America's Religions

by Williams, Peter W.

• ISBN13: 9780252033056
• ISBN10: 0252033051
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-08-29
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

In this comprehensive survey, Williams offers concise descriptions of the background, beliefs, practices, and leaders of America's most influential and distinctive religious movements and denominations. Thoroughly revised and updated, this third edition ofAmerica's Religionsincorporates the latest scholarship on religion and considers timely issues such as the status of Muslims in the United States after September 11, 2001; the impact of religion on American politics, especially concerning the emergence of the Religious Right; and the intense battles fought within the Catholic Church and other denominations over the status of gay marriage and accusations of clergy members' sexual abuse. This edition also includes thirty-eight new illustrations of key persons in American religious history and notable places of worship.

Author Biography

Peter W. Williams is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Religion and American Studies at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. He is the author of Popular Religion in America and Houses of God.

Table of Contents

Telling Stories	p. 1
The Traditions	p. 13
Oral Traditions	p. 13
The Varieties of Native American Religious Life	p. 14
The African Background of New World Religions	p. 25
The Mediterranean Matrix	p. 30
Judaism and the Emergence of Historical Religion	p. 31
The Jewish Tradition	p. 31
From the Religion of the Hebrews to the Restoration of Israel	p. 39
Christianity East and West	p. 50
The Eastern Orthodox Tradition	p. 50
The Roman Catholic Tradition	p. 58
Western Catholicism from the Time of Constantine	p. 67
The Reformation Era: The Sundering of Western Christendom and the Emergence of the Protestant Traditions	p. 78
The Lutheran Tradition	p. 79
The Anglican Tradition	p. 88
Calvinism and the Reformed Tradition	p. 96
The Radical Reformation and the Anabaptist Tradition	p. 102
Early America: Europeans, Colonials, and Traditional Peoples Before the Revolution	p. 105
Colonial Anglicans	p. 107
New England Puritans	p. 109
Presbyterians and Other Reformed Churches	p. 121
The Society of Friends (Quakers)	p. 130
John Wesley and the Rise of Methodism	p. 137
The Great Awakening and the Baptist Tradition	p. 141
The Origins of Modern Religious Liberalism	p. 150
Anabaptists and Pietists in Pennsylvania	p. 155
Jews and Catholics in Early America	p. 160
Christian Missions to the North American Indians	p. 165
Religious Community Formation in the New Republic	p. 177
Toward Independence	p. 179
The Revolution and the Constitution	p. 179
White Evangelicalism	p. 183
The Second Great Awakening(s)	p. 183
Moral Reform, Antislavery, and Civil War	p. 192
The Culture of Antebellum Evangelicalism	p. 200
Alternative Protestant Patterns	p. 209
Liturgical Protestantism: Lutherans and Episcopalians in Changing Worlds	p. 209
Religion in the Slave Community	p. 217
"Freedom's Ferment": New Religious Movements	p. 221
Unitarianism, Transcendentalism, and Universalism	p. 221
New World Space and Time: Restorationist, Millennial, and Communitarian Movements	p. 227
New World Revelation: Joseph Smith and the Rise of the Mormons	p. 236
The End of the Frontier and the Rise of the City	p. 243
The Adjustments of Protestantism	p. 245
Victorian Evangelicals	p. 245
Protestant Liberalism and the Social Gospel	p. 255
Anglican Renaissance	p. 264
Reactions to Modernity: Fundamentalism, Holiness. Pentecostalism	p. 269
Religion in the South	p. 282
Traditions in Transition: European Immigrants	p. 292
American Catholicism: From Ethnic Pluralism to Institutional Unity	p. 292
Eastern Christianity in America	p. 302
Ethnic Diversity and Denominationalism in American Judaism	p. 308
Old and New Frontiers	p. 316
Native American New Religions	p. 316
Black Nationalism and New Urban Religions	p. 323
Health, Wealth, and Metaphysics	p. 329
The Twentieth Century and Beyond: Further Encounters With Modernity and Pluralism	p. 343
Neo-Orthodoxy and Ecumenism: The Foundations of "Mainline" Protestantism	p. 345
"Mainline" Protestantism in the Later Twentieth Century	p. 356
Conservative Protestantism: Culture and Politics	p. 377
Mormons and the "Mainstream"	p. 395
Traditions and Structures in the American Jewish Community	p. 404
Jewish Identity and Jewish Culture in Twentieth-Century America	p. 409
Vatican II and the End of the Catholic "Ghetto"	p. 420
Roman Catholic Education, Thought, and Culture	p. 429
The Religions of Spanish-Speaking Peoples	p. 440
African American Christianity: "Eyes on the Prize"	p. 448
Islam in the United States	p. 456
Asian Traditions and American Transformations	p. 466
Liberalism, Radicalism, and Secularism	p. 486
Popular Religion in New Keys	p. 496
Conclusion: Culture Wars and Great Awakenings	p. 511
Bibliography	p. 531
Index	p. 627
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