Vernacular Religion - (North American Religions) by Deborah Dash Moore (Paperback)

About the Book

"This book reveals contemporary vernacular religion expressed in gay Catholic spirituality, Father Divine's International Peace Mission movement, and material culture"--

Book Synopsis

Finalist, Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion, Analytical-Descriptive Studies, given by the American Academy of Religion

A comprehensive collection of the pioneering work of Leonard Norman Primiano, one of the preeminent scholars in religious studies

In 1995, Leonard Norman Primiano introduced the idea of "vernacular religion." He coined this term to overcome the denigration implied in the concept of "folk religion" or "popular religion," which was juxtaposed to "elite religion." This two-tiered model suggested that religion existed somewhere in a pure form and that the folk version transforms it. Instead, Primiano urged scholars to adopt an inductive approach to the study of religion and to pay attention to experiential aspects of belief systems, ultimately redressing a heritage of scholarly misinterpretation.

Here for the first time, Leonard Norman Primiano's pioneering works have been collected into one volume, providing a foundational look at one of the preeminent scholars of twentieth-century religious studies. Vernacular Religion makes visible the dimensions of vernacular religion in North America, exemplifying the richness of its ability to explain key facets of American society, including especially thorny issues around race and sexuality. The volume also demonstrates a method of abiding engagement, the creation of ongoing relationships with those who are studied, and how the relationship between scholars and the communities they study inform an ethics of critical commitment--what Primiano calls an "ethnography of collaboration and reciprocity."

This posthumous collection, edited by Deborah Dash Moore, brings together key studies in vernacular religion that explore its expression among such varied groups as Catholics, LGBTQ Christians, and the followers of Father Divine. Vernacular Religion models empathetic ethnographic engagement that embraces American religion in all its rich diversity, illuminating Primiano's enduring legacy.

Review Quotes

"Vernacular Religion should be obtained by all university libraries that collect in these areas, especially as several of its essays will prove ideal readings for undergraduate and master's students."-- "Reading Religion"

"A superb tool for honing thoughts and theories ... It is wonderful to have these excellent papers bound together in a single volume. Students and scholars of folklore and religious studies owe a debt of gratitude to the editor and colleagues who brought this volume to press, and to the author who originated it."-- "American Folklore"

"A joyously rich collection for anyone intrigued by the fullness of religious experience, devotion, and the objects that make the sacred, tangible."-- "Material Religion"

"Reading this work, I feel nothing so much as grateful that someone had the idea to do this 'collected works' project. . . . Primiano's study of Dignity is the best work on Dignity. His study of the Peace Mission is the best work on Father Divine. . . . This volume not only collects important essays, but also reflects to the field more of itself, a part that has been missing or under-told to this point."--Julie Byrne, Monsignor Thomas J. Hartman Chair in Catholic Studies and Professor in the Department of Religion, Hofstra University

"The collection is compelling, with rich ethnographic details, and represents a major contribution to the field as a body of work."--Jodi Eichler-Levine, Berman Professor of Jewish Civilization and Professor of Religion Studies, Lehigh University

"This impressive volume persuasively recommends and gorgeously exemplifies a nuanced courageous scholarship of human engagement and commitment."--Sally M. Promey, Director, Center for the Study of Material and Visual Cultures of Religion, Yale University

About the Author

Deborah Dash Moore (Editor)
Deborah Dash Moore is Frederick G. L. Huetwell Professor of History and Professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. She is the author and editor of a number of books, including Vernacular Religion: Collected Essays of Leonard Norman Primiano (NYU, 2022), Jewish New York: The Remarkable Story of A City and A People (NYU, 2020), City of Promises: A History of the Jews of New York (NYU, 2012), and GI Jews: How World War II Changed a Generation (Harvard, 2006).

Judith Weisenfeld (Foreword by)
Judith Weisenfeld is the Agate Brown and George L. Collord Professor of Religion at Princeton University and the Co-Director of The Crossroads Project: Black Religious Histories, Cultures, and Communities, which is funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. She is the author of New World A-Coming: Black Religion and Racial Identity during the Great Migration, Hollywood Be Thy Name: African American Religion in American Film, 1905- 1945, and African American Women and Christian Activism: New York's Black YWCA, 1905-1945.