Download or read book Holy Leisure written by Troy Messenger and published by Temple University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The beach has always been the place to shake off the stresses of urban life, and to relax with friends and family. And yet, as Troy Messenger shows, the beach has been a site for religious revival for as long as it's been a haven from the workday world. In this history of Ocean Grove, New Jersey, the first permanent camp meeting ground for religious revival, Messenger examines how the emergence of the beach appeared hand in hand with America's need to escape the secular world of work through leisure and religious renewal. Author note: Troy Messenger is director of worship and a lecturer at Union Theological Seminary.