Restless Souls

by Schmidt, Leigh Eric

• ISBN13: 9780520273672
• ISBN10: 0520273672
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-05
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

Yoga classes and Zen meditation, New-Age retreats and nature mysticism--all are part of an ongoing religious experimentation that has surprisingly deep roots in American history. Tracing out the country's Transcendentalist and cosmopolitan religious impulses over the last two centuries, Restless Soulsexplores America's abiding romance with spirituality as religion's better half. Now in its second edition, including a new preface, Leigh Eric Schmidt's fascinating book provides a rich account of how this open-road spirituality developed in American culture in the first place as well as a sweeping survey of the liberal religious movements that touted it and ensured its continued vitality.

Author Biography

Leigh Eric Schmidt is Edward C. Mallinckrodt University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the author of numerous books, including Heaven's Bride: The Unprintable Life of Ida C. Craddock, American Mystic, Scholar; Sexologist, Martyr, and Madwoman; Hearing Things: Religion, Illusion, and the American Enlightenment and Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition	p. xi
Introduction Spirituality in the Making	p. 1
Mystic Club	p. 25
Solitude	p. 63
The Piety of the World	p. 101
Meditation for Americans	p. 143
Freedom and Self-Surrender	p. 181
Seekers	p. 227
Epilogue Be Gentle with Yourself	p. 269
Notes	p. 291
Index	p. 323
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