The story of Christianity in America is a fascinating one, marked by constant change, development, and innovation. The faith has shaped the country, even as the country has shaped it. Award-winning historian Mark Granquist has written an up-to-date telling of this story from the arrival of Europeans to the present day. While the twists and turns are complex, varied, and at times confusing, Granquist has identified several consistent threads that weave their way through the various branches...

In the five hundred years since the publication of Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses, a rich set of traditions have grown up around that action and the subsequent events of the Reformation. This up-to-date dictionary by leading theologians and church historians covers Luther's life and thought, key figures of his time, and the various traditions he continues to influence.Prominent scholars of the history of Lutheran traditions have brought together experts in church history...

An authoritative history of the vital role of secularist thinkers and activists in the United States, from a writer of "fierce intelligence and nimble, unfettered imagination" ( The New York Times)At a time when the separation of church and state is under attack as never before, Freethinkers offers a powerful defense of the secularist heritage that gave Americans the first government in the world founded not on the authority of religion but on the bedrock o...

On the 500th anniversary of Luther’s theses, a landmark history of the revolutionary faith that shaped the modern world."Ryrie writes that his aim 'is to persuade you that we cannot understand the modern age without understanding the dynamic history of Protestant Christianity.' To which I reply: Mission accomplished."–Jon Meacham, author of American Lion and Thomas JeffersonFive hundred years ago a stubborn German m...

In this timely, carefully reasoned social history of the United States, the New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy and God Is Not One places today’s heated culture wars within the context of a centuries-long struggle of right versus left and religious versus secular to reveal how, ultimately, liberals always win.Though they may seem to be dividing the country irreparably, today’s heated cultural and political battles betw...

"A comprehensive, graceful narrative that truly represents the pluralism, momentum, and vitality of American religious life." —Amanda Porterfield, Florida State University, author of Conceived in DoubtIn this landmark work, award-winning Princeton historian Leigh Schmidt teams up with Edwin Gaustad—a scholar "in the front rank of American religious historians" ( The New York Times)—to produce a fully revised, updated, and expanded version of a mode...

“People who take God seriously will not remain silent about their faith. They will often disagree about doctrine or policy, but they won’t be quiet. They can’t be. They’ll act on what they believe, sometimes at the cost of their reputations and careers. Obviously the common good demands a respect for other people with different beliefs and a willingness to compromise whenever possible. But for Catholics, the common good can never mean muting themselves in public debate on foundational issu...

"Witham's highly readable history of the American sermon strongly bolsters the contention that words change minds and alter the course of events." — BooklistPivotal moments in U.S. history are indelibly marked by the sermons of the nation's greatest orators . From colonial times to the present, the sermon has motivated Americans to fight wars as well as fight for peace. Sermons have provoked the mob mentality of witch hunts and blacklists, but they...

"[A] compelling study of the most essential breakthrough of modernity: the right to believe, or not, as one wishes. A great book about a monumental issue." —Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning authorSacred Liberty offers a dramatic, sweeping survey of how America built a unique model of religious freedom, perhaps the nation's "greatest invention." Steven Waldman, the bestselling author of Founding Faith, shows how early ideas about religious libert...

A Timely Exploration of the Profound Conflict Between Religion and Politics in AmericaEven before George W. Bush gained reelection by wooing religiously devout "values voters," it was clear that the relationship between church and state in the United States had reached a crisis point. In Divided by God, Noah Feldman shows that this crisis is as old as the nation itself—and offers a compelling look at how it might be resolved.In today's religiously ...

Mark A. Noll presents a fresh and accessible history of Protestantism from the era of Martin Luther to the present day. Beginning with the founding of Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, and Anabaptist churches in the sixteenth-century Reformation, he also considers the rise of other important Christian movements like Methodism and Pentecostalism. Focussing on worldwide developments, rather than just the familiar European and American histories, he considers the recent expansion of Protestant mo...

This in-depth study examines the social structures and religious beliefs that helped shape Southern history from colonization to the twenty-first century.The history of race and religion in the American South is infused with tragedy, survival, resistance, and even transcendence. In Christianity and Race in the American South, Paul Harvey provides an enlightening narrative history that fundamentally transforms our understanding of American Christianity and r...