One of our faithful readers, an early American historian at a major research university on the west coast, is in the process of choosing texts for a course in American religious history to 1865. He has taught the course before, but is thinking about retooling his syllabus with some new readings.Any suggestions? What has worked well for you when teaching religion during this time period? This scholar-teacher is a specialist in colonial America, so he is particularly looking for books in the 1776-1865 range, but if you have suggestions for the colonial period as well I am sure he would welcome them. Other pedagogical tips for teaching his period are also welcome.
Thanks.
5 comments:
A Shopkeeper's Millennium might be worth assigning; it's short but it's an interesting and well-crafted argument. The Democratization of American Christianity is a trusty standard. Cosmos Crumbling is a pretty good look at religious reform movements. Some excerpts from The Transformation of Virginia and Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment would work pretty well to supplement stuff on the colonial period.
--ML
Lots of choices. For the later period I suggest Christine Heyrman's Southern Cross; Dee Andrews, The Methodists and Revolutionary America; and (in a shameless bit of self-promotion) my book--Wandering Souls: Protestant Migrations in America. For undergrads, it's a nice intro to a broad swath of religious history and groups in the colonial and antebellum eras.
Before assigning Christine Heyrman's Southern Cross, you might want to read my critique: Luker, "Did Another Bancroft Winner Have Trouble Counting?" HNN, 16/6/2003.
It depends on the level of the course, but I've found that undergraduates really enjoy Wilentz and Johnson's Kingdom of Matthias. It's a great lead-in to discussions about the Second Great Awakening, new religious movements of the 19th c., religion and reform, religion and sex, etc. Another great pick that I think will resonate with undergrads: Jen Graber's Furnace of Affliction. It's a little more difficult, but very readable, and--like KM--blessedly short.
- Richard Carwardine, "Evangelicals and Politics in Antebellum America" (It's huge, but great)
- Dreisbach, Hall, and Morrison, eds. "The Forgotten Founders on Religion and Public LIfe"
- Thomas Kidd, "God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution"
- William McLoughlin, "Cherokees and Missionaries, 1789-1839"
- William McLoughlin, "New England Dissent, 1630-1833" (Again, this book is massive, but assigning select chapters would be great)
- Monica Najar, "Evangelizing the South: A Social History of Church and State in Early America"
- Mark Noll, "The Civil War as a Theological Crisis."
- David Reynolds, "Faith in Fiction: The Emergence of Religious Literature in America."
- Nancy Rhoden, "Revolutionary Anglicanism: The Colonial Church of England Clergy during the American Revolution."
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