American Christianities : a history of dominance and diversity /
Brekus, Catherine A.
Gilpin, W. Clark.
Chapel Hill, N.C. : University of North Carolina Press,
c2011.
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. -- Publisher
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Pt. I. Christian diversity in America. Understanding Christian diversity in America / Catherine L. Albanese -- The practices of Native American Christianities / Michael D. McNally -- From the coercive to the liberative : Asian and Latino immigrants and Christianity in the United States / Timothy S. Lee -- African American Christianity and the burden of race / Curtis J. Evans -- Christians and non-Christians in the marketplace of American religion / Jonathan D. Sarna -- Tensions within : the elusive quest for Christian cooperation / James B. Bennett -- pt. II. Practicing Christianity in America. Redeeming modernity : Christian theology in modern America / W. Clark Gilpin -- Hearts and stones : material transformations and the stuff of Christian practice in the United States / Sally M. Promey -- A contested legacy : interpreting, debating, and translating the Bible in America / David W. Kling -- Space, time, and performance : constitutive components of American Christian worship / Jeanne Halgren Kilde -- Spreading the gospel in Christian America / Edith L. Blumhofer -- pt. III. Christianity and American culture. The perils of prosperity : some historical reflections on Christianity, capitalism, and consumerism in America / Catherine A. Brekus -- A wilderness condition : the captivity narrative as Christian literature / Kristina Bross -- Science and Christianity in America : a limited partnership / Jon H. Roberts -- "My homosexuality is getting worse every day" : Norman Vincent Peale, psychiatry, and the liberal Protestant response to same-sex desires in mid-twentieth-century America / Rebecca L. Davis -- Christianity and the media : accommodation, contradiction, and transformation / Stewart M. Hoover -- What is "American" about Christianity in the United States? / Mark A. Noll -- pt. IV. Christianity and the American nation. Christianity, national identity, and the contours of religious pluralism / Tracy Fessenden -- Beyond church and sect : Christian movements for social reform / Dan McKanan -- Shifting sacrifices : Christians, war, and peace in America / Jon Pahl -- Women, Christianity, and the Constitution / Ann Braude -- An enduring contest : American Christianities and the state / Kathleen Flake.
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. -- Publisher
Christianity