A collection of essays on a variety of topics on religion in the United States, this text covers both historical and contemporary times. Topics covered include the African American and Native American religious experience and the roles of women in various religious communities.

This is a collection of original essays on a wide variety of topics on religion in the United States, covering both historical and contemporary times, by the most exciting scholars working in the field today. Topics covered include the African American and Native American religious experience; the roles of gender and family in various religious communities; diversity and pluralism in American religious life; regional differences throughout the US; the relationship between religion and economic life; popular and material culture; and major themes in American religious thought. The approaches used reflect the impact of American studies and social and intellectual history on the study of religion. Students, scholars, and general readers will encounter a stimulating introduction to current scholarship while instructors will find this volume a valuable source for teaching students about the depth and diversity of the American religious experience.

Part I: Religious Diversity and Pluralism: Introduction:
1. Historicizing Religion in the American West: Laurie Maffly-Kipp (University of North Carolina).
2. Religious Innovation at the Edges: Stephen J. Stein (Indiana University).
3. Diversity and the Pluralist Ideal: William R. Hutchison (Harvard University).
4. Pluralism and American Religious Life in the Later Twentieth Century: Charles H. Lippy (University of Tennessee).
Part II: Religious Roots of American Culture. Introduction:
5. Anglicanism in Colonial Viriginia: David L. Holmes (College of William and Mary).
6. The Puritan Legacy in American Religion and Culture: Amanda Porterfield (University of Wyoming).
7. Religion and the Culture of the Market in Early New England: Mark Valeri (Union Theological Seminary, Virginia).
Part III: Religious Cultures in Transition:
8. Early American Methodism: Russell Richey (Duke University).
9. Synagogues and the 'Spiritual Depression' in the 1930s: Beth Wenger (University of Pennsylvania).
10. Shifting Ground and the Third Transformation of Mormonism: Philip Barlow (Hanover College).
11. American Catholics in the Twentieth Century: Mary Jo Weaver (Indiana University).
Part IV: Popular and Material Culture. Introduction:
12. Architecture and Urban Revivalism in Nineteenth Century America: Jeanne H. Kilde (Macalester College).
13. Post-Modern Sites of Catholic Sacred Materiality: Leonard Norman Primiano (Cabrini College).
14. Food and Eating in American Religious Cultures: Daniel Sack (Material History of American Religion Project).
15. Fasting, Dieting and the Body in American Christianity: R. Marie Griffith (Princeton University).
16. The Bible and Serpent-Handling: Bill Leonard (Wake Forest University).
Part V: Race and Ethnicity:
17. Race and Religion in Nineteenth Century America: Joan Bryant (Brandeis University).
18. The Rise of African-American Evangelicalism in American Culture: Albert G. Miller (Oberlin College).
19. Religion and Culture Change in Native North America: Michael McNally (Eastern Michigan University).
Part VI: Gender and Family. Introduction:
20. Reform, Gender and the Boundaries of American Judaism: Karla Goldman (Hebrew Union College).
21. Women and Protestantism in Nineteenth Century America: Carolyn Haynes (Miami University).
22. Religious Individualism in Nineteenth Century American Families: Anne C. Rose (Penn State University).
Part VII: Intellectual and Literary Culture. Introduction:
23. Jonathan Edwards on the Relation Between Hypocrisy and the Religious Life: Ava Chamberlain (Wright State University).
24. The Connecticut Culture of Revivalism: Mary Kupiec Cayton (Miami University).
25. Trust and Confidence in American Religious History: Leigh Eric Schmidt (Princeton University).
26. The Religion of Humanity in Victorian America: Lawrence W. Snyder, Jr (Western Kentucky University).
27. American Catholic Culture in the Twentieth Century: Paula M. Kane (University of Pittsburgh).
Index.