Religion in America

by John Corrigan, Winthrop Still Hudson

This comprehensive narrative account of religion in America from 1607 through the present depicts the religious life of the American people within the context of American society. It addresses topics ranging from the European/Puritan origins of American religious thought, encompassing the ramifications of the "Great Awakening" and the effect of nationhood on religious practice, and extending through to the shifting religious configuration of the late 20th century. For anyone interested in the history of religion in America.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction

482 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2003

About the author

John Corrigan is the Lucius Moody Bristol Distinguished Professor of Religion and Professor of History at Florida State University. He is author or editor of several books, including The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Emotion.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

I understand that textbooks by necessity are not going to be able to dive into the weeds and provide all of the details or anecdotes that make history such a fascinating enterprise. That said, it's almost as if Corrigan and Hudson didn't even try with this one.

More accurately, I suspect what happened is that this book, having been first written in the 1970s, has simply suffered from the accretions of revisions made over eight editions by three historians, two of whom are now dead.

Even acknowledging those two understandable limitations — the type of book it is and the difficulty in keeping it updated without introducing redundancies and awkwardness — "Religion in America" suffers from too many problems to ignore. Here are two:

1. It's really a textbook about Christianity in America, with pre-Christian native religions getting a few pages at the beginning and prominent non-Christian religions such as Islam and Buddhism each crammed into the final chapter.
2. It's been updated seven times, including in 2009, yet here are the last dates referenced for key data (such as number of adherents): Islam, 1996; Native American religions, 1994; Mormonism, 1985; Seventh-Day Adventists, 1979; Jehovah's Witnesses, 1985. That's all from the final chapter, which is an incoherent mess of an attempt to dump the majority of the recent updates, thus we have similar 20- to 30-year-old information on Protestant denominations elsewhere in the book, as well. Nearly two pages are devoted to the Nation of Islam, which was a big deal 20 years ago, but a single sentence informs us it is in fact outside the mainstream Islamic community in America.

I learned more about religion in 19th-century America by reading Daniel Walker Howe's "What Hath God Wrought" — which covers only 30 years of the century and isn't intended to focus only on religion — than I did by reading this actual textbook about religion in America. Therefore, I give this book two stars, keeping it above one star because it at least isn't inaccurate in the history it does present (looking at you, William Manchester); it just presents that history poorly.

[Dan Gorman · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are many fine chapters in here, particularly on Catholicism and nineteenth-century religious movements, but the introduction — the roadmap for the book — is flawed. On the one hand, John Corrigan (revising Winthrop Hudson's old chestnut of a textbook) wants to highlight diversity, religious pluralism, and cultural exchange in American religious history. These themes have been paramount since Thomas Tweed laid down his argument in favor of them (see: "Retelling U.S. Religious History," 1997). On the other hand, Corrigan still defines Protestantism as the central part of American religious history, a claim that has been soundly challenged by revisionist histories published since 1980. I think Corrigan wants to have it both ways, similar to how Mark Noll defends the study of American "church history" in isolation from new religious history, even though he admits the value of new books that aren't about Protestants. In my view, you can't have it both ways. You can't reiterate the same line about Protestantism being the most important tradition in American history (which is not the same thing as acknowledging that Protestants have had large demographics for much of American history).

[Duane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting history book.

[Scott Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Discovered Corrigan through his piece in The First Prejudice.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple, yet prolific, textbook on Religion in America - Corrigan's eighth edition is a wonderfully updated survey of the religious progression, evolution, and adaptation in the United States from Pre-Colonial times (the First Great Awakening, etc) to the modern era. The text itself is neatly divided, and the entire survey is in chronological order. This book was a delight to read, and should be recommended by any student wanting to understand the religious progression in America throughout it's two-hundred and fifty years as a nation.

Brent M. McCulley (10/17/13)

[Jess Carr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really looking forward to juxtaposing this with Corrigan and Porterfield's forthcoming text on American religion.

[Joel Curtiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find this book to be very informative, inspiring, and challenging.