A Kingdom Built on Sand
The Kingdom of Matthias shares the forgotten events of Robert Matthews (Matthias) and Elijah Pierson, written with true evidence by historians Paul Johnson and Sean Wilentz. The book at first shares the lives of both Pierson and Matthews, but later delves into the story of a religious charlatan located in New York in the 1830s. Matthews, whom later became Matthias, established a so-called religious “Kingdom” with fanatical followers which caused an uproar with the community. Despite the wrongdoings of Matthews’ “Kingdom”, it sparked a lot of debate among the common folk of the time. The events that took place (including the people that were involved) were broadly exaggerated by the press in that time period. Even though the American people were disgusted by the actions of Matthias’ church, the “Kingdom” was still respected by society. “But Americans also sensed that the Matthias cult spoke with strange eloquence to the social and emotional upheavals in which they lived their own lives -- particularly their struggles to redefine what it meant to be a woman or a man in the new world of the nineteenth century” …show more content…
Even though the cult in this book proves to be very extraordinary, the events that transpired has proven to be an irreplaceable event in our nation’s society, because of how it has affected Americans as a whole and the uniqueness of Prophet Matthias’ imprint gives us a glimpse of the religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening that transpired