The Culture of Religious Pluralism

by Wentz, Richard E.

• ISBN13: 9780813326436
• ISBN10: 0813326435
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-11-13
• Publisher: Westview Pr

Summary

Religious pluralism has been a defining characteristic of the American experience since colonial times. In the twentieth century, as American society has become more radically pluralistic, the issue of religious identity is once again in flux.Providing a historical context, Richard Wentz examines the challenges that pluralism presents to denominationalism and civil religion and considers the contributions secularism and the New Age movement have made to the culture of religious pluralism. Finally, Wentz calls for a new pluralism based on civility and respect, a reimmersion into our religious traditions, and an extension of ourselves into the traditions of others.

Author Biography

Richard E. Wentz is professor of religious studies at Arizona State University.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
1 Diversity and Pluralism: An Introduction	1	(14)
The Meaning of Pluralism	4	(1)
The Study of Religion	5	(4)
From Diversity to Pluralism	9	(5)
Notes	14	(1)
2 Conquest and Conversion: Models of Response to Diversity	15	(13)
Conquest and the Ritual of Warfare	15	(4)
Between Conquest and Conversion: The Case of Christopher Columbus	19	(3)
Signification, Conquest, and Conversion	22	(2)
The Soul of Conversion	24	(2)
Notes	26	(2)
3 The Denominational Model: From Dissent to Commonality	28	(18)
Denominations of Dissenters	29	(1)
Denominations of Common Principles	30	(2)
Denominations as Institution	32	(2)
Denominations as a United Front	34	(1)
Modernization and the End of the Old Denomination	35	(1)
Denominations as Centers of Discourse and Identity	36	(1)
The New Denominationalism	37	(4)
The Denomination as Denial of the New Denominationalism	41	(3)
Notes	44	(2)
4 Diversity and the Public Order: The Way of Civil Religion	46	(13)
The Shape of Civil Religion	53	(4)
Notes	57	(2)
5 Race, Gender, and Ethnicity	59	(19)
Race as Protest Against Modernity	62	(4)
Race as Protest for Pluralism	66	(2)
Gender as Protest for Pluralism	68	(5)
Measuring the Plurality of Race and Gender	73	(1)
The Ethnic Posture	74	(2)
Notes	76	(2)
6 Secularity and Diversity	78	(17)
Secularity and the Secular	78	(1)
The Process of Secularization in America	79	(1)
"Our Father's" World	80	(1)
The Post-Christian Era	81	(2)
The Sacredness of the Secular	83	(1)
A New Religious Landscape	84	(2)
Differentiation and Diversity	86	(3)
The Religious Diversity of Secularity	89	(1)
Demystification as Diversity	90	(3)
Notes	93	(2)
7 The New Age as a Festival of Diversity	95	(15)
The Ascendant Conspiracy	96	(1)
The Vision Born	97	(2)
Non-Organizational Organization	99	(3)
Divine Immanence	102	(2)
Beyond Life and Death	104	(2)
Mind Cure	106	(2)
Notes	108	(2)
8 The Mandate of Pluralism	110	(11)
Imagining a Pluralistic America	110	(2)
The New Tribalism	112	(2)
Respect as a Mark of Acceptance	114	(1)
Reverence as a Mark of Acceptance	114	(1)
Refinement: A Mark of Acceptance	115	(2)
Civility and Peace: Too Many Voices?	117	(1)
Into the Depth of Tradition	118	(2)
Notes	120	(1)
About the Book and Author	121	(2)
Index	123