American Religious History

Catalog description

This course is an introduction to religion in America from the Puritans in the early seventeenth century to Protestant evangelicals in the late twentieth. In between we will be looking at religious movements of many kinds, including “imports” that took on new forms in the American environment, from African religions to immigrant Catholicism and Judaism, as well as others, like Mormonism and Christian Science, “Made in the U.S.A.” By looking at phenomena ranging from witchcraft and religious revivals to the Easter Parade and the “Monkey Trial,” we will examine religion as a vital force in American Life. USH