HIST060

Description

Section information text: The United States is one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world. It is also one of the most Christian. While church membership continues to decline in Western Europe - the home of Christian culture - American Christianity shows no sign of giving way to the temptations of secular society and the critical inroads of unbelief. The powerful notion of a "Christian America," informed by biblical ethics and inspired by the promise of divine redemption, sits uneasily with the ideal of social pluralism and cultural modernism that characterizes the American way of life and the historical experience of many Americans. This course undertakes to explore this contradiction. Looking at the development of American Christianity from a variety of different theological, institutional and devotional perspectives, we will examine the political and cultural challenges faced by American-Christian believers and the challenges that the power of their faith continues to present to the values of their non-Christian neighbors.