American Religious Experience - by Lynn Bridgers (Paperback)

About the Book

The American Religious Experience is an accessible and unique rendition of American religious history. Focusing on Christianity in America, it also integrates the inter-religious, inter-denominational and multi-cultural dimensions of American religious history. The book unfold...

Book Synopsis

The American Religious Experience is an accessible and unique rendition of American religious history. Focusing on Christianity in America, it also integrates the inter-religious, inter-denominational and multi-cultural dimensions of American religious history. The book unfolds consistent tensions between dominant streams of American Christianity and groups relegated to the periphery - groups with roots in visionary traditions, emotionalized religious practice, or ethnic and racial perspectives.

Review Quotes

Engaging, readable survey of the American religious landscape, mapping of its major movements, and detailing of the multicultural religious free-for-all that has produced today's complexities, apt for classroom or general interest.

Imagine a history of religion in the United States which is both comprehensive and inclusive without being superficial, which is clear and readable without sacrificing historical scholarship and without 'dumbing down!' This is Lynn Bridger's The American Religious Experience. It is a stunning achievement!

Lynn Bridgers has produced a beautifully written and wonderfully inclusive study of America's multiple religious traditions in both their diverse origins and complex development. Always fair and judicious, this first-rate work will be of particular benefit as a supplementary text for college and advanced secondary students. The author's sensitivity to theological nuance and denominational difference is particularly impressive. This book deserves a wide readership.

Provides much life and color to the 'American religious landscape, ' to use one of the author's favorite phrases. Students will find much here to inform and entertain them.

About the Author

Lynn Bridgers is assistant professor of pastoral ministries and religious education at St. Thomas University in Miami and is author of Contemporary Varieties of Religious Experience.