Synopses & Reviews
In this clever and entertaining look at the United States and religious freedom, Robert C. Fuller introduces us to religious revolutionaries who, in very unique ways, shaped American religious tradition and fought to establish new forms of spirituality. Chronological in scope,
Religious Revolutionaries takes us from Puritanism and Calvinism in America's colonial period to present-day belief systems. We meet religious rebels who are widely recognized, such as Thomas Jefferson, the architect of our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. We meet Andrew Jackson Davis, America's first trance channeler and forceful champion of the inner divinity of every person. We are introduced to Mary Daly, who openly confronted the sexist bias of most organized religion. We also learn about trailblazers such as Phineas P. Quimby, who challenged the Protestant theology of his day and whose ideas became the foundation for Christian Science philosophy, and James Cone, the bold spokesperson for black power and black spirituality.
Religious Revolutionaries is a page-turner that focuses on the people who shaped religion in the United States, but it is also a captivating journey through the history of our diverse country.
Review
"
Religious Revolutionaries impressively illustrates the manner in which the personal search for meaning has played a foundational role in the development of religious life in America. It models an approach to American religious history that takes seriously the lived religion of Americans while at the same time narrating a story about the overlapping contexts of institutional change, academic theology and psychology, social frictions, and the national mood. The revolutionary figures in this book are fascinating, and the overview of religious innovation and iconoclasm is exciting and compelling."
--John Corrigan, Edwin Scott Gaustad Professor of Religion and Professor of History, Florida State University
"Robert Fuller's Religious Revolutionaries is a lucid and engaging introduction to America's rich religious history, based on the best recent scholarship and focused on a handful of individuals whose lives and careers made a real difference in that history's unfolding."
--Peter W. Williams, Distinguished Professor of
Comparative Religion and American Studies, Acting Chair, Dept. of Comparative Religion, Miami University
Praise for Fuller's Naming the Antichrist:
"Interesting . . . lively reading . . . makes familiar concepts disturbingly fresh and provocative."--The New York Times
Synopsis
The history of religion in the United States is fascinating and complex. In this clever and intelligent book, Robert Fuller introduces us to religious revolutionaries such as Anne Hutchinson, Joseph Smith, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William James and others. They were all people who, in very unique ways, shaped American religious tradition and fought to establish new forms of spirituality. Religious Revolutionaries is a captivating journey through the religious history of our diverse country.
About the Author
Robert C. Fuller is Caterpillar Professor of Religious Studies at Bradley University. He is the author of several books including
Spiritual, But Not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America,
Naming the Antichrist: The History of an American Obsession, and
Stairways to Heaven: Drugs in American Religious History. Table of Contents
Colonial Beginnings: Forging Consensus and Banishing Anne Hutchinson * Religion and the Early Republic: The Era of Thomas Jefferson * Sectarian Heyday: Joseph Smith and the Golden Era of Religious Innovation * American Metaphysical Religion: the Countervailing Voices of Emerson, Quimby, and Davis * Spiritual, but Not Religious: the Legacy of William James * The Surfacing of Muted Voices: Paul Tillich, Mary Daly, and James Cone * Today's Seekers
Colonial Beginnings: Forging Consensus and Banishing Anne Hutchinson * Religion and the Early Republic: The Era of Thomas Jefferson * Sectarian Heyday: Joseph Smith and the Golden Era of Religious Innovation * American Metaphysical Religion: the Countervailing Voices of Emerson, Quimby, and Davis * Spiritual, but Not Religious: the Legacy of William James * The Surfacing of Muted Voices: Paul Tillich, Mary Daly, and James Cone * Today's Seekers