America: Religions and Religion

by Catherine L. Albanese

Since its first publication in 1981, RELIGIONS AND RELIGION has become the standard introduction to the study of American religious traditions. Written by one of the foremost scholars in the field of American religions, this textbook has introduced thousands of students to the rich religious diversity that has always been a hallmark of the American religious experience. Beginning with native American religious traditions and following the course of America's religious history up to the present day, this text gives students the benefit of the author's extensive, influential scholarship in a clear manner that has proven to be readily accessible for today's undergraduates. This long-awaited new edition explores a variety recent events and developments, including increasing religious pluralism, the growth of postpluralism and the culture of religious combinations, recent religious change among Native Americans, renewed interest in the Kabbalah among Jews and others, present-day concerns in Catholicism and among Protestants, the Christian Right, new spirituality, religion and sexuality.

Genres: Religion, History, Nonfiction, Sociology, Textbooks

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Amelia and John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this text for a Religion in American History course. The text was chock full of information, but I felt that Albanese introduced many new concepts to attempt to thread together the character of various religions, such as oneness, manyness, contracting, combinative, and so on. It would have been more useful to stick with the terminology of the religious studies field.

As a matter of personal taste, I also don't like survey books. I was reading about things I was really interested in from other classes, like the Berrigan brothers, but these things were only mentioned with a sentence or two in this text. Of course, that's the nature of survey texts.

Albanese definitely provides a lot of information on religions in America, the diversity within them, how they got to the US, and where all this might be heading.

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

For being a textbook, Albanese has remarkably lucid and interesting writing, which combines with the fascinating subject matter to produce an intriguing and engaging account of America's complicated relationship to religion and religions. I appreciated that Albanese takes a thematic approach to the material that enables consistent cross-cutting and analysis between ideas, religions, and people to show how the comprehensive picture of American religious identity has developed over time. All this being said, the form factor of the book itself makes for some pretty dry reading, but persisting through the boringly-designed page layouts is worth it for the excellent combinatory analysis that Albanese engages in and expands on in these pages.

[Belle Meade School]

291.0973

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I'm so old, my copy doesn't even have this cover.) An excellent introduction to the subject of religion in the U. S., readable and accessible.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this book for a class that I really loved on religions in America. Now, I use it as a quick reference book when I need to find out about a certain religion...for example...what do "7th Day Adventist's" believe again? Really well researched and understandable.

This is a reference or text book, I wouldn't recommend it as something to read just for fun.

[Amy Sjoquist · Rating 2 out of 5]

Old textbook. The author loves words. Hard to focus on the meaning and is redundant. Read a lot for class.

[Marlene]

Textbook.