Since its first publication in 1981, AMERICA: 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.

In a review in the Journal of Religion, the famed Martin Marty characterized Peter Williams as "a productive wonder" and Americas Religions: Traditions and Cultures as "a rich resource for readers who would like a state of the art comment on the abundant religious phenomena which surround them". Writing in Religion and American Culture, Stephen J. Stein said the book is "not a story of religion in isolation from the rest of American life", but a work that has as a major emphasis the theme of Americanization, of the symbiotic relationship between religions and cultures. Williamss book widely considered the best of its kind, is a comprehensive introduction to the religious history of the United States and the traditions out of which it arose, from colonial times through the late twentieth century. Now including an updated bibliography, it presents descriptions of major religious traditions and introduces distinctive American innovations. Included are not only Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, but African American, Native American, and Asian American traditions. The peace churches, "liberal" churches, and Mormonism also are discussed.

"Quite ambitious, tracing religion in the United States from European colonization up to the 21st century.... The writing is strong throughout."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "One can hardly do better than Religion in American Life.... A good read, especially for the uninitiated. The initiated might also read it for its felicity of narrative and the moments of illumination that fine scholars can inject even into stories we have all heard before. Read it."--Church History This new edition of Religion in American Life, written by three of the country's most eminent historians of religion, offers a superb overview that spans four centuries, illuminating the rich spiritual heritage central to nearly every event in our nation's history. Beginning with the state of religious affairs in both the Old and New Worlds on the eve of colonization and continuing through to the present, the book covers all the major American religious groups, from Protestants, Jews, and Catholics to Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, Buddhists, and New Age believers. Revised and updated, the book includes expanded treatment of religion during the Great Depression, of the religious influences on the civil rights movement, and of utopian groups in the 19th century, and it now covers the role of religion during the 2008 presidential election, observing how completely religion has entered American politics.

The story of religion in America is one of unparalleled diversity and protection of the religious rights of individuals. But that story is a muddied one. This new and expanded edition of a classroom favorite tells a jolting history—illuminated by historical texts, pictures, songs, cartoons, letters, and even t-shirts—of how our society has been and continues to be replete with religious intolerance. It powerfully reveals the narrow gap between intolerance and violence in America. The second edition contains a new chapter on Islamophobia and adds fresh material on the Christian persecution complex, white supremacy and other race-related issues, sexuality, and the role played by social media. John Corrigan and Lynn S. Neal's overarching narrative weaves together a rich, compelling array of textual and visual materials. Arranged thematically, each chapter provides a broad historical background, and each document or cluster of related documents is entwined in context as a discussion of the issues unfolds. The need for this book has only increased in the midst of today's raging conflicts about immigration, terrorism, race, religious freedom, and patriotism.

Before Columbus, the Americas were populated by many indigenous cultures, with a great diversity of religions. After 1492, European governments and churches dominated religious life. While Roman Catholicism was the official religion, great religious hybridization occurred, mixing European, indigenous, and often African traditions into distinctly New World forms. Latin American Religions provides an introduction through documents to the historical development and contemporary expressions of religious life in South and Central America, Mexico, and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. A central feature of this text is its inclusion of both primary and secondary materials, including letters, sermons, journal entries, ritual manuals, and ancient sacred texts. These documents provide readers with direct access to the voices of adherents, enabling them to act as academic investigators, experiencing and interpreting the same texts on which historians draw. The documents are framed by substantive introductions which provide both historical context and theoretical insights for the study of these religions traditions and the ways in which they have developed over time. From the religious traditions of the Mayas and Aztecs and of the African diaspora, to official and popular Catholicism, to liberation theology, the rise of Pentecostalism, and emerging trends and new religious movements in Latin America, this new work offers a concise overview of this fascinating field.

Redraws old definitions of what it means to be religious and Asian American.