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Secularization and Religious Innovation in the North Atlantic World

Hugh McLeod editor David Hempton editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Published:18th May '17

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Secularization and Religious Innovation in the North Atlantic World cover

In the early twenty-first century it had become a cliché that there was a 'God Gap' between a more religious United States and a more secular Europe. The apparent religious differences between the United States and western Europe continue to be a focus of intense and sometimes bitter debate between three of the main schools in the sociology of religion. According to the influential 'Secularization Thesis', secularization has been an integral part of the processes of modernisation in the Western world since around 1800. For proponents of this thesis, the United States appears as an anomaly and they accordingly give considerable attention to explaining why it is different. For other sociologists, however, the apparently high level of religiosity in the USA provides a major argument in their attempts to refute the Thesis. Secularization and Religious Innovation in the Atlantic World provides a systematic comparison between the religious histories of the United States and western European countries from the eighteenth to the late twentieth century, noting parallels as well as divergences, examining their causes and especially highlighting change over time. This is achieved by a series of themes which seem especially relevant to this agenda, and in each case the theme is considered by two scholars. The volume examines whether American Christians have been more innovative, and if so how far this explains the apparent 'God Gap'. It goes beyond the simple American/European binary to ask what is 'American' or 'European' in the Christianity of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and in what ways national or regional differences outweigh these commonalities.

This book is of great value to those interested in secularization trends over the last two centuries, as well as those interested in sociological and cultural studies. * Sam Welbaum, Religious Studies Review *
The book is successful overall. College professors may find it helpful to pull out the most relevant pair of essays, rather than assign the entire book. The text is highly adaptable for teaching, and has much to offer in a variety of courses, not just those focusing on secularism. As both a useful teaching tool and a cohesive collection, the text offers much to the scholarship of secularism. * Jodie Ann Vann, Dickinson College, Nova Religio *
Secularization and Religious Innovation in the North Atlantic World is a well-articulated and internally diversified set of responses to questions of secularization that significantly enriches our knowledge and understanding of an issue that has different dimensionshistorical, theological, and political. * Massimo Faggioli, Reading Religion *

ISBN: 9780198798071

Dimensions: 240mm x 171mm x 33mm

Weight: 796g

422 pages