- Religion

Catalog description

An examination of the institutions of religion and the roles religion has played in the development of American society, from the seventeenth century to the present. Beginning with a study of the Puritan "city on a hill," proceeding to the Great Awakening, the Revolutionary separation of church and state and designation of religious toleration, the course will continue to explore the development of an increasingly diverse society of belief and unbelief. Using a variety of interdisciplinary sources, the course focuses on nineteenth-century nativist attacks on Catholicism, the role of religion in the slave community, revivalism, fundamentalism, the social gospel, and contemporary controversies over evolution, prayer in the public schools, and the impact of race, gender, and class. 300-level courses in American Studies are not ordinarily open to first-year students except by permission of the instructor.