American Religious Traditions: The Shaping of Religion in the United States with CD-ROM / Edition 2

by Richard E. Wentz

Overview

In this fully revised edition of his Religion in the New World, Richard Wentz extends and deepens his successful account of the shaping of America's diverse religious traditions. Wentz sketches the development and flowering of all the traditions -- such as Native American, Reformed, Puritan, Roman Catholic, Restorationist -- that proved decisive for American religion. He also discusses in detail the contributions of women, Mormons, Muslims, Asian and African traditions, and the pluralistic contemporary scene. This book includes an eight-page gallery of illustrations and a CD-ROM with the full text of the book, chapter summaries, discussion questions, and many Web resources. The CD-ROM includes Libronix software, which offers such features as topic searching, bookmarking, notetaking, and highlighting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800636166
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	11/15/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	442
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.22(h) x 1.19(d)

Table of Contents

	Preface	xi
Part 1	The Age of Transmission and Reformation	1
1.	The Study of Religion	3
	Toward a Definition of Religion	6
	Expressions of Religiousness	7
	Categories of Religious Expression	12
	Tradition	14
2.	Myths, Legends, and the Promised Land	18
	Story	18
	Myth and Legend	20
	European Attitudes toward America	23
	A Promised Land	25
	The Religious Meaning of America	26
3.	Christendom and the Heritage of Reformation	30
	Christendom	30
	The Development of the Reformation	35
	Aspects of the Reformation	38
	The Reformation in England	45
4.	The Native American Traditions	50
	Nonliteracy	53
	Common Characteristics	56
	Evolution of Traditions	66
5.	From Anglicans to Episcopalians	70
	Verbal Expression	72
	Practical Expression	74
	Social Expression	75
	History in the United States	77
6.	The Puritan Tradition: Congregationalists, Baptists, and Quakers	84
	Origins of Puritanism	84
	The Stages of Puritan Development	86
	Diversity of Puritanism	89
	Congregationalists	91
	Baptists	98
	Quakers	101
	Postscript	104
7.	The Reformed Tradition: The Scotch-Irish and English, the Dutch, and the Germans	106
	Verbal Expression	107
	Practical Expression	110
	Social Expression	112
	History in the United States	114
8.	The Lutheran Tradition	124
	Verbal Expression	124
	Practical Expression	129
	Social Expression	133
	History in the United States	135
9.	The Roman Catholic Tradition	142
	The Verbal Expression: Papal Authority	143
	Other Features of Verbal Expression	149
	Practical Expression	152
	Social Expression	157
	History in the United States	159
10.	The Methodist Tradition	167
	Verbal Expression	170
	Practical Expression	174
	Social Expression	178
	Methodist Diversity	180
	History in the United States	183
Part 2	Restructuring, New Beginnings, and Preservations	187
11.	The Revivalist Evangelical Tradition	189
	Basics of Revivalistic Evangelicalism	190
	The Great Awakening	194
	A New American Spirit	199
	Focuses of Later Revivalism	201
	History of Modern Revivalism	204
12.	The Public Religious Tradition	209
	Verbal Expression	211
	Practical Expression	217
	Social Expression	223
	A Typically American Problem	227
13.	The Restorationist Traditions: Christians to Latter-Day Saints	229
	The Restorationist Position	230
	Democratic Christianism	232
	Biblicist and Rationalist Christianism	235
	Radical Dispensationalism: Mormonism	240
14.	The Jewish Tradition in America	254
	Origins of the Jewish Way	256
	Torah	260
	Practical Expression	263
	Social Expression	270
	Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative Jews	271
15.	The Eastern Orthodox Tradition	278
	Definition of Eastern Orthodoxy	279
	Verbal Expression	280
	Practical Expression	285
	Social Expression	292
	History in the United States	293
16.	The African American Traditions	296
	Indigenous Heritage	297
	Practical Expression	304
	Institutional History in the United States	308
	Phenomenon of the Preacher	313
17.	New Traditions for the Common People: Millenarian, Holiness, and Pentecostal Traditions	315
	Origins	317
	Millenarianism	317
	The Holiness Movement	326
	Pentecostalism	328
18.	Religion and the Crisis of Authority	332
	Postbellum Modernity	334
	The New Liberalism	338
	The Social Gospel	342
	New Thought	345
	Positive Thinking	347
19.	The Fundamentalist and Neo-Evangelical Traditions	351
	What Is Fundamentalism?	351
	Verbal Expression	354
	Development of Neo-Evangelicalism	365
	The Neo-Evangelicalism of Billy Graham	366
20.	The Age of Radical Pluralism	369
	A New Pluralism	370
	The Ways of the Hindus	372
	Buddhism in America	378
	New Thought and the New Age	389
	Islam in America Today	390
	The Reshaping of American Religion	397
	Notes	405
	For Further Reading	415
	Index	426