Religion in America

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course views the key question of American Studies—What does it mean to be an American?—through the lens of religion. Using two orienting themes—crossing and dwelling—it introduces students to the history of religion in the lands that became the United States. It focuses on how diverse peoples imagined and transformed the landscape, interacted with one another at different sites, and moved within and across borders. It is divided into four sections. We begin—and end—by asking: How should we tell the story of religion in America? To help students prepare to answer that question on the last day of class, and to provide a variety of sources—from diaries and laws to images and films—the next three sections each introduce a different way to tell the story of U.S. religion: by chronology, tradition, or theme. Section two provides an historical overview, telling the story by tracing chronological shifts, including developments since the 1960s. The third section focuses on religious traditions that have flourished in the United States: Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, as well as Native American and African American traditions. In the course's final section we explore a series of topics or issues, including gender, sexuality, war, politics, literature, law, economy, science, and immigration. To accommodate different learning styles, we assess your progress in multiple ways, using both in-class and take-home assignments. Those include three short essays and an Intellectual Journal. Your last journal entry, which is your answer to the course's central question, will prepare you to contribute to our final session, when our class will collaborate to write our own account of the history of religion in America.