Transforming Faith: The Sacred and Secular in Modern American History

(Hardback)

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This book examines the persistence of religious belief in an America that has become increasingly secular. A series of essays addresses specific aspects of the interaction between the sacred and the secular in modern U.S. history and offers a unique perspective on how the two have transformed each other as well as the nature of American religious culture. By bringing these varied articles together, the editors have provided a new framework for interpreting our culture from a religious perspective. What makes this book unique is the broad-ranging nature of its examination of religion and culture. The essays cover such diverse topics as religion and popular culture, ethnicity and race, religion and women, religion and medicine, and the endurance of evangelical traditions, while also placing American religion in a larger, historical framework. A brief introduction discusses the difficult task of understanding religious expression in modern American culture. Touching on so many different subjects, the book is relevant to both historians and a general public interested in American religious culture. It will be a vital addition to academic and public libraries and valuable for courses in American and religious history, sociology, and political science.

Reviews

.,."The book offers and analysis of religion and its sociological significance, Q providing Christian students and historians with relevant observations of the socioreligious and secular interaction in modern America."-The Christian Librarian
...The book offers and analysis of religion and its sociological significance, Q providing Christian students and historians with relevant observations of the socioreligious and secular interaction in modern America.-The Christian Librarian
In May 1987, the University of Maryland hosted a conference on religion and modern American Society. The speakers focused on the interaction between the sacred and the secular; their revised conference papers form the contents of this volume. The theoretical framework is set forth by historian Martin Marty, who delineates several sociological/historical models of inquiry, and by theologian Harvey Cox, who maintains that public policy questions must include "religious" issues if they hope to remain meaningful. The more narrowly focused essays by Hasia Diner on the Americanization of Judaism, M.L. Bradbury on "Biodivinity" (the interaction between religion and medicine), and Leo Ribuffo on the faith of President Jimmy Carter are all exceptionally thoughtful. Other chapters include such themes as black theology, women and Christ, fundamentalism, Dwight L. Moody, the Scopes trial, and the rise of evangelical broadcasting. All the essays have a good deal to say, and the best ones are genuinely first-rate. Consequently, this compilation is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the persistence of religious themes in modern America. Graduate and undergraduate audience.-Choice
..."The book offers and analysis of religion and its sociological significance, Q providing Christian students and historians with relevant observations of the socioreligious and secular interaction in modern America."-The Christian Librarian
"In May 1987, the University of Maryland hosted a conference on religion and modern American Society. The speakers focused on the interaction between the sacred and the secular; their revised conference papers form the contents of this volume. The theoretical framework is set forth by historian Martin Marty, who delineates several sociological/historical models of inquiry, and by theologian Harvey Cox, who maintains that public policy questions must include "religious" issues if they hope to remain meaningful. The more narrowly focused essays by Hasia Diner on the Americanization of Judaism, M.L. Bradbury on "Biodivinity" (the interaction between religion and medicine), and Leo Ribuffo on the faith of President Jimmy Carter are all exceptionally thoughtful. Other chapters include such themes as black theology, women and Christ, fundamentalism, Dwight L. Moody, the Scopes trial, and the rise of evangelical broadcasting. All the essays have a good deal to say, and the best ones are genuinely first-rate. Consequently, this compilation is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the persistence of religious themes in modern America. Graduate and undergraduate audience."-Choice

Author Bio

M. L. BRADBURY is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Maryland. JAMES B. GILBERT is Professor of History at the University of Maryland. He has written A Cycle of Outrage, Another Chance, and Writers and Partisans.