Douglas A Hicks
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337174
- eISBN:
- 9780199868407
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337174.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines the role of religion in American civic life from the time Alexis de Tocqueville visited the early United States until September 11, 2001. It focuses on an array of historical ...
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This chapter examines the role of religion in American civic life from the time Alexis de Tocqueville visited the early United States until September 11, 2001. It focuses on an array of historical images for how Americans in their diversity can—and should—come together in public life. Tocqueville called religion the first of America’s political institutions, due to the religious nature of many voluntary associations, but he was limited in assuming Christianity was the common denominator. Israel Zangwill and Horace Kallen offered opposing images — the melting pot and cultural pluralism, respectively — but they each also spoke of an American symphony. Will Herberg introduced the “triple melting pot” of Protestant, Catholic, and Jew, and Lyndon Johnson gave the most vivid picture of America as the home of immigrants from every corner of the world. None of these images can fix the current challenges, but they do help show some imaginative, alternative visions.Less
This chapter examines the role of religion in American civic life from the time Alexis de Tocqueville visited the early United States until September 11, 2001. It focuses on an array of historical images for how Americans in their diversity can—and should—come together in public life. Tocqueville called religion the first of America’s political institutions, due to the religious nature of many voluntary associations, but he was limited in assuming Christianity was the common denominator. Israel Zangwill and Horace Kallen offered opposing images — the melting pot and cultural pluralism, respectively — but they each also spoke of an American symphony. Will Herberg introduced the “triple melting pot” of Protestant, Catholic, and Jew, and Lyndon Johnson gave the most vivid picture of America as the home of immigrants from every corner of the world. None of these images can fix the current challenges, but they do help show some imaginative, alternative visions.
Michael L. Morgan
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195148626
- eISBN:
- 9780199870011
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195148622.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter covers the writings and interchanges of various Jewish theologians who wrote in America in the late 1940s, the 1950s, and the 1960s, who included existentialists, and Reform Jewish ...
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This chapter covers the writings and interchanges of various Jewish theologians who wrote in America in the late 1940s, the 1950s, and the 1960s, who included existentialists, and Reform Jewish theologians. These writers include Emil Fackenheim, Will Herberg, Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Eugene Borowitz, Bernhard Heller, Jakob Petuchowski, Arthur Cohen, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Joseph Soloveitchik, Lou Silberman, Bernard Martin, Eliezer Berkovits, Richard Rubinstein, and many others. The chapter also covers the debates in various journals as well as ideas put forward in more substantial publications (essays, books, etc.).Less
This chapter covers the writings and interchanges of various Jewish theologians who wrote in America in the late 1940s, the 1950s, and the 1960s, who included existentialists, and Reform Jewish theologians. These writers include Emil Fackenheim, Will Herberg, Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Eugene Borowitz, Bernhard Heller, Jakob Petuchowski, Arthur Cohen, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Joseph Soloveitchik, Lou Silberman, Bernard Martin, Eliezer Berkovits, Richard Rubinstein, and many others. The chapter also covers the debates in various journals as well as ideas put forward in more substantial publications (essays, books, etc.).
Matthew S. Hedstrom
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780195374490
- eISBN:
- 9780199979141
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195374490.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explores in greater detail the interfaith reading and spiritual cosmopolitanism of the war and postwar years. The reading campaign of the National Conference of Christians and Jews ...
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This chapter explores in greater detail the interfaith reading and spiritual cosmopolitanism of the war and postwar years. The reading campaign of the National Conference of Christians and Jews called Americans to read across the boundaries of tradition, but it was the advancement of psychology and mysticism during the war years that made interfaith spirituality successful at the popular level. In particular, military service acculturated tens of millions of Americans to scientific psychology. The works and lives of three bestselling authors of the 1940s, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Joshua Loth Liebman, and Thomas Merton, illustrate the role of psychology and mysticism in facilitating interfaith reading and spiritual cosmopolitanism. The bestsellers of these authors, a Protestant, a Catholic, and a Jew, stand in contrast to the generic religiosity famously decried by the critic Will Herberg and exemplified by laissez-faire liberal Norman Vincent Peale. These authors instead remained rooted in their specific traditions, even as their works were read widely by members of other traditions. Letter from readers, both civilians and those in the military, demonstrate these developments, and give voice to the rising religious liberalism of the postwar period.Less
This chapter explores in greater detail the interfaith reading and spiritual cosmopolitanism of the war and postwar years. The reading campaign of the National Conference of Christians and Jews called Americans to read across the boundaries of tradition, but it was the advancement of psychology and mysticism during the war years that made interfaith spirituality successful at the popular level. In particular, military service acculturated tens of millions of Americans to scientific psychology. The works and lives of three bestselling authors of the 1940s, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Joshua Loth Liebman, and Thomas Merton, illustrate the role of psychology and mysticism in facilitating interfaith reading and spiritual cosmopolitanism. The bestsellers of these authors, a Protestant, a Catholic, and a Jew, stand in contrast to the generic religiosity famously decried by the critic Will Herberg and exemplified by laissez-faire liberal Norman Vincent Peale. These authors instead remained rooted in their specific traditions, even as their works were read widely by members of other traditions. Letter from readers, both civilians and those in the military, demonstrate these developments, and give voice to the rising religious liberalism of the postwar period.
Russell Jeung, Carolyn Chen, and Jerry Z. Park
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814717356
- eISBN:
- 9780814772898
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814717356.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This introductory chapter describes how racial minorities have emerged and constitute the largest share of Americans under 18 and of the children of immigrants—the new second generation. American ...
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This introductory chapter describes how racial minorities have emerged and constitute the largest share of Americans under 18 and of the children of immigrants—the new second generation. American cultural discourse has shifted from the religious triple melting pot to one that celebrates ethnic, religious, and racial identities. The members of this new and emerging diverse population are situated to combine their backgrounds in ways that their parents and earlier generations were not permitted to, lest they risk marginalization from mainstream public life. Also, despite its continuous role in American public life, the significance of institutionalized religion to the new second generation's private life has declined. American scholar Will Herberg calls this process the “secularization of religion,” in which members of the new second generation value an individualistic, therapeutic spirituality that mistrusts religious authority and instead embraces authenticity in being and relationships.Less
This introductory chapter describes how racial minorities have emerged and constitute the largest share of Americans under 18 and of the children of immigrants—the new second generation. American cultural discourse has shifted from the religious triple melting pot to one that celebrates ethnic, religious, and racial identities. The members of this new and emerging diverse population are situated to combine their backgrounds in ways that their parents and earlier generations were not permitted to, lest they risk marginalization from mainstream public life. Also, despite its continuous role in American public life, the significance of institutionalized religion to the new second generation's private life has declined. American scholar Will Herberg calls this process the “secularization of religion,” in which members of the new second generation value an individualistic, therapeutic spirituality that mistrusts religious authority and instead embraces authenticity in being and relationships.
Carolyn Chen and Russell Jeung (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814717356
- eISBN:
- 9780814772898
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814717356.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Over fifty years ago, Will Herberg theorized that future immigrants to the United States would no longer identify themselves through their races or ethnicities, or through the languages and cultures ...
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Over fifty years ago, Will Herberg theorized that future immigrants to the United States would no longer identify themselves through their races or ethnicities, or through the languages and cultures of their home countries. Rather, modern immigrants would base their identities on their religions. The landscape of U.S. immigration has changed dramatically since Herberg first published his theory. Most of today's immigrants are Asian or Latino, and are thus unable to shed their racial and ethnic identities as rapidly as the Europeans about whom Herberg wrote. And rather than a flexible, labor-based economy hungry for more workers, today's immigrants find themselves in a post-industrial segmented economy that allows little in the way of class mobility. This book draws on ethnography and in-depth interviews to examine the experiences of the new second generation: the children of Asian and Latino immigrants. Covering a diversity of second-generation religious communities including Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and Jews, the chapters highlight the ways in which race, ethnicity, and religion intersect for new Americans. As the new second generation of Latinos and Asian Americans comes of age, they will not only shape American race relations, but also the face of American religion.Less
Over fifty years ago, Will Herberg theorized that future immigrants to the United States would no longer identify themselves through their races or ethnicities, or through the languages and cultures of their home countries. Rather, modern immigrants would base their identities on their religions. The landscape of U.S. immigration has changed dramatically since Herberg first published his theory. Most of today's immigrants are Asian or Latino, and are thus unable to shed their racial and ethnic identities as rapidly as the Europeans about whom Herberg wrote. And rather than a flexible, labor-based economy hungry for more workers, today's immigrants find themselves in a post-industrial segmented economy that allows little in the way of class mobility. This book draws on ethnography and in-depth interviews to examine the experiences of the new second generation: the children of Asian and Latino immigrants. Covering a diversity of second-generation religious communities including Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and Jews, the chapters highlight the ways in which race, ethnicity, and religion intersect for new Americans. As the new second generation of Latinos and Asian Americans comes of age, they will not only shape American race relations, but also the face of American religion.
Robert Wuthnow
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780190258900
- eISBN:
- 9780190258931
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190258900.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
When George Gallup’s experiments as a high school student in Iowa led to his successful deployment of a national poll predicting the outcome of the 1936 presidential election, nobody could have ...
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When George Gallup’s experiments as a high school student in Iowa led to his successful deployment of a national poll predicting the outcome of the 1936 presidential election, nobody could have imagined that polls would also play a more significant role in Americans’ understanding of religion. But religious affiliation had already been included in the Literary Digestsurveys that Gallup replaced. And by the early 1950s Gallup was being hired by religious organizations to find out what Americans really thought and believed.Less
When George Gallup’s experiments as a high school student in Iowa led to his successful deployment of a national poll predicting the outcome of the 1936 presidential election, nobody could have imagined that polls would also play a more significant role in Americans’ understanding of religion. But religious affiliation had already been included in the Literary Digestsurveys that Gallup replaced. And by the early 1950s Gallup was being hired by religious organizations to find out what Americans really thought and believed.
Alan M. Wald
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469635941
- eISBN:
- 9781469635965
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469635941.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
The political and cultural landscape of the years after World War II are explored in relation to the deradicalization of one-time revolutionary intellectuals. The transformation of Stalinism into a ...
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The political and cultural landscape of the years after World War II are explored in relation to the deradicalization of one-time revolutionary intellectuals. The transformation of Stalinism into a kind of “Red Fascism” is one aspect, along with the activities of the intellectuals in the American Committee for Cultural Freedom and in relation to McCarthyism. The problem of apostasy is addressed by looking at intellectuals such as Sidney Hook, Will Herberg, Felix Morrow, Jean van Heijenoort, and many more. On the other hand, the sectarianism associated with orthodoxy is treated in regard to the evolution of the Socialist Workers Party and the conflict with Bert Cochran as well as the career of George Novack.Less
The political and cultural landscape of the years after World War II are explored in relation to the deradicalization of one-time revolutionary intellectuals. The transformation of Stalinism into a kind of “Red Fascism” is one aspect, along with the activities of the intellectuals in the American Committee for Cultural Freedom and in relation to McCarthyism. The problem of apostasy is addressed by looking at intellectuals such as Sidney Hook, Will Herberg, Felix Morrow, Jean van Heijenoort, and many more. On the other hand, the sectarianism associated with orthodoxy is treated in regard to the evolution of the Socialist Workers Party and the conflict with Bert Cochran as well as the career of George Novack.
