The churching of colonial Connecticut: A case study

The market model of religion asserts in part that clergy respond to incenti ves. For eighteenth-century European established churches, clergy income wa s independent of church membership and so clergy tended not to behave in a manner attractive to potential members. By contrast, the established Congre gational (Puritan) church of colonial Connecticut featured a structure that vet-yarded to a significant degree zealous clergy. Clergy were hired and f ired at the local level by community members who also voted on local cleric al fares. The market model thus predicts relatively strong church membershi p. Archival data show that the number of new Puritan congregation members a s a share of population remained relatively constant over time. The number of new members of individual established congregations remained constant. C hurch membership was often high in colonial Connecticut towns. Entry by non established congregations had only a modest negative effect on Puritan memb ership.