The Cursillo Movement in America - by Kristy Nabhan-Warren (Paperback)

About the Book

"The internationally growing Cursillo movement, or "short course in Christianity," founded in 1944 by Spanish Catholic lay practitioners, has become popular among American Catholics and Protestants alike. This lay-led weekend experience helps participants recommit to and live their faith. Emphasizing how American Christians have privileged the individual religious experience and downplayed denominational and theological differences in favor of a common identity as renewed people of faith, Kristy Nabhan-Warren focuses on cursillistas--those who have completed a Cursillo weekend--to show how their experiences are a touchstone for understanding these trends in post-1960s American Christianity"--

Book Synopsis

The internationally growing Cursillo movement, or "short course in Christianity," founded in 1944 by Spanish Catholic lay practitioners, has become popular among American Catholics and Protestants alike. This lay-led weekend experience helps participants recommit to and live their faith. Emphasizing how American Christians have privileged the individual religious experience and downplayed denominational and theological differences in favor of a common identity as renewed people of faith, Kristy Nabhan-Warren focuses on cursillistas -- those who have completed a Cursillo weekend -- to show how their experiences are a touchstone for understanding these trends in post-1960s American Christianity.
Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork as well as historical research, Nabhan-Warren shows the importance of Latino Catholics in the spread of the Cursillo movement. Cursillistas' stories, she argues, guide us toward a new understanding of contemporary Christian identities, inside and outside U.S. borders, and of the importance of globalizing American religious boundaries.

Review Quotes

"Nabhan-Warren has written an important chapter in the movement's history and has provided a good example of how and why it migrated and developed in the United States."--Journal of American History

"An important study. Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty; general readers." -- CHOICE

"Challenges scholars of American religions to think across national and denominational boundaries." -- BeforeItsNews.com

"Nabhan-Warren's history of the Cursillo movement is a ground-breaking work and fills a void in American religious history." -- America: The National Catholic Weekly

About the Author

Kristy Nabhan-Warren is professor and V. O. and Elizabeth Kahl Figge Chair of Catholic Studies in the departments of religious studies and of gender, women's, and sexuality studies at the University of Iowa. She is the author, most recently, of The Cursillo Movement in America: Catholics Protestants, and Fourth-Day Spirituality.