A Companion to American Religious History

The Blackwell Companion to American Religious History consists of roughly thirty original essays on critical themes and topics in American religious history. There will be three primary points of emphasis: the centrality of religion to American cultural, political, social, racial, gender, and intellectual history; the diversity of religious expressions across regions, races, and denominations; and the role of religion in eras of historical change. Though more microhistorical in approach, and historically bound in framework, chapters will glean broader lessons concerning the volume's larger themes and address questions typically asked in American history courses. The recent generation of scholars have produced a plethora of exciting and revisionist interpretations in the field, and this volume will condense and explain them for anew generation of readers. In a world still struggling to define the parameters of pluralism, this edited collection provides both a historical genealogy for the various traditions as well as meaning for its many expressions. A Companion to American Religious HIstory will serve as a resource for teachers, especially those who do not teach American religous history but who wish to expose their students to the significance, variety, and malleability of America's religious past.