Thomas S. Kidd, au début de sa brève histoire de The Great Awakening (Bedford / St-Martins, Boston-New York, 2008), ce détail de la lecture qui me fige : « On March 7, 1743, James Davenport, one of the most influential leaders of the Great Awakening, removed his pants and cast them into a bonfire. He called on his followers, gathered on a wharf in New London, Connecticut, to do the same to all their fancy clothes. He believed their apparel had become barriers blocking their full commitment to God. The day before, the crowd had burned a pile of books by a variety of Christian authors, and on this day, some in the audience complied with Davenport’s exhortation to burn their clothes. » (p. 1). Troublant. Il reste à déterminer si cette question des livres était ponctuelle ou si elle s’est repétée au point d’être une pratique significative.
