History of Religion in America
SPARK membership is required for all tours, classes and clubs
June 5 – 26 |10 am–Noon
In Person or Online – $40
This is the 3rd and final course in the series on Religion in America. After briefly reviewing the issues covered in the first two courses, we’ll discuss the important changes (and consistencies!) in American religion following the Civil War, including Black churches, the “social gospel,” the dynamic evangelicalism of the 20th Century, religious nationalism and the use of religion in politics.
Religious beliefs have been a hallmark of every nation, tribe, or other political entity on the face of the Earth since humans began communicating with each other.
America is no exception to this general rule. It seems, then, that in order to understand American history and culture we must consider the history—and present characteristics and influences—of American religious faiths. This course will attempt to look objectively at this history, as did the first two courses in this series.
This is the third and final course in our series on religion in America. After a brief review of the events, trends, and people covered in the first two courses, we’ll pick up with the late 19th Century, including the continuing importance of Protestant Evangelicalism (such as stars like Billy Sunday), the rise of the Social Gospel movement in reaction to the dreadful conditions of industrialization, the increasing role of Roman Catholicism and the increasing number of Jews in the US. Then in the 20th and 21st Centuries, with radio, film and then television and the internet, came Protestant evangelists such as Aimee Semple McPherson, and eventually Billy Graham—and the novel Elmer Gantry, the most successful parody of evangelists ever produced. We will look at the famous Scopes “Monkey” trial, the migration of evangelistic Protestantism to California, the continuing relevance of anti-Catholicism, the “Gospel of Prosperity,” 20th Century Judaism, the revolutionary Papacy of John XXIII, Black religion, and the appearance of new faiths with new immigrants.
And what about today? What about religious nationalism? What about Israel? What about Muslims? What about the faiths of America’s multiple Indigenous tribes?
I will encourage open classroom discussion on all the many issues raised. After all, that’s how we learn! We will also read a short story by Flannery O’Connor.
Alan Perry – Washington University, St. Louis, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand, UMKC Adjunct Professor of History
