American Religious History

by Porterfield, Amanda

• ISBN13: 9780631223214
• ISBN10: 0631223215
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-02-26
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Religious diversity is more prolific and wide-ranging in the United States than in any other country. The legal guarantee of religious freedom has encouraged respect for religious differences as well as a tendency to debunk institutional religious authority. In this outstanding historical Reader, the editor has gathered nine essays and over thirty primary documents to present a coherent picture of the history of American religion. The picture is a balanced one, identifying major developments and important controversies in American religious history as well as presenting a wide range of beliefs and practices. The book also includes an introductory essay and headnotes that serve as a map for the dozens of articles and documents that follow. Through this volume, students and scholars will understand more about some of the most significant moments, trends, aspects, and interpretations of American religious history.

Author Biography

Amanda Porterfield is Professor in the Religious Studies Program at the University of Wyoming. She is the author of Feminine Spirituality in America (1980), Female Piety in New England (1992), The Power of Religion (1998), and The Transformation of American Religion (2001).

Table of Contents

Series Editor's Preface	xi
About the Contributors	xiii
Introduction	1	(24)
PART I HISTORICAL ESSAYS	25	(144)
Errand Into the Wilderness	27	(16)
Perry Miller
Exchanging Selves, Exchanging Souls: Contact, Combination, and American Religious History	43	(23)
Catherine L. Albanese
Shouting Methodists	66	(21)
Ann Taves
Protestantism as Establishment	87	(14)
William R. Hutchison
American Fundamentalism: The Ideal of Femininity	101	(16)
Randall Balmer
Catholicism and American Culture: Strategies for Survival	117	(20)
Jay P. Dolan
Conservative Judaism	137	(9)
Gerson D. Cohen
``Introduction,'' The Faces of Buddhism in America	146	(12)
Charles S. Prebish
Striving for Muslim Women's Human Rights - Before and Beyond Beijing: An African American Perspective	158	(11)
Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons
PART II PRIMARY DOCUMENTS	169	(159)
A Model of Christian Charity (1630)	171	(4)
John Winthrop
Examination of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson (1637)	175	(3)
A Key Into the Language of America (1643)	178	(3)
Roger Williams
Poems (1640-1665)	181	(5)
Anne Bradstreet
The Nature of True Virtue (1765)	186	(7)
Jonathan Edwards
Act for Establishing Religious Freedom (1779)	193	(3)
Thomas Jefferson
The Code of Handsome Lake (CA. 1800)	196	(4)
Edward Cornplanter
What a Revival of Religion is (1834)	200	(5)
Charles Grandison Finney
The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee (1836)	205	(10)
Jarena Lee
Nature (1836)	215	(4)
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Poems (1863-1864)	219	(3)
Emily Dickinson
The American Republic: Its Constitution, Tendencies, and Destiny (1865)	222	(3)
Orestes Brownson
Our Country's Place in History (1869)	225	(5)
Isaac M. Wise
Pre-Existence of Our Spirits (1872)	230	(5)
Orson Pratt
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1875)	235	(3)
Mary Baker Eddy
A Function of the Social Settlement (1899)	238	(6)
Jane Addams
The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)	244	(10)
William James
The Scofield Reference Bible (1909)	254	(5)
Christianity and Liberalism (1923)	259	(5)
J. Gresham Machen
From Union Square to Rome (1939)	264	(4)
Dorothy Day
The Future of the American Jew (1948)	268	(3)
Mordecai M. Kaplan
``Foreword,'' The Sacred Pipe (1953)	271	(2)
Black Elk
``Sunflower Sutra'' (1955) and ``Kaddish'' (1958)	273	(6)
Allen Ginsberg
Nonviolence and Racial Justice (1957)	279	(6)
Martin Luther King, Jr.
God's Judgment of White America (1963)	285	(6)
Malcolm X
``Preface,'' The Protestant Establishment (1964)	291	(6)
E. Digby Baltzell
Religious Freedom (1966)	297	(4)
John Courtney Murray
Beyond God the Father (1973)	301	(4)
Mary Daly
Ceremony (1977)	305	(3)
Leslie Marmon Silko
``American Indian Religious Freedom,'' Public Law 95-341 (1978)	308	(3)
Sexism and God-Talk (1983)	311	(4)
Rosemary Radford Ruether
The Voice of Sarah (1990)	315	(6)
Tamar Frankiel
Thoughts Without a Thinker (1995)	321	(3)
Mark Epstein
Active Faith (1996)	324	(4)
Ralph Reed
Index	328