Synopses & Reviews
From the founding of the first colonies until the present, the influence of Christianity, as the dominant faith in American society, has extended far beyond church pews into the wider culture. Yet, at the same time, Christians in the United States have disagreed sharply about the meaning of their shared tradition, and, divided by denominational affiliation, race, and ethnicity, they have taken stances on every side of contested public issues from slavery to women's rights.
This volume of twenty-two original essays, contributed by a group of prominent thinkers in American religious studies, provides a sophisticated understanding of both the diversity and the alliances among Christianities in the United States and the influences that have shaped churches and the nation in reciprocal ways. American Christianities explores this paradoxical dynamic of dominance and diversity that are the true marks of a faith too often perceived as homogeneous and monolithic.
Contributors:
Catherine L. Albanese, University of California, Santa Barbara
James B. Bennett, Santa Clara University
Edith Blumhofer, Wheaton College
Ann Braude, Harvard Divinity School
Catherine A. Brekus, University of Chicago Divinity School
Kristina Bross, Purdue University
Rebecca L. Davis, University of Delaware
Curtis J. Evans, University of Chicago Divinity School
Tracy L. Fessenden, Arizona State University
Kathleen Flake, Vanderbilt University Divinity School
W. Clark Gilpin, University of Chicago Divinity School
Stewart M. Hoover, University of Colorado at Boulder
Jeanne Halgren Kilde, University of Minnesota
David W. Kling, University of Miami
Timothy S. Lee, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University
Dan McKanan, Harvard Divinity School
Michael D. McNally, Carleton College
Mark A. Noll, University of Notre Dame
Jon Pahl, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
Sally M. Promey, Yale University
Jon H. Roberts, Boston University
Jonathan D. Sarna, Brandeis University
Review
"Catherine Brekus and Clark Gilpin have compiled an outstanding volume that will be ideal for undergraduate and graduate classes in religious studies and American studies. This collection of essays provides readers with a renewed appreciation for the many ways that American Christianities have shaped culture, politics, social life, and worldviews while illuminating corners of American Christianities that have been missing from mainstream scholarship."--Diane Winston, University of Southern California
Review
"College and seminary teachers could profitably use these essays to supplement a textbook or collection of documents. Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty; general readers."
-Choice
Review
"A serious reader comes away with a sense of the excitement generated by recent scholarship."
-The Living Church
Review
"This volume's essayists explore this paradoxical dynamic of dominance and diversity of a faith that is often perceived as homogeneous and monolithic."
-American Catholic Studies Newsletter
Review
"The ambitious project of recasting the history of American Christianities has just begun; we should be grateful to Brekus, Gilpin, and their many collaborators for so effectively mapping a path and taking the first steps."
-Journal of Southern Religion
Review
"Essential reading. . . . A treasure of insight."
-American Catholic Studies
Synopsis
This volume of twenty-two original essays, contributed by a group of prominent thinkers in American religious studies, provides a sophisticated understanding of both the diversity and the alliances among Christianities in the United States and the influences that have shaped churches and the nation in reciprocal ways. American Christianities explores this paradoxical dynamic of dominance and diversity that are the true marks of a faith too often perceived as homogeneous and monolithic.
About the Author
Catherine A. Brekus is associate professor of the history of Christianity at the University of Chicago Divinity School. She is author of Strangers and Pilgrims: Female Preaching in America, 1740-1845 and editor of The Religious History of American Women: Reimagining the Past. W. Clark Gilpin is the Margaret E. Burton Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Chicago Divinity School, where he served as dean from 1990 to 2000.