American Beliefs

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American Beliefs

Author : John Harmon McElroy
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1566633141
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (666 download)

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Book Synopsis American Beliefs by : John Harmon McElroy

Download or read book American Beliefs written by John Harmon McElroy and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2000 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do so many different people with widely dissimilar ideas and customs get along as Americans? In American Beliefs, John McElroy identifies and explains those essential ideas that promote the unity of a vast nation and a diversified people--because they have been shared and acted upon by generations of Americans. Tracing these beliefs historically from their origins in the earliest experiences of the American colonists, Mr. McElroy shows how they became continuing convictions that together form a pattern distinct from those of other peoples. Work, he argues, shaped the primary beliefs of Americans, for the task of the early settlers was first of all to survive in a new wilderness. He then goes on to discuss beliefs that grew from the experiences of immigrants, from life on the frontier, and from the ideas that Americans developed about religion and morality, politics, human nature, and the workings of society. It is not birthplace or skin color that makes a person an American, Mr. McElroy observes, but a common behavior based upon principles of freedom and equality, individuality and responsibility, improvement and practicality. American Beliefs is a book greatly needed, a powerful antidote to decades of historical and political writings that have concentrated on the differences among Americans.

Themes in Religion and American Culture

Author : Philip Goff
Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN 13 : 0807875821
Total Pages : 400 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (78 download)

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Book Synopsis Themes in Religion and American Culture by : Philip Goff

Download or read book Themes in Religion and American Culture written by Philip Goff and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2005-10-12 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Designed to serve as an introduction to American religion, this volume is distinctive in its approach: instead of following a traditional narrative, the book is arranged thematically. Eleven chapters by top scholars present, in carefully organized and accessible fashion, topics and perspectives fundamental to the understanding of religion in America. Some of the chapters treat aspects of faith typical to most religious groups, such as theology, proselytization, supernaturalism, and cosmology. Others deal with race, ethnicity, gender, the state, economy, science, diversity, and regionalism--facets of American culture that often interact with religion. Each topical essay is structured chronologically, divided into sections on pre-colonial, colonial, revolutionary and early republican, antebellum, postbellum and late nineteenth-century, early twentieth-century, and modern America. One can study the extended history of a certain theme, or read "across" the book for a study of all the themes during a specific period in history. This book's new approach offers a rich analysis of the genuine complexity of American religious life. With a helpful glossary of basic religious terms, movements, people, and groups, this book will become an essential tool for students and teachers of religion. Contributors: Yvonne Chireau, Swarthmore College Amy DeRogatis, Michigan State University William Durbin, Washington Theological Union Tracy Fessenden, Arizona State University James German, State University of New York, Potsdam Philip Goff, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis Paul Harvey, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Sue Marasco, Vanderbilt University Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, University of Chicago Divinity School Roberto Trevino, University of Texas, Arlington David Weaver-Zercher, Messiah College

American Policy Toward Israel

Author : Michael Thomas
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135983453
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (359 download)

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Book Synopsis American Policy Toward Israel by : Michael Thomas

Download or read book American Policy Toward Israel written by Michael Thomas and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-06-11 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explains the institutionalization of nearly unconditional American support of Israel during the Reagan administration, and its persistence in the first Bush administration in terms of the competition of belief systems in American society and politics. Michael Thomas explains policy changes over time and provides insights into what circumstances might lead to lasting changes in policy. The volume identifies the important domestic, social, religious and political elements that have vied for primacy on policy towards Israel, and using case studies, such as the 1981 AWACS sale and the 1991 loan guarantees, argues that policy debates have been struggles to embed and enforce beliefs about Israel and about Arabs. It also establishes a framework for better understanding the influences and constraints on American policy towards Israel. An epilogue applies the lessons learned to the current Bush administration. American Policy toward Israel will be of interest to students of US foreign policy, Middle Eastern politics and international relations.

The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders

Author : Gregg L. Frazer
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700620214
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders by : Gregg L. Frazer

Download or read book The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders written by Gregg L. Frazer and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Were America's Founders Christians or deists? Conservatives and secularists have taken each position respectively, mustering evidence to insist just how tall the wall separating church and state should be. Now Gregg Frazer puts their arguments to rest in the first comprehensive analysis of the Founders' beliefs as they themselves expressed them-showing that today's political right and left are both wrong. Going beyond church attendance or public pronouncements made for political ends, Frazer scrutinizes the Founders' candid declarations regarding religion found in their private writings. Distilling decades of research, he contends that these men were neither Christian nor deist but rather adherents of a system he labels "theistic rationalism," a hybrid belief system that combined elements of natural religion, Protestantism, and reason-with reason the decisive element. Frazer explains how this theological middle ground developed, what its core beliefs were, and how they were reflected in the thought of eight Founders: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington. He argues convincingly that Congregationalist Adams is the clearest example of theistic rationalism; that presumed deists Jefferson and Franklin are less secular than supposed; and that even the famously taciturn Washington adheres to this theology. He also shows that the Founders held genuinely religious beliefs that aligned with morality, republican government, natural rights, science, and progress. Frazer's careful explication helps readers better understand the case for revolutionary recruitment, the religious references in the Declaration of Independence, and the religious elements-and lack thereof-in the Constitution. He also reveals how influential clergymen, backing their theology of theistic rationalism with reinterpreted Scripture, preached and published liberal democratic theory to justify rebellion. Deftly blending history, religion, and political thought, Frazer succeeds in showing that the American experiment was neither a wholly secular venture nor an attempt to create a Christian nation founded on biblical principles. By showcasing the actual approach taken by these key Founders, he suggests a viable solution to the twenty-first-century standoff over the relationship between church and state-and challenges partisans on both sides to articulate their visions for America on their own merits without holding the Founders hostage to positions they never held.

Religion in America: The Basics

Author : Michael Pasquier
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317617746
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (176 download)

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Book Synopsis Religion in America: The Basics by : Michael Pasquier

Download or read book Religion in America: The Basics written by Michael Pasquier and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion in America: The Basics is a concise introduction to the historical development of religions in the United States. It is an invitation to explore the complex tapestry of religious beliefs and practices that shaped life in North America from the colonial encounters of the fifteenth century to the culture wars of the twenty-first century. Far from a people unified around a common understanding of Christianity, Religion in America: The Basics tracks the steady diversification of the American religious landscape and the many religious conflicts that changed American society. At the same time, it explores how Americans from a variety of religious backgrounds worked together to face the challenges of racism, poverty, war, and other social concerns. Because no single survey can ever satisfy the need to know more and think differently, Religion in America prepares readers to continue studying American religions with their own questions and perspectives in mind.

American Ways

Author : Gary Althen
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780933662681
Total Pages : 196 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (626 download)

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Book Synopsis American Ways by : Gary Althen

Download or read book American Ways written by Gary Althen and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Althen (former foreign student adviser, U. of Iowa) gives advice to foreign visitors to the U.S. that is intended to help them understand the motivations, attitudes, communication styles, and actions of Americans. Emphasizing the interpretation of observed behavior, he covers ways of reasoning and American ideas about politics, family life, education, religion, the media, social relationships, racial and ethnic diversity, male-female relationships, sports and recreation, driving, shopping, personal hygiene, and organizational and public behavior. Over-generalization is an understandable danger in such a work as this, but Althen does make an effort to emphasize that there are variations among Americans, while he concentrates on the similarities. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

American Grace

Author : Robert D. Putnam
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1416566732
Total Pages : 720 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (165 download)

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Book Synopsis American Grace by : Robert D. Putnam

Download or read book American Grace written by Robert D. Putnam and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-02-21 with total page 720 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Draws on three national surveys on religion, as well as research conducted by congregations across the United States, to examine the profound impact it has had on American life and how religious attitudes have changed in recent decades.

Religion and American Culture

Author : David G. Hackett
Publisher : Psychology Press
ISBN 13 : 9780415942737
Total Pages : 574 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (427 download)

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Book Synopsis Religion and American Culture by : David G. Hackett

Download or read book Religion and American Culture written by David G. Hackett and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 574 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

White Too Long

Author : Robert P. Jones
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1982122870
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (821 download)

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Book Synopsis White Too Long by : Robert P. Jones

Download or read book White Too Long written by Robert P. Jones and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-07-13 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "WHITE TOO LONG draws on history, statistics, and memoir to urge that white Christians reckon with the racism of the past and the amnesia of the present to restore a Christian identity free of the taint of white supremacy"--

Sincerely Held

Author : Charles McCrary
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226817954
Total Pages : 309 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (268 download)

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Book Synopsis Sincerely Held by : Charles McCrary

Download or read book Sincerely Held written by Charles McCrary and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2022-04-08 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "If you read Supreme Court opinions on cases involving First Amendment religion issues, you're likely to encounter the ubiquitous phrase "sincerely held religious belief." The "sincerity test" of religious belief has become a cornerstone of US jurisprudence, determining what counts as legitimate grounds for First Amendment claims in the eyes of the law. In Sincerely Held, Charles McCrary provides an original account of how "sincerely held religious belief" became the primary standard for determining what legally counts as genuine religion. McCrary traces the interlocking histories of sincerity, religion, and secularism in the US, starting in the mid-nineteenth century. He then shows how, in the 1940s, as the courts expanded the concept of religious freedom, they incorporated the notion of sincerity as a key element in determining religious freedom protections. The legal sincerity test was part of a larger trend in which the category "religion" became largely individualized and correlated with "belief." This linking of religion and belief, with all its Protestant underpinnings, is a central concern of critical secularism studies. McCrary contributes to this conversation by revealing the history of how sincerity and sincerely held religious belief developed as technologies of secular governance, constraining the type of subject one has to be in order to receive protections from the state"--

The Undeserving Rich

Author : Leslie McCall
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107355230
Total Pages : 319 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (73 download)

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Book Synopsis The Undeserving Rich by : Leslie McCall

Download or read book The Undeserving Rich written by Leslie McCall and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-29 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is widely assumed that Americans care little about income inequality, believe opportunities abound, admire the rich, and dislike redistributive policies. Leslie McCall contends that such assumptions are based on both incomplete survey data and economic conditions of the past and not present. In fact, Americans have desired less inequality for decades, and McCall's book explains why. Americans become most concerned about inequality in times of inequitable growth, when they view the rich as prospering while opportunities for good jobs, fair pay and high quality education are restricted for everyone else. As a result, they favor policies to expand opportunity and redistribute earnings in the workplace, reducing inequality in the market rather than redistributing income after the fact with tax and spending policies. This book resolves the paradox of how Americans can express little enthusiasm for welfare state policies and still yearn for a more equitable society, and forwards a new model of preferences about income inequality rooted in labor market opportunities rather than welfare state policies.

God Bless America

Author : Karen Stollznow
Publisher : Pitchstone Publishing (US&CA)
ISBN 13 : 1939578086
Total Pages : 189 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (395 download)

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Book Synopsis God Bless America by : Karen Stollznow

Download or read book God Bless America written by Karen Stollznow and published by Pitchstone Publishing (US&CA). This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God Bless America lifts the veil on strange and unusual religious beliefs and practices in the modern-day United States. Do Satanists really sacrifice babies? Do exorcisms involve swearing and spinning heads? Are the Amish allowed to drive cars and use computers? Taking a close look at snake handling, new age spirituality, Santeria spells, and satanic rituals, this book offers more than mere armchair research, taking you to an exorcism and a polygamist compound—and allowing you to sit among the beards and bonnets in a Mennonite church and to hear L. Ron Hubbard's stories told as sermons during a Scientology service. From the Amish to Voodoo, the beliefs and practices explored in this book may be unorthodox—and often dangerous—but they are always fascinating. While some of them are dying out, and others are gaining popularity with a modern audience, all offer insight into the future of religion in the United States—and remind that fact is often stranger than fiction.

American Beliefs

Author : John Harmon McElroy
Publisher : Ivan R. Dee
ISBN 13 : 1461730295
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (617 download)

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Book Synopsis American Beliefs by : John Harmon McElroy

Download or read book American Beliefs written by John Harmon McElroy and published by Ivan R. Dee. This book was released on 2000-08-15 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do so many different people with widely dissimilar ideas and customs get along as Americans? In American Beliefs, John McElroy identifies and explains those essential ideas that promote the unity of a vast nation and a diversified people—because they have been shared and acted upon by generations of Americans. Tracing these beliefs historically from their origins in the earliest experiences of the American colonists, Mr. McElroy shows how they became continuing convictions that together form a pattern distinct from those of other peoples. Work, he argues, shaped the primary beliefs of Americans, for the task of the early settlers was first of all to survive in a new wilderness. He then goes on to discuss beliefs that grew from the experiences of immigrants, from life on the frontier, and from the ideas that Americans developed about religion and morality, politics, human nature, and the workings of society. It is not birthplace or skin color that makes a person an American, Mr. McElroy observes, but a common behavior based upon principles of freedom and equality, individuality and responsibility, improvement and practicality. American Beliefs is a book greatly needed, a powerful antidote to decades of historical and political writings that have concentrated on the differences among Americans.

Religion in America

Author : Lisa D. Pearce
Publisher : University of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520296427
Total Pages : 203 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis Religion in America by : Lisa D. Pearce

Download or read book Religion in America written by Lisa D. Pearce and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written in an engaging and accessible tone, Religion in America probes the dynamics of recent American religious beliefs and behaviors. Charting trends over time using demographic data, this book examines how patterns of religious affiliation, service attendance, and prayer vary by race and ethnicity, social class, and gender. The authors identify demographic processes such as birth, death, and migration, as well as changes in education, employment, and families, as central to why some individuals and congregations experience change in religious practices and beliefs while others hold steady. Religion in America challenges students to examine the demographic data alongside everyday accounts of how religion is experienced differently across social groups to better understand the role that religion plays in the lives of Americans today and how that is changing.

Religion in America: A Very Short Introduction

Author : Timothy Beal
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199729514
Total Pages : 145 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (997 download)

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Book Synopsis Religion in America: A Very Short Introduction by : Timothy Beal

Download or read book Religion in America: A Very Short Introduction written by Timothy Beal and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-07-29 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's hard to think of a single aspect of American culture, past or present, in which religion has not played a major role. The roles religion plays, moreover, become more bewilderingly complex and diverse every day. For all those who want--whether out of curiosity, necessity, or civic duty--a vivid picture and fuller understanding of the current reality of religion in America, this Very Short Introduction is the go-to book they need. Timothy Beal describes many aspects of religion in contemporary America that are typically ignored in other books on the subject, including religion in popular culture and counter-cultural groups; the growing phenomenon of "hybrid" religious identities, both individual and collective; the expanding numbers of new religious movements, or NRMs, in America; and interesting examples of "outsider religion," such as Paradise Gardens in Georgia and the People Love People House of God in Ohio. He also offers an engaging overview of the history of religion in America, from Native American traditions to the present day. Beal sees three major forces shaping the present and future of religion in America: first, unprecedented religious diversity, which will continue to grow in the decades to come; second, the information revolution and the emergence of a new network society; and third, the rise of consumer culture. Taken together, these forces offer the potential to create a new American pluralism that would enrich society in unimaginable ways, but they also threaten the great ideal of e pluribus unum. With visual aids that help readers navigate America's diverse religious landscape, this informative, thoughtful, and provocative book is a must-read in the emerging public conversation concerning religion in America. About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

Culture and Redemption

Author : Tracy Fessenden
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780691049632
Total Pages : 364 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (496 download)

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Book Synopsis Culture and Redemption by : Tracy Fessenden

Download or read book Culture and Redemption written by Tracy Fessenden and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many Americans wish to believe that the United States, founded in religious tolerance, has gradually and naturally established a secular public sphere that is equally tolerant of all religions--or none. Culture and Redemption suggests otherwise. Tracy Fessenden contends that the uneven separation of church and state in America, far from safeguarding an arena for democratic flourishing, has functioned instead to promote particular forms of religious possibility while containing, suppressing, or excluding others. At a moment when questions about the appropriate role of religion in public life have become trenchant as never before, Culture and Redemption radically challenges conventional depictions--celebratory or damning--of America's "secular" public sphere. Examining American legal cases, children's books, sermons, and polemics together with popular and classic works of literature from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, Culture and Redemption shows how the vaunted secularization of American culture proceeds not as an inevitable by-product of modernity, but instead through concerted attempts to render dominant forms of Protestant identity continuous with democratic, civil identity. Fessenden shows this process to be thoroughly implicated, moreover, in practices of often-violent exclusion that go to the making of national culture: Indian removals, forced acculturations of religious and other minorities, internal and external colonizations, and exacting constructions of sex and gender. Her new readings of Emerson, Whitman, Melville, Stowe, Twain, Gilman, Fitzgerald, and others who address themselves to these dynamics in intricate and often unexpected ways advance a major reinterpretation of American writing.

Religion and Class in America

Author : Sean McCloud
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004171428
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (41 download)

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Book Synopsis Religion and Class in America by : Sean McCloud

Download or read book Religion and Class in America written by Sean McCloud and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2009 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Class has always played a role in American religion. Class differences in religious life are inevitably felt by both those in the pews and those on the outside looking in. This volume starts a long overdue discussion about how class continues to matter - and perhaps even ways in which it does not - in American religion. Class is indeed important, whether one examines it through analysis of events and documents, surveys and interviews, or participant observation of religious groups. The chapters herein examine class as a reality that is both material and symbolic, individual and corporate. "Religion and Class in America" examines the myriad ways in which class continues to interact with the theologies, practices, beliefs, and group affiliations of American religion.