A concluding chapter examines the significance of the corpus of Catholic American writing in the years 1940 to 1980, considering it parallel in substance to the body of Jewish American literature of the same period.

"Greeley has written a lively, controversial and stimulating book in which he describes a Catholic imagination which is different from (not better or worse than) a Protestant imagination. Going beyond his own position, I believe Protestants have much to learn not just about the Catholic imagination but from it as he describes it."—Robert Bellah, coauthor of Habits of the Heart "Andrew Greeley is the most vivid sociological writer of our time. By studying artists and artisans directly, he brings David Tracy's theory of religious imagination to life. The survey data show that ordinary people have imaginations too, and that the lay person's imagination is also framed by religious tradition. This book is a tour de force."—Michael Hout, University of California, Berkeley

This redesigned, re-edited, illustrated new edition of the classic study "Postmodern Heretics: The Catholic Imagination in Contemporary Art" challenges conventional wisdom about the relationship of contemporary art and religion. It explores the Catholic roots of controversial artists and the impact of Catholicism on the 1990s Culture Wars.

O'Gorman presents a study of the role of Catholicism in American Gothic literature, exploring its influence as a religion without a country and its ability to permeate borders and American traditions.

Longing for an Absent God unveils the powerful role of faith and doubt in the American literary tradition. Nick Ripatrazone explores how two major strands of Catholic writers--practicing and cultural--intertwine and sustain each other. Ripatrazone explores the writings of devout American Catholic writers in the years before the Second Vatican Council through the work of Flannery O'Connor, J. F. Powers, and Walker Percy; those who were raised Catholic but drifted from the church, such as the Catholic-educated Don DeLillo and Cormac McCarthy, the convert Toni Morrison, the Mass-going Thomas Pynchon, and the ritual-driven Louise Erdrich; and a new crop of faithful American Catholic writers, including Ron Hansen, Phil Klay, and Alice McDermott, who write Catholic stories for our contemporary world. These critically acclaimed and award-winning voices illustrate that Catholic storytelling is innately powerful and appealing to both secular and religious audiences. Longing for an Absent God demonstrates the profound differences in the storytelling styles and results of these two groups of major writers--but ultimately shows how, taken together, they offer a rich and unique American literary tradition that spans the full spectrum of doubt and faith.

Michael P. Carroll argues that the academic study of religion in the United States continues to be shaped by a "Protestant imagination" that has warped our perception of the American religious experience and its written history and analysis. In this provocative study, Carroll explores a number of historiographical puzzles that emerge from the American Catholic story as it has been understood through the Protestant tradition. Reexamining the experience of Catholicism among Irish immigrants, Italian Americans, Acadians and Cajuns, and Hispanics, Carroll debunks the myths that have informed much of this history. Shedding new light on lived religion in America, Carroll moves an entire academic field in new, exciting directions and challenges his fellow scholars to open their minds and eyes to develop fresh interpretations of American religious history.

"Greeley has written a lively, controversial and stimulating book in which he describes a Catholic imagination which is different from (not better or worse than) a Protestant imagination. Going beyond his own position, I believe Protestants have much to learn not just about the Catholic imagination but from it as he describes it."—Robert Bellah, coauthor of Habits of the Heart "Andrew Greeley is the most vivid sociological writer of our time. By studying artists and artisans directly, he brings David Tracy's theory of religious imagination to life. The survey data show that ordinary people have imaginations too, and that the lay person's imagination is also framed by religious tradition. This book is a tour de force."—Michael Hout, University of California, Berkeley