Undergraduate text chronologically surveys the development of religion in the US from colonial beginnings to the present day, focusing on individual religious traditions as they have developed in the context of each other and the broader American culture. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

America's Religions: Traditions and Cultures

Religion & Spirituality

Williams, Peter W.

Religious Studies

Macmillan Coll Div

Houses of God is a fascinating look at how Americans shape their places of worship into multifaceted reflections of their culture, beliefs, and times. Peter Williams divides the nation into seven distinctive regions - New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, the South, the Old Northwest, the Great Plains and Mountains, the Spanish Borderlands, and the Pacific Rim - and traces the historical development of and geographic influences on religious building in each. Beautifully illustrated with over 100 photographs - some by extremely well known photographers such as Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange - this handsome book is the first to provide a broad survey of American religious architecture. It is a deeply interdisciplinary study in which Williams examines the influences of immigration and internal population movements; landscape and stylistic changes in architecture; and "secular, " liturgical, and theological influences. Accessible to the general reader as well as to the scholar, this volume will be welcomed by students of American social history, religion, and American studies, as well as by travelers and those who find religious architecture fascinating.

Houses of God: Region, Religion, and Architecture in the United States (Public Expressions of Religion in America)

University of Illinois Press

America's Religions: From Their Origins to the Twenty-first Century

I repeat, "The BEST, most thorough, one-volume history of religion in America."

History

Americas

In this comprehensive survey, Williams offers concise descriptions of the background, beliefs, practices, and leaders of America's most influential and distinctive religious movements and denominations. Thoroughly revised and updated, this third edition of America's Religions incorporates the latest scholarship on religion and considers timely issues such as status of Muslims in the United States after September 11, 2001; the impact of religion on American politics, especially concerning the emergence of the Religious Right; and the intense battles fought within the Catholic Church and other denominations over the status of gay marriage and accusations of clergy members' sexual abuse. This edition also includes thirty-eight new illustrations of key persons in American religious history and notable places of worship.

A classroom perennial and comprehensive guide, America's Religions lays out the background, beliefs, practices, and leaders of the nation's religious movements and denominations. The fourth edition, thoroughly revised and updated by Peter W. Williams, draws on the latest scholarship. In addition to reconsidering the history of America's mainline faiths, it delves into contemporary issues like religion's impact on politics and commerce; the increasingly high profile of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam; Mormonism's entry into the mainstream; and battles over gay marriage and ordination.

"Williams provides a thought-provoking overview of popular religion in America that will intrigue specialist and student alike. . . . He has both answered many questions and raised important new ones on the nature and development of American popular religion." -- Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion "Pioneering. . . . I for one am glad he combined scholarship and chutzpah for this modestly immodest first word." -- Catholic Historical Review

Popular Religion in America: Symbolic Change and the Modernization Process in Historical Perspective

A one-volume history of religion in America.

World

In a review in the Journal of Religion, the famed Martin Marty characterized Peter Williams as "a productive wonder" and America's Religions: Traditions and Cultures as "a rich resource for readers who would like a 'state of the art' comment on the abundant religious phenomena which surround them".
Writing in Religion and American Culture, Stephen J. Stein said the book is "not a story of religion in isolation from the rest of American life", but a work that has as a major emphasis the theme of Americanization, of the symbiotic relationship between religions and cultures.
Williams's book widely considered the best of its kind, is a comprehensive introduction to the religious history of the United States and the traditions out of which it arose, from colonial times through the late twentieth century. Now including an updated bibliography, it presents descriptions of major religious traditions and introduces distinctive American innovations. Included are not only Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, but African American, Native American, and Asian American traditions. The peace churches, "liberal" churches, and Mormonism also are discussed.

AMERICA'S RELIGIONS: Traditions and Cultures

Houses of God is the first broad survey of American religious architecture, a cultural cross-country expedition that will benefit travelers as much as scholars. Beautifully illustrated with over 100 photographs — some by well-known photographers such as Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange — this handsome book provides a highly accessible look at how Americans shape their places of worship into multifaceted reflections of their culture, beliefs, and times.

Houses of God: Region, Religion, and Architecture in the United States (Public Express Religion America)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Williams, Peter W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Williams, Peter W.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Williams, Peter W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

America's Religions: Traditions and Cultures

Houses of God: Region, Religion, and Architecture in the United States (Public Expressions of Religion in America)

America's Religions: From Their Origins to the Twenty-first Century

America's Religions: From Their Origins to the Twenty-first Century

America's Religions: From Their Origins to the Twenty-first Century

Popular Religion in America: Symbolic Change and the Modernization Process in Historical Perspective

America's Religions: From Their Origins to the Twenty-first Century

AMERICA'S RELIGIONS: Traditions and Cultures

Houses of God: Region, Religion, and Architecture in the United States (Public Express Religion America)

America's Religions: From Their Origins to the Twenty-first Century