The American Puritans and the historians (original) (raw)

The Study of American Religion: Looming through the Glim

Religion, 2012

The study of American religion has been expanding to include new perspectives, previously neglected characters, and new geographic insights, driven by critical reflection on the assumptions and ideologies that historically have shaped the field, such as its focus on institutions, doctrines, and texts, its nationalistic westward-expansion historical narrative, and its Protestant biases. The past two decades have seen illuminating work emerge on race and gender, popular culture, class, and the marketplace. But we need to push beyond filling in gaps in the historical record to engage methodological and theoretical concerns in the academic study of religion. Exploring the develop- ment of theories of religion in the context of global networks of exchange shaped by 19th-century seafarers is one example of how Tom Tweed’s recent call in this journal for a geographic and temporal expansion of the study of religion in America might raise new questions and perspectives for the field.

Review Essay: Theology in America Christian thought from the age of the Puritans to the Civil War

2005

There is a saying, probably emanating from the eastern side of the Atlantic, that Christian theologies are created in Germany, corrupted in America, and corrected in England. All jesting aside, many scholars tell the history of modern theology from a Eurocentric, or even Teutonocentric, perspective. E. Brooks Holifield's magnum opus on North American theology tells a different story. The book is nothing less than a theological Declaration of Independence. It is a pity that we had to wait more than two centuries after the founding of the republic to read a comprehensive account of American theology as an indigenous intellectual tradition. Why no one previously attempted such a thing is a worthwhile question, but now that Holifield's work has appeared, all scholars of Christian theology and American intellectual history are indebted to him.

Expanding the study of U.S. religion: Reflections on the state of a subfield

Religion, 2010

The study of U.S. religion, which dates from the 19th century, expanded its sources, methods, and scope during the last quarter of the 20th century, as specialists offered more inclusive historical narratives. That methodological expansion never went far enough, however, and the impulse toward narrative inclusiveness has been restrained in recent years. The subfield, I argue, now faces a number of challenges that also confront other specializations in the study of religion—contraction, overspecialization, fragmentation, and parochialism. After a focused overview of the subfield’s history, I discuss those challenges. Proposing a tentative response, I suggest that specialists celebrate methodological diversity and theoretical sophistication, encourage comparative and translocative studies, and increase collaboration across disciplinary boundaries and national borders. Finally, I suggest that we expand the subfield’s temporal span and geographical scope and reframe the study of U.S. religion in terms of the Atlantic World, the Pacific World, and the Western Hemisphere.