Peter W. Williams

A study of American thought and culture throughout history examines the individuals and documents that revealed significant ideas, issues, and movements.

Contains 105 essays that examine the role of religion in North American society from the time of Native American tribal cultures to the age of the electronic church. Organized by topic, with cross references, bibliographies, and a detailed index.

This is cultural history of mainline Protestantism and American cities--most notably, New York City--focuses on wealthy, urban Episcopalians and the influential ways they used their money. Peter W. Williams argues that such Episcopalians, many of them the country's most successful industrialists and financiers, left a deep and lasting mark on American urban culture. Their sense of public responsibility derived from a sacramental theology that gave credit to the material realm as a vehicle for religious experience and moral formation, and they came to be distinguished by their participation in major aesthetic and social welfare endeavors. Williams traces how the church helped transmit a European-inflected artistic patronage that was adapted to the American scene by clergy and laity intent upon providing moral and aesthetic leadership for a society in flux. Episcopalian influence is most visible today in the churches, cathedrals, and elite boarding schools that stand in many cities and other locations, but Episcopalians also provided major support to the formation of stellar art collections, the performing arts, and the Arts and Crafts movement. Williams argues that Episcopalians thus helped smooth the way for acceptance of materiality in religious culture in a previously iconoclastic, Puritan-influenced society.

"Perspectives on American Religion and Culture brings together scholars currently working in this field with the approaches employed reflecting the impact of American studies and social and intellectual history on the study of religion. A wide range of historical and contemporary topics are examined including African American and Native American religious experiences; roles of gender and family in various religious communities; diversity and pluralism in American religious life; regional differences in the US; the relationship between religion and economic life; popular and material culture; and major themes in American religious thought."--Jacket. "Students and scholars, as well as general readers, will encounter a stimulating introduction to current scholarship while instructors will find this volume a valuable source for teaching students about the depth and diversity of the American religious experience."--Jacket.

Explores the origins, development, influence, and interrelations of the many faiths practiced in North America, including major world religions and emerging sects, cults and movements.