J. Kameron Carter
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195152791
- eISBN:
- 9780199870578
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195152791.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Here this chapter engages the work of Albert Raboteau, the elder statesman of contemporary African American religious history, particularly his early work, Slave Religion (1978). The ambiguity of ...
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Here this chapter engages the work of Albert Raboteau, the elder statesman of contemporary African American religious history, particularly his early work, Slave Religion (1978). The ambiguity of this text, which is emblematic of the field, lies in its impression that black religion generally and Afro‐Christianity particularly is a reflex of race, an (essentialist) echo of “Africanity” or “blackness” itself. Thus, black cultural nationalism is at the root of black religion. However, such a reading of black faith only lodges it within, rather than seeing it as trying to disrupt, modernity's racial imagination.The chapter then reexamine Raboteau's early work in light of his post‐Slave Religion work, inspired as it is by icon theology. Raboteau can now historically call attention to how Afro‐Christianity disrupts the racial gaze. The book later refines and presses Raboteau's fledgling and sketchy insights in a theologically robust direction.Less
Here this chapter engages the work of Albert Raboteau, the elder statesman of contemporary African American religious history, particularly his early work, Slave Religion (1978). The ambiguity of this text, which is emblematic of the field, lies in its impression that black religion generally and Afro‐Christianity particularly is a reflex of race, an (essentialist) echo of “Africanity” or “blackness” itself. Thus, black cultural nationalism is at the root of black religion. However, such a reading of black faith only lodges it within, rather than seeing it as trying to disrupt, modernity's racial imagination.The chapter then reexamine Raboteau's early work in light of his post‐Slave Religion work, inspired as it is by icon theology. Raboteau can now historically call attention to how Afro‐Christianity disrupts the racial gaze. The book later refines and presses Raboteau's fledgling and sketchy insights in a theologically robust direction.
Will “Esuyemi” Coleman
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195167979
- eISBN:
- 9780199784981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019516797X.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter discusses the text, Tribal Talk. Topics covered include Black theology, the use of broken English in the narrative, hermeneutics, African-derived religions in the Americas, and ...
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This chapter discusses the text, Tribal Talk. Topics covered include Black theology, the use of broken English in the narrative, hermeneutics, African-derived religions in the Americas, and African-American religious history.Less
This chapter discusses the text, Tribal Talk. Topics covered include Black theology, the use of broken English in the narrative, hermeneutics, African-derived religions in the Americas, and African-American religious history.
Amanda Porterfield
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195131376
- eISBN:
- 9780199834570
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195131371.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The changes that took place in American religious life during the late twentieth century were, in some important respects, unprecedented. As the U.S. became hospitable to virtually all the religions ...
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The changes that took place in American religious life during the late twentieth century were, in some important respects, unprecedented. As the U.S. became hospitable to virtually all the religions of the world, more religious switching and experimenting occurred than ever before. In other respects, the enthusiasm for spirituality in this period was similar to previous Great Awakenings that have marked American religious history in the past. This concluding chapter compares the transformation of American religion in the late twentieth century to previous awakenings, suggesting that the impetus to spiritual expansion can be traced back through the American Transcendentalists to the New England Puritans and their influential role in shaping American culture.Less
The changes that took place in American religious life during the late twentieth century were, in some important respects, unprecedented. As the U.S. became hospitable to virtually all the religions of the world, more religious switching and experimenting occurred than ever before. In other respects, the enthusiasm for spirituality in this period was similar to previous Great Awakenings that have marked American religious history in the past. This concluding chapter compares the transformation of American religion in the late twentieth century to previous awakenings, suggesting that the impetus to spiritual expansion can be traced back through the American Transcendentalists to the New England Puritans and their influential role in shaping American culture.
Robert T. Handy
- Published in print:
- 1976
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198269106
- eISBN:
- 9780191683572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269106.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
In the years from 1800 to 1860, the population of North America increased from about 5 million to more than 31 million. The natural increase was supplemented by immigration, chiefly from the British ...
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In the years from 1800 to 1860, the population of North America increased from about 5 million to more than 31 million. The natural increase was supplemented by immigration, chiefly from the British Isles, Germany, and Scandinavia. The great migration to the west that had begun soon after the Revolution increased markedly. In the context of the expansion in territory and population, there occurred many dramatic and tumultuous events of American religious history, which led to realignments in the nation's religious forces. The revivalism of the Second Great Awakening brought great changes into American Protestant life — under its influence some denominations burgeoned into giants, others were brought into promising existence, while still other churches divided under the strain. The new measures and the voluntary societies, missionary, educational and reform impulses, and the churches and slavery are specifically described. A significant realignment of Protestant strength had taken place; the patterns of revivalism and its concomitants left their mark in church and society. By 1860, many of the prestigious figures in national life were outspoken supporters of evangelical faith.Less
In the years from 1800 to 1860, the population of North America increased from about 5 million to more than 31 million. The natural increase was supplemented by immigration, chiefly from the British Isles, Germany, and Scandinavia. The great migration to the west that had begun soon after the Revolution increased markedly. In the context of the expansion in territory and population, there occurred many dramatic and tumultuous events of American religious history, which led to realignments in the nation's religious forces. The revivalism of the Second Great Awakening brought great changes into American Protestant life — under its influence some denominations burgeoned into giants, others were brought into promising existence, while still other churches divided under the strain. The new measures and the voluntary societies, missionary, educational and reform impulses, and the churches and slavery are specifically described. A significant realignment of Protestant strength had taken place; the patterns of revivalism and its concomitants left their mark in church and society. By 1860, many of the prestigious figures in national life were outspoken supporters of evangelical faith.
Michael Graziano
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9780226767406
- eISBN:
- 9780226767543
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226767543.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The introduction discusses how the religious approach to intelligence was entwined with the study of “world religions” in the nation’s universities as well as a renewed focus on religious pluralism ...
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The introduction discusses how the religious approach to intelligence was entwined with the study of “world religions” in the nation’s universities as well as a renewed focus on religious pluralism in the broader culture. By the 1950s, American popular attitudes toward the world’s religions increasingly assumed that all religions (simply by virtue of being “religions”) were functionally similar. This echoed the “world religions paradigm” (WRP) then becoming prominent in the academy. The WRP understood global religious systems as roughly analogous to one another and interchangeable in terms of function and purpose, on account of sharing a common essence. This idea appealed to intelligence officers in part because it suggested that religious meaning was universally translatable across otherwise stark divides of language, culture, and ethnicity. In incorporating this idea into their work, American intelligence officers took their belief systems and certainties local to the United States and projected them outward around the globe.Less
The introduction discusses how the religious approach to intelligence was entwined with the study of “world religions” in the nation’s universities as well as a renewed focus on religious pluralism in the broader culture. By the 1950s, American popular attitudes toward the world’s religions increasingly assumed that all religions (simply by virtue of being “religions”) were functionally similar. This echoed the “world religions paradigm” (WRP) then becoming prominent in the academy. The WRP understood global religious systems as roughly analogous to one another and interchangeable in terms of function and purpose, on account of sharing a common essence. This idea appealed to intelligence officers in part because it suggested that religious meaning was universally translatable across otherwise stark divides of language, culture, and ethnicity. In incorporating this idea into their work, American intelligence officers took their belief systems and certainties local to the United States and projected them outward around the globe.
Michael Graziano
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9780226767406
- eISBN:
- 9780226767543
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226767543.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This book explores how the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and its spiritual successor the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), studied and engaged religious traditions around the world in the ...
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This book explores how the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and its spiritual successor the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), studied and engaged religious traditions around the world in the service of US national security. Between World War II and the 1979 Iranian Revolution, OSS and the CIA honed this strategy in the context of two thriving discourses in American culture: a renewed attention to religious pluralism as well as a newfound national interest in “world religions.” These efforts came to represent what this book calls the “religious approach” to intelligence, a term borrowed from World War II American spies. Influenced by popular American ideas about the nature and function of religion as a global public good, US intelligence saw “world religions” as an element of US national security. These assumptions about the nature of religion were folded into an existing and powerful tradition of American exceptionalism, encouraging intelligence officers to view the United States and the world’s religions as natural allies. Over time, US intelligence work abroad bled into debates about religion at home as Roman Catholicism became the model through which the intelligence community understood and manipulated other “world” religions. In its investigation of this religious approach to intelligence, this book grapples with intersecting developments in American and “world” religions, US history, the growth of US empire, and the academic study of religion after World War II.Less
This book explores how the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and its spiritual successor the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), studied and engaged religious traditions around the world in the service of US national security. Between World War II and the 1979 Iranian Revolution, OSS and the CIA honed this strategy in the context of two thriving discourses in American culture: a renewed attention to religious pluralism as well as a newfound national interest in “world religions.” These efforts came to represent what this book calls the “religious approach” to intelligence, a term borrowed from World War II American spies. Influenced by popular American ideas about the nature and function of religion as a global public good, US intelligence saw “world religions” as an element of US national security. These assumptions about the nature of religion were folded into an existing and powerful tradition of American exceptionalism, encouraging intelligence officers to view the United States and the world’s religions as natural allies. Over time, US intelligence work abroad bled into debates about religion at home as Roman Catholicism became the model through which the intelligence community understood and manipulated other “world” religions. In its investigation of this religious approach to intelligence, this book grapples with intersecting developments in American and “world” religions, US history, the growth of US empire, and the academic study of religion after World War II.
Andrew R. Polk
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781501759222
- eISBN:
- 9781501759239
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501759222.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This book argues that the American civil religion so many have identified as indigenous to the founding ideology was, in fact, the result of a strategic campaign of religious propaganda. Far from ...
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This book argues that the American civil religion so many have identified as indigenous to the founding ideology was, in fact, the result of a strategic campaign of religious propaganda. Far from being the natural result of the nation's religious underpinning or the later spiritual machinations of conservative Protestants, American civil religion and the resultant “Christian nationalism” of today were crafted by secular elites in the middle of the twentieth century. The book's genealogy of the national motto, “In God We Trust,” revises the very meaning of the contemporary American nation. It shows how presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, working with politicians, advertising executives, and military public relations experts, exploited denominational religious affiliations and beliefs in order to unite Americans during the Second World War and, then, the early Cold War. Armed opposition to the Soviet Union was coupled with militant support for free economic markets, local control of education and housing, and liberties of speech and worship. These preferences were cultivated by state actors so as to support a set of right-wing positions including anti-communism, the Jim Crow status quo, and limited taxation and regulation. The book is a pioneering work of American religious history. By assessing the ideas, policies, and actions of three US presidents and their White House staff, the book sheds light on the origins of the ideological, religious, and partisan divides that describe the American polity today.Less
This book argues that the American civil religion so many have identified as indigenous to the founding ideology was, in fact, the result of a strategic campaign of religious propaganda. Far from being the natural result of the nation's religious underpinning or the later spiritual machinations of conservative Protestants, American civil religion and the resultant “Christian nationalism” of today were crafted by secular elites in the middle of the twentieth century. The book's genealogy of the national motto, “In God We Trust,” revises the very meaning of the contemporary American nation. It shows how presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, working with politicians, advertising executives, and military public relations experts, exploited denominational religious affiliations and beliefs in order to unite Americans during the Second World War and, then, the early Cold War. Armed opposition to the Soviet Union was coupled with militant support for free economic markets, local control of education and housing, and liberties of speech and worship. These preferences were cultivated by state actors so as to support a set of right-wing positions including anti-communism, the Jim Crow status quo, and limited taxation and regulation. The book is a pioneering work of American religious history. By assessing the ideas, policies, and actions of three US presidents and their White House staff, the book sheds light on the origins of the ideological, religious, and partisan divides that describe the American polity today.
Margaret Bendroth
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231140201
- eISBN:
- 9780231530781
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231140201.003.0017
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explores the relationship between religious conservatism and fundamentalism in America. Fundamentalism is one of the most important and one of the most difficult topics in American ...
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This chapter explores the relationship between religious conservatism and fundamentalism in America. Fundamentalism is one of the most important and one of the most difficult topics in American religious history. Fundamentalists are defined as “people of the Book”; that is, they uphold a divinely inspired Scripture as the final authority in every matter. This chapter begins with an overview of the history of American fundamentalism and of the other conservative religious groups and proceeds by discussing five “fundamentals” deemed to be the core doctrines of orthodox Christianity: the inerrancy of scripture; the virgin birth of Christ; the “substitution theory” of the atonement, a particular understanding of Christ's death as a satisfaction for human sin; the physical resurrection of Christ; and the authenticity of the miracles reported in the Bible. It then charts the rise of fundamentalist militancy and considers the Fundamentalism Project and concludes by analyzing fundamentalism in relation to Calvinism and gender theory.Less
This chapter explores the relationship between religious conservatism and fundamentalism in America. Fundamentalism is one of the most important and one of the most difficult topics in American religious history. Fundamentalists are defined as “people of the Book”; that is, they uphold a divinely inspired Scripture as the final authority in every matter. This chapter begins with an overview of the history of American fundamentalism and of the other conservative religious groups and proceeds by discussing five “fundamentals” deemed to be the core doctrines of orthodox Christianity: the inerrancy of scripture; the virgin birth of Christ; the “substitution theory” of the atonement, a particular understanding of Christ's death as a satisfaction for human sin; the physical resurrection of Christ; and the authenticity of the miracles reported in the Bible. It then charts the rise of fundamentalist militancy and considers the Fundamentalism Project and concludes by analyzing fundamentalism in relation to Calvinism and gender theory.
Samuel Morris Brown
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199793570
- eISBN:
- 9780199932511
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199793570.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
This book of cultural history reinterprets earliest Mormonism by viewing it through the lens of founder Joseph Smith Jr.'s complex, intimate, and conflicted relationship with death and dying. When ...
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This book of cultural history reinterprets earliest Mormonism by viewing it through the lens of founder Joseph Smith Jr.'s complex, intimate, and conflicted relationship with death and dying. When approached from this perspective, many of the unusual or striking aspects of earliest Mormonism make sense, allowing outsiders and insiders a refreshing new look at a much-discussed but poorly understood religious tradition. While contextualizing Mormonism within a broad protest against American Protestantism and long-standing folk responses to life's difficult questions, the book also demonstrates the coherence and scope of the early Mormon worldview. The book also provides insight into the ongoing problem of the tragedy of early mortality through the eloquent and complex response to death that early Mormonism provided. Through this detailed and contextualized case study of one remarkable new religious tradition, the book extends the fields of American religious history, lived religion, and Mormon studies.Less
This book of cultural history reinterprets earliest Mormonism by viewing it through the lens of founder Joseph Smith Jr.'s complex, intimate, and conflicted relationship with death and dying. When approached from this perspective, many of the unusual or striking aspects of earliest Mormonism make sense, allowing outsiders and insiders a refreshing new look at a much-discussed but poorly understood religious tradition. While contextualizing Mormonism within a broad protest against American Protestantism and long-standing folk responses to life's difficult questions, the book also demonstrates the coherence and scope of the early Mormon worldview. The book also provides insight into the ongoing problem of the tragedy of early mortality through the eloquent and complex response to death that early Mormonism provided. Through this detailed and contextualized case study of one remarkable new religious tradition, the book extends the fields of American religious history, lived religion, and Mormon studies.
Philip S. Gorski, Samuel L. Perry, and Jemar Tisby
- Published in print:
- 2022
- Published Online:
- April 2022
- ISBN:
- 9780197618684
- eISBN:
- 9780197618714
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197618684.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter uses quantitative data to show how many white Christian nationalists there are, which religious traditions they belong to, and what they believe. WCN is most strongly represented among ...
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This chapter uses quantitative data to show how many white Christian nationalists there are, which religious traditions they belong to, and what they believe. WCN is most strongly represented among evangelical Protestants but attracts significant numbers of mainline Protestants, Roman Catholics, and even some non-Christians. It also shows that white Americans who embrace Christian nationalism have very different views than non-whites who do so, and on a wide range of issues including America’s religious history, racial discrimination, and economic issues. This is why it is important to focus on white Christian nationalism, rather than just “Christian nationalism,” or “white Christianity.” Last, the chapter shows how WCN influences Americans’ interpretations and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and their embrace of libertarian, free-market economics.Less
This chapter uses quantitative data to show how many white Christian nationalists there are, which religious traditions they belong to, and what they believe. WCN is most strongly represented among evangelical Protestants but attracts significant numbers of mainline Protestants, Roman Catholics, and even some non-Christians. It also shows that white Americans who embrace Christian nationalism have very different views than non-whites who do so, and on a wide range of issues including America’s religious history, racial discrimination, and economic issues. This is why it is important to focus on white Christian nationalism, rather than just “Christian nationalism,” or “white Christianity.” Last, the chapter shows how WCN influences Americans’ interpretations and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and their embrace of libertarian, free-market economics.
Brett Hendrickson
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781479815500
- eISBN:
- 9781479870547
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479815500.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The book concludes by revisiting the metaphor of religious ownership and how it has been brought to bear on the history of the Santuario; the chapter also provides suggestions as to how this metaphor ...
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The book concludes by revisiting the metaphor of religious ownership and how it has been brought to bear on the history of the Santuario; the chapter also provides suggestions as to how this metaphor could be fruitfully applied to other contexts. The conclusion then turns to why the Santuario’s history is so important. First, as Catholics continue to be the largest denomination in the United States, it is essential that we better understand this largest of all Catholic pilgrimage sites in the United States. Second, as Hispanics grow in importance as the nation’s largest minority group, it becomes more and more important that we understand their history and religious heritage. The history of the Santuario de Chimayó is an essential part of American religious history.Less
The book concludes by revisiting the metaphor of religious ownership and how it has been brought to bear on the history of the Santuario; the chapter also provides suggestions as to how this metaphor could be fruitfully applied to other contexts. The conclusion then turns to why the Santuario’s history is so important. First, as Catholics continue to be the largest denomination in the United States, it is essential that we better understand this largest of all Catholic pilgrimage sites in the United States. Second, as Hispanics grow in importance as the nation’s largest minority group, it becomes more and more important that we understand their history and religious heritage. The history of the Santuario de Chimayó is an essential part of American religious history.
Angie Maxwell
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781469612928
- eISBN:
- 9781469614465
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469612928.003.0007
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Native American Studies
This chapter summarizes the preceding discussions. It reflects on how understanding a particular theology as a practice can inform American religious history and change how scholars of Native history ...
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This chapter summarizes the preceding discussions. It reflects on how understanding a particular theology as a practice can inform American religious history and change how scholars of Native history approach the often troubling and complicated waters of missionary history.Less
This chapter summarizes the preceding discussions. It reflects on how understanding a particular theology as a practice can inform American religious history and change how scholars of Native history approach the often troubling and complicated waters of missionary history.
Michael J. Altman
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- August 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190654924
- eISBN:
- 9780190654955
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190654924.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
The epilogue examines what the genealogy of “heathen,” “Hindoo,” and “Hindu” means for the study of American religious history and religious studies. It argues that the various projects of ...
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The epilogue examines what the genealogy of “heathen,” “Hindoo,” and “Hindu” means for the study of American religious history and religious studies. It argues that the various projects of comparative religion that included representations of heathens, Hindoos, and Hindus must be incorporated into the larger history of religious studies. As the previous chapters have shown, definitions of heathen, Hindoo, Hindu, and Hinduism emerged from American debates about the category “religion.” The epilogue gestures toward a history that would locate religious studies within the history of religion in the United States and cites William James as a possible starting point for such a history.Less
The epilogue examines what the genealogy of “heathen,” “Hindoo,” and “Hindu” means for the study of American religious history and religious studies. It argues that the various projects of comparative religion that included representations of heathens, Hindoos, and Hindus must be incorporated into the larger history of religious studies. As the previous chapters have shown, definitions of heathen, Hindoo, Hindu, and Hinduism emerged from American debates about the category “religion.” The epilogue gestures toward a history that would locate religious studies within the history of religion in the United States and cites William James as a possible starting point for such a history.
Michihiro Ama
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824834388
- eISBN:
- 9780824871727
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824834388.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Religious acculturation is typically seen as a one-way process: The dominant religious culture imposes certain behavioral patterns, ethical standards, social values, and organizational and legal ...
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Religious acculturation is typically seen as a one-way process: The dominant religious culture imposes certain behavioral patterns, ethical standards, social values, and organizational and legal requirements onto the immigrant religious tradition. This investigation of the early period of Jōdo Shinshū in Hawaii and the United States sets a new standard for investigating the processes of religious acculturation and a radically new way of thinking about these processes. The use of materials spans the Pacific as the book draws on never-before-studied archival works in Japan as well as the United States. More important, it locates immigrant Jōdo Shinshū at the interface of two expansionist nations. Because Jōdo Shinshū’s institutional history in the United States and the Pacific occurs at a contested interface, the book defines its acculturation as a dual process of both “Japanization” and “Americanization.” It explores in detail the activities of individual Shin Buddhist ministers responsible for making specific decisions regarding the practice of Jodo Shinshu in local sanghas. By focusing so closely, the book reveals the contestation of immigrant communities faced with discrimination and exploitation in their new homes and with changing messages from Japan. The strategies employed, whether accommodation to the dominant religious culture or assertion of identity, uncover the history of an American church in the making.Less
Religious acculturation is typically seen as a one-way process: The dominant religious culture imposes certain behavioral patterns, ethical standards, social values, and organizational and legal requirements onto the immigrant religious tradition. This investigation of the early period of Jōdo Shinshū in Hawaii and the United States sets a new standard for investigating the processes of religious acculturation and a radically new way of thinking about these processes. The use of materials spans the Pacific as the book draws on never-before-studied archival works in Japan as well as the United States. More important, it locates immigrant Jōdo Shinshū at the interface of two expansionist nations. Because Jōdo Shinshū’s institutional history in the United States and the Pacific occurs at a contested interface, the book defines its acculturation as a dual process of both “Japanization” and “Americanization.” It explores in detail the activities of individual Shin Buddhist ministers responsible for making specific decisions regarding the practice of Jodo Shinshu in local sanghas. By focusing so closely, the book reveals the contestation of immigrant communities faced with discrimination and exploitation in their new homes and with changing messages from Japan. The strategies employed, whether accommodation to the dominant religious culture or assertion of identity, uncover the history of an American church in the making.
Carolyn Renée Dupont
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814708415
- eISBN:
- 9780814723876
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814708415.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This introductory chapter depicts a foreign landscape where its inhabitants understood the Christian faith and its implications quite differently from the meanings given by contemporary believers. It ...
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This introductory chapter depicts a foreign landscape where its inhabitants understood the Christian faith and its implications quite differently from the meanings given by contemporary believers. It re-creates white Americans' dialogue about the implications of faith for racial justice. Drawing significantly on insights from American religious history, the book takes the experiences of religious individuals, leaders, congregations, and faith communities as the basis of the narrative. In addition, various misconceptions about the civil rights struggle result from framing it primarily as a story about progressive egalitarians versus unenlightened racists. More effectively than individuals with an inexplicable hatred of black folks, whites cooperated together to create obstacles to black advancement. The book aims to pinpoint the moral dimensions of this story where they properly belong.Less
This introductory chapter depicts a foreign landscape where its inhabitants understood the Christian faith and its implications quite differently from the meanings given by contemporary believers. It re-creates white Americans' dialogue about the implications of faith for racial justice. Drawing significantly on insights from American religious history, the book takes the experiences of religious individuals, leaders, congregations, and faith communities as the basis of the narrative. In addition, various misconceptions about the civil rights struggle result from framing it primarily as a story about progressive egalitarians versus unenlightened racists. More effectively than individuals with an inexplicable hatred of black folks, whites cooperated together to create obstacles to black advancement. The book aims to pinpoint the moral dimensions of this story where they properly belong.
Robert Wuthnow
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780190258900
- eISBN:
- 9780190258931
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190258900.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
A billion dollar a year polling industry purports to tell us not only which political candidates will win, but also how we are practicing our faith. How many Americans went to church last week? Have ...
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A billion dollar a year polling industry purports to tell us not only which political candidates will win, but also how we are practicing our faith. How many Americans went to church last week? Have they been born again? Is there a war on Christmas? Are atheists winning? Do miracles happen? No matter the topic, pollsters have the answer. It has become easy to take all of this for granted. And yet, we must ask if all is quite what it seems. Response rates have plummeted. A large majority of the public doubts that polls can be trusted. The time has come for serious questions to be asked about the polling industry’s role in American religion. Understanding the place of polls and surveys in American religion requires stepping back in time, looking at how this method of seeking information began, and what happened to bring us to where we are today. This book traces that history, examining the powerful rise of polling, and tackling the difficult questions of how we should think about polls and surveys in American religion today.Less
A billion dollar a year polling industry purports to tell us not only which political candidates will win, but also how we are practicing our faith. How many Americans went to church last week? Have they been born again? Is there a war on Christmas? Are atheists winning? Do miracles happen? No matter the topic, pollsters have the answer. It has become easy to take all of this for granted. And yet, we must ask if all is quite what it seems. Response rates have plummeted. A large majority of the public doubts that polls can be trusted. The time has come for serious questions to be asked about the polling industry’s role in American religion. Understanding the place of polls and surveys in American religion requires stepping back in time, looking at how this method of seeking information began, and what happened to bring us to where we are today. This book traces that history, examining the powerful rise of polling, and tackling the difficult questions of how we should think about polls and surveys in American religion today.
Kyle T. Bulthuis
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479814275
- eISBN:
- 9781479894178
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479814275.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This concluding chapter extends the narrative to the Civil War. In the 1840s and 1850s, a number of larger developments in American religious and intellectual history suggested that a new unity could ...
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This concluding chapter extends the narrative to the Civil War. In the 1840s and 1850s, a number of larger developments in American religious and intellectual history suggested that a new unity could be created in New York, whether it lay in evangelical revivalism, Broad Church Episcopalianism, or generalized Romanticism. But the reality of how church members lived highlighted major differences with the colonial era's promotion of organic unity, in particular the significance of place within the sphere of religious life. All four churches occupied space in Lower Manhattan, a site of increased commercialism and waning residence even at the turn of the nineteenth century. However, not all have remained in the same place, highlighting the challenges of urban worship even for the most resourceful and energetic congregations.Less
This concluding chapter extends the narrative to the Civil War. In the 1840s and 1850s, a number of larger developments in American religious and intellectual history suggested that a new unity could be created in New York, whether it lay in evangelical revivalism, Broad Church Episcopalianism, or generalized Romanticism. But the reality of how church members lived highlighted major differences with the colonial era's promotion of organic unity, in particular the significance of place within the sphere of religious life. All four churches occupied space in Lower Manhattan, a site of increased commercialism and waning residence even at the turn of the nineteenth century. However, not all have remained in the same place, highlighting the challenges of urban worship even for the most resourceful and energetic congregations.
David R. Swartz
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190250805
- eISBN:
- 9780190250836
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190250805.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
American evangelicals facing West from abroad have reshaped important elements of their religious tradition. Migration and demographic realignments intensified the impact on issues as varied as ...
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American evangelicals facing West from abroad have reshaped important elements of their religious tradition. Migration and demographic realignments intensified the impact on issues as varied as humanitarian work, civil rights, missiological strategies, sexuality, supernatural practices, and immigration. There were, however, limits to this global reflex. Transnational encounters often did not fit American categories. They did not cleanly map onto conservative or progressive sectors, and their influence often was limited to establishment evangelicals. Populists, many of whom voted for Donald Trump in 2016, have resisted the global reflex. This book, while narrating important demographic shifts, shows that evangelical cosmopolitanism is not pervasive at present.Less
American evangelicals facing West from abroad have reshaped important elements of their religious tradition. Migration and demographic realignments intensified the impact on issues as varied as humanitarian work, civil rights, missiological strategies, sexuality, supernatural practices, and immigration. There were, however, limits to this global reflex. Transnational encounters often did not fit American categories. They did not cleanly map onto conservative or progressive sectors, and their influence often was limited to establishment evangelicals. Populists, many of whom voted for Donald Trump in 2016, have resisted the global reflex. This book, while narrating important demographic shifts, shows that evangelical cosmopolitanism is not pervasive at present.
Michael J. Altman
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- August 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190654924
- eISBN:
- 9780190654955
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190654924.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter narrates the various representations of religion in India that occurred at the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions. Protestant speakers deployed many of the same representations found ...
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This chapter narrates the various representations of religion in India that occurred at the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions. Protestant speakers deployed many of the same representations found earlier in the century. Some described India as a land of heathenism while others found admirable qualities in Hindu religion. However, for the first time, Indian representatives were able to represent themselves. Most famously, Swami Vivekananda offered a lecture titled “Hinduism” that introduced Americans to Hinduism as a world religion. Yet, the Parliament stands as a conflicted and multivocal event where Protestants and Hindus disagreed over the true meaning of Hinduism and Hindu religion.Less
This chapter narrates the various representations of religion in India that occurred at the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions. Protestant speakers deployed many of the same representations found earlier in the century. Some described India as a land of heathenism while others found admirable qualities in Hindu religion. However, for the first time, Indian representatives were able to represent themselves. Most famously, Swami Vivekananda offered a lecture titled “Hinduism” that introduced Americans to Hinduism as a world religion. Yet, the Parliament stands as a conflicted and multivocal event where Protestants and Hindus disagreed over the true meaning of Hinduism and Hindu religion.
Andrew Finstuen, Grant Wacker, and Anne Blue Wills (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190683528
- eISBN:
- 9780190683559
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190683528.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
For more than six decades, Billy Graham played a prominent role in shaping Americans’ outlook on the critical religious, political, and cultural issues of the day. By drawing on new sources and by ...
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For more than six decades, Billy Graham played a prominent role in shaping Americans’ outlook on the critical religious, political, and cultural issues of the day. By drawing on new sources and by asking new questions of old sources, Billy Graham: American Pilgrim offers groundbreaking accounts of Graham’s storied career. The distinguished contributors offer fresh perspectives on the major changes Graham brought to American Christianity, World Christianity, church and state, the Cold War, race relations, American manhood and family, intellectual life, religious media, Christian relief work, and Christian music. Charting his titanic career provides a many-paned window for viewing the history and character of our present and recent past while also attending to Graham’s personal evolution and complexity on these issues. Yet Graham stayed true to evangelical precepts, as he addressed contemporary questions of religion, politics, and culture, as well as perennial questions of spiritual and daily life, that stretched his tradition to its limits. The volume presents this interplay of change and continuity in the life of Graham as a pilgrimage. But Graham lived his journey on an international stage, influencing the world around him in ways large and small—ways that still echo in today’s religious, political, and cultural arenas.Less
For more than six decades, Billy Graham played a prominent role in shaping Americans’ outlook on the critical religious, political, and cultural issues of the day. By drawing on new sources and by asking new questions of old sources, Billy Graham: American Pilgrim offers groundbreaking accounts of Graham’s storied career. The distinguished contributors offer fresh perspectives on the major changes Graham brought to American Christianity, World Christianity, church and state, the Cold War, race relations, American manhood and family, intellectual life, religious media, Christian relief work, and Christian music. Charting his titanic career provides a many-paned window for viewing the history and character of our present and recent past while also attending to Graham’s personal evolution and complexity on these issues. Yet Graham stayed true to evangelical precepts, as he addressed contemporary questions of religion, politics, and culture, as well as perennial questions of spiritual and daily life, that stretched his tradition to its limits. The volume presents this interplay of change and continuity in the life of Graham as a pilgrimage. But Graham lived his journey on an international stage, influencing the world around him in ways large and small—ways that still echo in today’s religious, political, and cultural arenas.