Religion and US Empire
Critical New Histories
Tisa Wenger editor Sylvester A Johnson editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:New York University Press
Published:23rd Aug '22
Should be back in stock very soon
Shows how American forms of religion and empire developed in tandem, shaping and reshaping each other over the course of American history
The United States has been an empire since the time of its founding, and this empire is inextricably intertwined with American religion. Religion and US Empire examines the relationship between these dynamic forces throughout the country’s history and into the present. The volume will serve as the most comprehensive and definitive text on the relationship between US empire and American religion.
Whereas other works describe religion as a force that aided or motivated American imperialism, this comprehensive new history reveals how imperialism shaped American religion—and how religion historically structured, enabled, challenged, and resisted US imperialism. Chapters move chronologically from the eighteenth century to the twenty-first, ranging geographically from the Caribbean, Michigan, and Liberia, to Oklahoma, Hawai’i, and the Philippines. Rather than situating these histories safely in the past, the final chapters ask readers to consider present day entanglements between capitalism, imperialism, and American religion. Religion and US Empire is an urgent work of history, offering the context behind a relationship that is, for better or worse, very much alive today.
"Impressively crafted and imaginatively structured, this is a cutting-edge collection of essays on the entwining of American religion and empire. From Katharine Gerbner’s work on eighteenth-century legal codes regulating slave religion and suppressing slave rebellion through Lucia Hulsether’s consideration of the ongoing commodification of late-capitalist dissent, the collection’s offerings are rich, far ranging, and provocative." -- Leigh Eric Schmidt, Edward C. Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor, Washington University in Saint Louis
"An excellent volume that includes some of the very best scholars in the field of American religions. Each chapter addresses a different aspect of religion and empire, whose groundbreaking connections and contestation form an invaluable contribution to the field." -- Chad Seales, Brian F. Bolton Distinguished Professor in Secular Studies, the University of Texas at Austin
"This anthology is the opening salvo to how we could rethink the role of religion in American diplomatic history. The gap has been bridged between American foreign relations history and religion; we are now on the other side. Religion and US Empire charts a way forward in what is increasingly becoming an important field of American history." * H-Net Reviews *
"This volume provides a fresh historical-critical account of how religion structured, enabled, and challenged U.S. imperialism, serving as an important read for scholars of American religious history." * Journal of Presbyterian History *
ISBN: 9781479810390
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 567g
384 pages