Immigrant Faiths: Transforming Religious Life in America

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Recent immigration is changing American religion. No longer only a Protestant, Christian, or even Judeo-Christian nation, the United States is increasingly home to religious traditions from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. The history, spirit, and institutions of Protestantism often shape the beliefs and practices of new immigrants and their societies of faith. But immigrants are also creating their own unique religious communities within existing denominations or developing hybrid identities that combine strands of several faiths or traditions. These changes call for new thinking among both scholars of religion and scholars of migration. Immigrant Faiths responds to these changes with fresh thinking from new and established scholars from a variety of disciplines. Covering groups from across the U.S. and a range of religious traditions, Immigrant Faiths provides a needed overview to this expanding subfield. Sponsored by the Social Science Research Council.

Reviews

These studies highlight pliable and pragmatic understandings of religion, point out transnational religious networks, and emphasize religion's role in preserving immigrants' languages and cultural continuity. * Religious Studies Review *
...a valuable and timely collection of essays, with nuanced case studies and assessments of the flexibilities and complications of immigrant religions; it will be useful in the classroom and the library alike for scholars of religion, migration, and American studies. -- February 2007 * H-Amstdy *

Author Bio

Karen I. Leonard is professor of anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. Alex Stepick is professor of anthropology and sociology and the director of the Immigration and Ethnicity Institute, Florida International University in Miami. Manuel A. Vasquez is associate professor of religion, University of Florida. Jennifer Holdaway is program officer for the International Migration Program at the Social Science Research Council.