American Religious Liberalism [Paperback]

Religious liberalism in America has often been equated with an ecumenical Protestant establishment. By contrast, American Religious Liberalism draws attention to the broad diversity of liberal cultures that shapes Americas religious movements. The essays gathered here push beyond familiar tropes and boundaries to interrogate religious liberalisms dense cultural leanings by looking at spirituality in the arts, the politics and piety of religious cosmopolitanism, and the interaction between liberal religion and liberal secularism. Readers will find a kaleidoscopic view of many of the progressive strands of Americas religious past and present in this richly provocative volume.

The volume as a whole not only provides the reader with a variety of fascinating stories from the history of American religious liberalism, but also invites us to further reflect on what religious liberalism . . . is about. . . [This] volume is a good specimen of an integral approach to religious liberalism, not primarily focusing on Protestantism but paying attention to Judaism, Catholicism, and a broad variety of free religious movements as well.94.1 2014

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Parameters and Problematics of American Religious Liberalism
Leigh E. Schmidt
I. The Spiritual in Art
1. Reading Poetry Religiously: The Walt Whitman Fellowship and Seeker Spirituality
Michael Robertson
2. The Christology of Niceness: Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Jesus Novel, and Sacred Trivialities
Carrie Tirado Bramen
3. Visible Liberalism: Liberal Protestant Taste Evangelism, 1850 and 1950
Sally M. Promey
4. Discovering Imageless Truths: The Bah?? Pilgrimage of Juliet Thompson, Artist
Christopher G. White
5. Where Deep Streams Flow, Endlessly Renewing : Metaphysical Religion and Cultural Evolution in the Art of Agnes Pelton
Nathan Rees
II. The Piety and Politics of Liberal Ecumenism
6. Citizens of All the Worlds Temples : Cosmopolitanló*