It also will serve as a a resource for helping the student appreciate the impact religion has had on our nation's history and culture, and how various faith traditions have been shaped, in turn, by their encounter with America. The Senior Seminar is designed as a capstone experience for History and Social Studies majors, bringing together critical thinking, research, and communication skills for a major thesis project. In conjunction with that project, you will also learn about major themes in U.S. religious history through readings and discussion. This course examines the origins and development of Christianity in America from the colonial period to the present. Students will write several papers, including a paper based on original research, and exams are of the essay variety.
All religious expression is shaped by political, economic, and cultural factors.
After doing a brief survey of the development of religion in the antebellum U.S., the course will focus on three case studies of religious reactions to t he urban industrialization in the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era. The three reactions we will look at are the Social Gospel, fundamentalism and pentecostalism. By examining the origins of these three movements in their broader cultural and political c ontext, we can appreciate their unique contributions to American society and their broader global ramifications. This course explores the relationship, and occasionally the tension, between religious and political impulses and values in America. Our approach will be both theological and political, analyzing the changes and continuity in religious and political beliefs and structures.