Description
This course examines the historical development of Christian traditions in the United States of America, from the beginnings of the European settlement of North America to the present. It will survey how the interaction with a new world and new social and political forms caused a dramatic reinvention of Christianity in the United States, and the various dynamics of its continuing development. From weak attempts to transplant European state-church Christianity, this tradition has embraced the pluralistic and voluntary milieu of America, resulting in a dynamic and dizzying multiplicity of Christian forms and traditions, including the invention of many new ones. The course will explore how Christianity created a new culture in the United States, and how it has struggled to find its way within that new culture, especially as continuing immigration has brought new forms of Christianity and other religious traditions to this country.