Understanding American Religion in the Twenty-First Century

Catalog description

According to many twentieth-century scholars, as the Western world continued to advance scientifically, industrially, and economically, religions and religious beliefs would gradually fade away. While that may have been somewhat true in a few European countries, in most of the West, in particular the Americas and the United States, religion continues to play a major role. To understand America, in the 21st century—the political, educational, philosophical, artistic, and social—requires some understanding of the roles that religions play. In this course, we will look at multiple communities, belief systems, institutions, and practices. While we will look at traditional institutions and texts, the main focus of this course will be on the everyday experiences of people and the ways their lives intersect with religion: what scholars call “lived religion.” Topics will include the decline of mainstream congregations and the rise of the evangelical, as well as the emerging visibility of queer theologies, pagan communities, and other new religious movements. We will examine the growing religious identification as “spiritual but not religious” and as “none.” We will look at the religious underpinnings of political movements from Islamophobia to Black Lives Matter to trans rights to Donald Trump. Readings will include texts taken from within these movements, within the popular media, and theoretical analysis from multiple perspectives and disciplines. Scholarly readings will include works by Talal Assad, Saba Mahmood, Ann Pellegrini, Robert Orsi, Graham Harvey, Jeffrey Stout, Cornell West, Mark C. Taylor, Tyler Roberts, Marcella Althaus-Reid, and others.