Religion in America

Elective Course

This course surveys the history of religion in America, with a focus on the ways in which religious beliefs, movements, and conflicts have shaped—and continue to shape—how Americans view the world, their country, and ideals of self and society. The course provides the necessary religious context to understand defining moments in American history, characteristics of American culture, and the critical issues being debated in contemporary American society. It uses religion as a lens for viewing the lives of ordinary Americans from the 17th century to the present through primary sources such as sermons, heresy trial transcripts, diaries, sacred texts, advertisements, and novels, with the additional use of multimedia and reading from secondary scholarship.