Retelling U.S. Religious History [Paperback]

This collection marks a turning point in the study of the history of American religions. In challenging the dominant paradigm, Thomas A. Tweed and his coauthors propose nothing less than a reshaping of the way that American religious history is understood, studied, and taught.

The range of these essays is extraordinary. They analyze sexual pleasure, colonization, gender, and interreligious exchange. The narrators position themselves in a number of geographical sites, including the Canadian border, the American West, and the Deep South. And they discuss a wide range of groups, from Pueblo Indians and Russian Orthodox to Japanese Buddhists and Southern Baptists.

Thomas A. Tweedis Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author ofThe American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912: Victorian Culture and the Limits of Dissent(1992).

This collection represents a bold attempt to retell the story of religion in America from the perspectives generated by a younger generation of scholars. It is challenging, provocative, and enlightening . . . [and] demands the careful attention of everyone interested in the religious history and culture of the nation. Al Raboteau, author ofA Fire in the Bones

Thomas Tweed's book is an important, cutting-edge endeavor bound to advance debate and attract considerable attention. Amanda Porterfield, author ofFemale Piety in Puritan New England

Tweed and his colleagues challengeas well they shouldthe belief that any single narrative can succeed in telling the story of American religion. Edward T. Linenthal, author ofPreserving Memory

The old ways of telling the story of American religionsas the unfolding of the Puritan or evangelical or liberal 'impulse' from sea to shining sea or as the interplay of 'mainstream' and 'marginal' religious idiomswill not work anymore. . . . Tom Twl3#