Evangelical Protestants in mid-nineteenth-century America appropriated secular print and marketing technologies and popular narrative styles to exert a widespread cultural influence, encouraging growth towards “sanctified’ or “holy” living. This dissertation seeks a more nuanced conceptualization of evangelical culture and the processes of spiritual and social transformation, as it integrates religious practices with those of the book trade, writing and reading. It challenges interpretations of religious publishing as “commodified,” secularized,” or “feminized”. Evangelicals viewed reading and writing as personally and socially transformative spiritual practices--when texts are written and read so as to imbue daily activities with eternal significance. By narrating every-day activities, events, and trials, and interpreting them through a theological lens, texts reveal the work of salvation continuing beyond the moment of conversion, and involving daily progress towards closer relationship with Christ. Despite obvious differences between nineteenth and twentieth-century America, leaders of both eras have faced several parallel challenges, which effective use of the written word can help to address. Contemporary Christians can learn from earlier generations how to use communication technologies and popular styles to connect theological resources with the changing needs of individuals and society.