Description

“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.”
-Abraham Lincoln

“The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, it is impossible to have them conceive of one without the other.”
-Alexis de Tocqueville

The Reconstruction years, the Gilded Age and the rise of corporations, the Progressive Era and the waves of immigration all yielded decisive moments that led to reformulation of older beliefs and introduction of some distinctly new ones. The disillusionment of the Great War, the Depression, World War II and the dawning of America as a Superpower challenged traditional values and religious expressions. The Civil Rights Era, Cold War tensions, inter-religious movements, ’60s cataclysms, the “Moral Majority” and 9/11 all set the stage for the last 15 years–which have seen religious history evolve into the era of the “nones.”

With PowerPoint, videos and opportunity to discuss today’s complex religious phenomena, this course will bring us to the present in appreciating American religious expression.
“The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, it is impossible to have them conceive of one without the other.”
-Alexis de Tocqueville

The Reconstruction years, the Gilded Age and the rise of corporations, the Progressive Era and the waves of immigration all yielded decisive moments that led to reformulation of older beliefs and introduction of some distinctly new ones. The disillusionment of the Great War, the Depression, World War II and the dawning of America as a Superpower challenged traditional values and religious expressions. The Civil Rights Era, Cold War tensions, inter-religious movements, ’60s cataclysms, the “Moral Majority” and 9/11 all set the stage for the last 15 years–which have seen religious history evolve into the era of the “nones.”

With PowerPoint, videos and opportunity to discuss today’s complex religious phenomena, this course will bring us to the present in appreciating American religious expression.