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The evolution of religious diversity and complexity in the United States is explained clearly in this richly illustrated historical work.

This volume provides an overview of the more than 400 native tribal religions at the time of Columbus, examines the major survivors, and discusses contemporary efforts to breathe new life into old faiths. The book charts the initial colonization and the arrival of religious pioneers and tells how religious groups in the post Revolutionary era struggled with their new dependence on voluntary member support. This easy to read, easy to understand reference work outlines the evolution, key developments, and seminal figures in this most tolerant of religious settings.

American Religions: An Illustrated History is generously enhanced with more than 200 illustrations--many of them rare--and written in accessible language without scholarly jargon.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Introduction(p. 3)
• 1. The First American Religions(p. 7)
• Kanakuk's Vision(p. 23)
• Porcupine's Visit to Wovoka(p. 26)
• 2. Pioneers and the Coming of Christianity(p. 39)
• Treaty of Tordesillas 1494(p. 43)
• Mayflower Compact 1620(p. 57)
• 3. The Colonial Church(p. 71)
• Preamble to Pennsylvania Constitution(p. 83)
• Preface from The Bloody Tenet(p. 87)
• Whitefield visits Jonathan Edwards from the Journal of George Whitefield(p. 100)
• 4. Denominationalism: Building the Post-Revolution Church(p. 109)
• George Washington's Letter to Touro Synagogue (1790)(p. 117)
• From the Life Experience and Gospel Labors of Rt. Rev. Richard Allen(p. 137)
• Joseph Smith, Jr.'s First Vision(p. 145)
• 5. Urbanization and Pluralism(p. 153)
• Daniel Payne, "Welcome to the Ransomed" (1862)(p. 158)
• Cardinal Gibbons Supports Organized Labor(p. 168)
• "Ecclesiastical Emancipation of Women," Frances Willard (1888)(p. 174)
• 6. Fundamentalism and Modernism(p. 189)
• Washington Gladden, "How Much Is Left of the Old Doctrines" (1900)(p. 194)
• "The Virgin Birth of Christ," The Fundamentals (1914)(p. 212)
• 7. Religion in a Secular World(p. 217)
• Humanist Manifesto I(p. 224)
• Reform Judaism: Pittsburgh Platform (1885)(p. 251)
• 8. Contemporary Faiths(p. 257)
• Augusta J. Chapin at the World's Parliament of Religions (1893)(p. 266)
• United States v. Ballard. Opinion by Justice William O. Douglas (1944)(p. 280)
• Bibliography(p. 291)
• Credits(p. 297)
• Index(p. 305)

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Library Journal Review

As director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and author of more than 25 books (including the Encyclopedia of American Religion), Melton is well qualified to present this basic overview of such a vast subject. Beginning with Native American religions, he traces American religious history from Colonial times to the present and finishes with an especially good final chapter on contemporary faiths. Emphasizing the vast diversity of this country's religions, Melton points out that over 2000 distinct faith communities exist side by side in our culture with remarkable little conflict, a model of tolerance and religious freedom for the whole world. While the coverage is necessarily quite brief at each point, bibliographies are provided, and the text is highly readable and accurate. With its unbiased, even celebrative attitude toward religious diversity, this makes a good basic text or popular history. Recommended for academic and public libraries.DC. Robert Nixon, MLS, Lafayette, IN (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

J. Gordon Melton is the director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, California.