral scandal in the 1870s, when the biggest celebrity minister of the era, Henry Beecher, stood trial for adultery. As Protestant institutions struggled to protect their reputations, they turned to secrecy and silencing—often foregoing opportunities for engaging in productive reckoning with the problem of sexual hypocrisy among their clergy.

Disgraced shows how the persistence of stories about misbehaving Protestant ministers allowed the press to compete with the pulpit as a source of moral authority, forced denominations to confront the problems that scandal exposed, and emboldened public scrutiny of religious piety. In its broad scope and compelling storytelling, the book is a timely contribution to the current moment of cultural reckoning with religious hypocrisy, charismatic authority, and sexual abuse.