Resources - Religion and American Culture

“Spiritual But Not Religious”: Spirituality in America

Matthew S. Hedstrom
Author

University of Virginia
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2012
Date Published

What does “spiritual but not religious” mean, and why has it become such a pervasive self-description in contemporary America? This interdisciplinary course surveys spirituality in America, with a particular eye for the relationship between spirituality and formal religion, on the one hand, and secular modes of understanding the self, such as psychology, on the other. Along the way we’ll study everything from AA to yoga to Zen meditation, with stops in Christian rock, Beat poetry, Abstract Expressionist painting, spirit photography, the feminist movement, environmentalism, and recent film. The study of spirituality forces us to confront many of the central concerns of modern American life: psychology, self-help, and therapeutic culture; global religious and cultural encounters; gender and sexuality; and consumerism and mass culture. In the end, we’ll come to see spirituality in America as a complex intermingling of the great world religions, modern therapeutic psychology, the politics of movements for social change, and a crassly commercialized, billion-dollar culture industry. Is this the fate of religion in a modern, capitalist, globalized society?

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

A word of caution on the inauguration of Vice President Kamala Harris

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2021
Date Published

Dr. Kristina Horn Sheeler (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) discusses “A word of caution on the inauguration of Vice President Kamala Harris.” This clip was taken from “Religion &” Episode 3, December 17, 2020.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Advanced Topics in the Sociology of Religion

Wendy Cadge
Author

Brandeis University
Institution

2012
Date Published

This graduate level course introduces you to the tools and concepts central to the sociological study of religion in the United States. It is divided into three sections. In the first section, we discuss what the social scientific study of religion is by readings works by classic and neo-classic thinkers in light of several overviews of the field. The second section focuses on key issues important for anyone trying to understand religion in the United States. The final few weeks will focus on a few (of the many) topics you are interested in as a class. I will provide reading lists for the third section of the course shortly after the semester begins. Materials throughout the course are drawn from across theoretical and methodological approaches.

Class Type: Graduate Course

African American Religions

Julius Bailey
Author

University of Redlands
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2006
Date Published

This course offers an introduction to African American religions. The class moves chronologically, examining African religions in the Americas (Santeria, Candomble, and Vodou), cultural continuities between African and African-American religions, slave religion, and the development of independent African American churches. We will examine the rise of African American new religious movements such as Father Divine and the Nation of Islam, and the religious dimensions of the Civil Rights Movement. Moving through African-American religious history, we will consider topics such as slave resistance, gender and race, and emigration to Africa.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

African American Religious History

Alison Collis Greene
Author

Mississippi State University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2015
Date Published

African American Religious History is a new upper-level course in the History Department. This course provides an introduction to African American religious history from the colonial period to the present. The course textbook provides a broad overview of African American religious history, which provides a common base of knowledge for our discussions. The additional course readings, lectures, documentary viewings, and class discussion provide an opportunity to examine particular moments or movements in more depth. By the end of the course, students should have both a general knowledge of African American religious history and a more comprehensive knowledge of a few particularly rich moments and themes in that history.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

Afrofuturism and Black churches

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2021
Date Published

Dr. Joseph L. Tucker Edmonds (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) answers the question “How does Afrofuturism relate to Black churches?” This clip was taken from “Religion &” Episode 5, February 18, 2021.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Amanda Gorman & the 2021 U.S. Presidential Inauguration

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2021
Date Published

Dr. Raymond Haberski, Jr. (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) considers “Did Amanda Gorman give us something that the president could not give us?” This clip was taken from “Religion &” Episode 3, December 17, 2020.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

American Catholic History

Michael Pasquier
Author

Louisiana State University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2012
Date Published

This course provides an introduction to the historical experiences of Catholics in North America from the colonial period to the present. This course is not only an institutional history of the American Catholic Church, but also a study of popular manifestations of Catholicism which tries to uncover the diverse experiences of American Catholics in different places and times throughout the history of the United States. We will use a variety of primary and secondary sources to achieve these goals, including traditional monographs, novels, memoirs, films, papal documents, correspondences, essays, speeches, poetry, political writings, sermons, advertisements, liturgies, and works of art. Over the course of the semester we will learn about the major developments, persons, institutions, and ideas that shaped the experiences of Catholics at different moments in American history. We will also learn how to listen to and understand the voices of people from the past and the present, perspectives that are embedded in historical artifacts and available to us in the person of Catholic adherents today.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

American Christianities

Emily Clark
Author

Gonzaga University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2017
Date Published

Americans frequently debate on whether or not this is a Christian nation. Those same Americans have different understandings of what a “Christian nation” is. In America, it seems there is no one way to be Christian. From initial encounters and exchanges between European colonists and Native Americans to the serpent-handling churches in rural Appalachia, we will build a thematic and chronological framework for understanding the diversity of Christianities in American history and culture. Christianity has been a dominant force in American history, and it has been a very diverse force. During the course, we will investigate the powerful social, cultural, political, and intellectual role Christianity plays in our nation’s past.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

American Christianity

Diana Butler Bass
Author

Rhodes College
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

1996
Date Published

Course Goals and Objectives: 1.) Present a broad survey of the history of Christianity in the United States. 2.) Acquaint students with the contributions of the Christian tradition to American culture and the effects of American culture on Christian faith and practice. 3.) Assess the role and importance of traditionally marginalized peoples and religious traditions in American Christianity. 4.) Increase analytical and critical skills with primary and secondary sources and the ability to express those skills verbally and in writing. 5.) Understand the relevance of historical debates regarding God, nature and society to current religious, social and political issues.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

American Civil Religion

Julia M. Speller
Author

Chicago Theological Seminary
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

1999
Date Published

This course will examine the origins, structures and parameters of American Civil Religion and discuss its presence in and influence on American society and American religion. This study will focus on the speeches, addresses, sermons and essays of Benjamin Franklin, Lucretia Mott, Abraham Lincoln, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Frederick Douglass as they each responded to the issues of authority, freedom, justice and social transformation, and in so doing, reveals important aspects of this phenomenon on the issues of their time.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Graduate Course

American civil religion flattens intragroup difference

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2021
Date Published

Dr. Elaine Peña (The George Washington University) discusses how American civil religion flattens intragroup difference. This clip was taken from “Religion &” Episode 4, January 21, 2021.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

American Evangelicalism

Omri Elisha
Author

Queens College, City University of New York
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2015
Date Published

Evangelical Christianity is among the most powerful religious movements in the world today. Driven by the mandate to “bring new souls to Christ,” as well as the demands of born-again faith and biblical orthodoxy, evangelicals along with televangelists, revivalists, and missionaries, pursue a wide array of social, cultural, and even commercial enterprises, inspiring all manner of innovation, indoctrination, and controversy. This course takes a serious look at evangelicalism from an anthropological perspective. Covering topics such as revivalism, Biblicism, contemporary Christian media, missionization, and gender ideology, we will consider multiple dimensions of evangelicalism as lived religion, an explore its active role in shaping many of the key cultural movements, debates, and historical transformations that have defined secular modernity, from confessional notions of self and society to conflicts over religion and science and the separation of church and state. Our aim will be neither to evaluate nor justify evangelical Christianity but rather to better understand the depth and complexity of its global influence in the contemporary moment.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

American Gospels: Religion and American Literature

Danielle B. Sigler
Author

Austin College
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2004
Date Published

Traditionally, religion and American literature course shave examined expressions of religious faith and practice in American fiction using American religious history as an organizational tool. This course recognizes that the relationship between American literature and religion is complex and not merely representational. Thus, we will examine a variety of works that typify four different ways American writers have combined art and religion: rewriting sacred texts, writing works of fiction and non-fiction that have inspired new religions and new religious movements, writing fiction that examines issue of faith and the supernatural, and finally critiquing American religion through fiction.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

American Indian Religions

Sarah Dees
Author

Iowa State University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2019
Date Published

The purpose of this course is to teach students about histories, sources, ways of knowing, politics, and ethical considerations that are valuable when seeking to understand Native American religious traditions. The course explores historical and contemporary Native traditions in what is today the United States. We will draw on theories from Religious Studies and Indigenous Studies, and utilize a range of methods, including historical, anthropological, and cultural studies approaches. Lectures, readings, discussions, and assignments will help to illuminate features of Native American traditions and situate them within important historical and political contexts. The course covers Native North American religious diversity, history, and contemporary practices. We will consider a number of issues: ethics, politics, practice, popular culture, self-determination, cultural appropriation, land rights, relationality, and environmentalism. We will both try to gain a big-picture look at themes and issues that affect many practitioners while examining case studies from specific Native nations.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course, Seminar

American Jewish History and Culture

Lila Corwin Berman
Author

Pennsylvania State University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2006
Date Published

As one of the earliest non-Christian immigrant populations, American Jews have struggled to explain how they could nonetheless fit into American cultural, political and social life. At the same time, many Jews have been concerned with their own survival as a distinctive group, unwilling to cede those practices, behaviors or traits that designate them as a people apart from other Americans. The student of American-Jewish history must be attuned to the multiple ways that Jewishness has been defined: as a race, a religion, a nationality, and an ethnicity. In this course, far from choosing just one of these designations, we will explore Jewish life from many different angles. Topics to be considered include religious reform, immigrant experience, political activism, popular culture, and struggles over community authority and membership.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

American Preaching: Word, Performance, and Media

M. Cooper Harriss
Author

Indiana University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2017
Date Published

A provocation: There is no more significant historical influence on the development of American language and literature, political oratory, musical/entertainment style, and
the refinement of media and technology—all of which is to say “American culture”— than preachers and their preaching. This course begins with a brief historical overview of the diversity of American preaching and some primary cultural and theoretical concerns before tracing its contributions to presumably “secular” culture considered in three categories: word (literature, rhetoric, and authority), performance (music, oratory, symbolic action, embodiment, affect), and media (pamphlets, radio, television, Internet, and other technologies). In the process we’ll consider religious dimensions of cultural production, questions of authority and identity, phenomenologies of charisma and emotion, and the critical possibilities for theology, homiletics, and other confessional “data” within the study of religion and culture.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course, Graduate Course

The Association of Religion Data Archives
Author

Other
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

These timelines allow instructors or students to interactively explore the most significant events and people in the history of American religion. The ARDA has 9 different timelines that place historical people, events, and contexts into conversation with each other.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

American Religions

Karin E. Gedge
Author

West Chester University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

1999
Date Published

Students in this course will acquire a broad overview of American religions from pre-European contact to the present with an emphasis on continuity and change over time, the remarkable variety and intensity of voluntary religion, and the sources of both conflict and consensus within and between various traditions. Since this is an advanced level history course, students will be required to demonstrate not only knowledge of course content but also skills in note-taking, inquiry, research, analysis, synthesis, and historiography. No prior knowledge of American religions or religious history is required. However, a basic working knowledge of American political and social history is an asset. This is a very demanding course, but students will have the opportunity to to acquire interesting, valuable knowledge and skills they will be able to use and apply beyond this course.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

American Religions: In Search of the Promised Land

Tracy Neal Leavelle
Author

Creighton University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2006
Date Published

Religious communities and inspired individuals have through time discovered in America a seemingly ideal place to pursue their hopeful visions of purity, truth, and salvation. We will explore in this course the vibrant, contentious, and unfinished story of this ongoing search for the Promised Land. Together, we will examine the mutual influences of religion and American culture through studies of diverse religious communities with a particular emphasis on the intersection between religion and place. Specific issues for consideration include concepts of home and sacred space, religious dimensions of the conquest of America, religion and nature, the faith and practices of exile communities, and the influence of border culture on religion. Students will also participate in an ongoing project mapping Omaha religious landscapes. The project involves site visits, interviews, research in local historical material, and the use of advanced GPS and GIS technology.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

American Religious Communities

Jennifer Graber
Author

College of Wooster
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2011
Date Published

Religious life in the United States has been marked by an ongoing tension: the power sought, and sometimes obtained, by majority religious groups and the religious pluralism that marks the population and is protected by law. In this class, we will explore this tension through a historically organized survey of majority and minority religious communities. We begin with the continent’s original pluralism in its hundreds of Native American religious traditions. We then move to powerful varieties of Protestant Christianity as they interacted with smaller groups, including colonial-era Jews, upstart Mormons, African-American Christians, newly immigrated Catholics, and more recently arrived immigrants who practice Hinduism and Islam.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

American Religious Folklife

Leonard Norman Primiano
Author

Cabrini College
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

1999
Date Published

Folklife Studies refers to the scholarly discipline which cultivates a sensibility and an appreciation for the culture of everyday life in complex societies. Religious folklife means specific cultural creations that express religious attitudes and beliefs. This course in American religious folklife will examine the history and culture of religion in America with specific reference to Christian and Christian-based systems, as well as believers’ religious artifacts, art, craft, architecture, belief, customs, habits, foodways, costume, narrative, dance, song and other cultural expressions.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

Spencer Fluhman
Author

Brigham Young University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2009
Date Published

Student Learning Outcomes: Students who put forth the requisite time and effort (i.e., reading, writing, speaking, listening) will be able to (1) identify the historical origins, beliefs, and practices of major religious groups in the United States, (2) identify major events,trends, and transformations in the history of American religion, (3) critically examine historical documents related to the history of American religion, and (4) offer informed perspectives on the ways scholars have understood the history of American religion.

The Course: The course engages documents relating to religious people, practices, and ideas in the American past. Together, we tackle questions about religion in American life: how has religion shaped American culture? Been shaped by it? How has religious difference influenced social development in the United States? How have Americans understoodreligion’s place in the Republic?

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

American Religious History

Anne M. Blankenship
Author

Syllabus
Resource Type

2022
Date Published

Introduction to the basic issues in American history including the study of Puritans, immigration, church and state, revivalism, civil and military religion, apocalypticism, and new age religion.

We will dig beyond rituals and doctrine to discover the roles religion plays in the lives of Americans. Moving roughly chronologically, the class will give particular attention to race, immigration, and pluralism in American religion. We’ll wrestle over the meaning of religious liberty and different understandings of the separation of church and state. We will experiment with textual and visual analysis and ethnography to see what these methodological approaches offer us as scholars. Class periods will be filled with a mixture of discussion, short videos, group activities, lectures, and student presentations as we learn about new and old religious traditions in America.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

The Association of Religion Data Archives
Author

The Association of Religion Data Archives
Institution

Syllabus, Teaching Module, Assignment, Video, Class Readings List, Other
Resource Type

2022
Date Published

Social researchers must be careful to make sure that the measures they use are valid. That is, do the questions measure what we think they measure? Sometimes we assume that attitudes and behaviors are the same, but often they are not. This learning module will use data from the General Social Survey 2014 and 2021 to explore the differences between attitudes and behaviors.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Beliefs About Life and Death

Association of Religion Data Archives
Author

IUPUI
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

Learning modules allow you to interactively explore the best data and information sources on religion. This “Core Module” offers a broad overview of topics and provides detailed directions. This module will explore the various attitudes in the United States about life and death. This assignment was created by the Association of Religion Data Archives.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Berman Jewish DataBank Learning Module-Exploring Jewish Identity

Harriet Hartman
Author

Rowan University
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2014
Date Published

Professor Harriet Hartman of Rowan University has created a Learning Module which is designed to introduce students and scholars to the analysis of Jewish survey data in a relatively easy-to-use format, utilizing some of the local Jewish community study and national Jewish survey data which are available at the Berman Jewish DataBank.The module is a self-learning, self-directed activity which focuses on exploring Jewish identity (religious identity and ethnic identity). The module’s exercises invite thinking about Jewish identity and exploring ways in which Jewish identity is expressed. The activities within the Learning Module are designed to help users learn how to read survey data to understand and interpret Jewish identity, to help users explore some of the differences among Jewish persons with different denominational identifications (or none at all), and to compare findings in one Jewish community study to findings from other Jewish community studies.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Biography of Rev. Mudge (Presentation)

David Migliaccio
Author

Other
Resource Type

2022
Date Published

Class Type:

Black churches and the youth

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2021
Date Published

Dr. Melanie L. Harris (Texas Christian University) answers the question “What are your thoughts on Black churches and the youth?” This clip was taken from “Religion &” Episode 5, February 18, 2021.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Brummer: American Pictures of Heaven (Presentation)

Other
Resource Type

2022
Date Published

Class Type:

Buddhist American History and Culture (Anthropology)

Jonathan Arbuckle
Author

Ivy Tech
Institution

Teaching Module
Resource Type

2016
Date Published

IUPUI partnered with Ivy Tech Community College to introduce fifteen community college instructors to the religious traditions of Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist communities in greater Indianapolis. With support from NEH, “World Religions in Greater Indianapolis” utilized primary and secondary humanities texts and humanities experts at several local universities, supplemented by field trips and discussions with local practitioners, to explore these five world religions, their history and life in the United States, and their presence in and contributions to cultural life in the metropolitan area. The program resulted in the production of 150 course modules that incorporate knowledge about world religions into Ivy Tech’s core humanities curriculum.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Buddhist American History and Culture (Art History)

Courtland Blade
Author

Ivy Tech
Institution

Teaching Module
Resource Type

2016
Date Published

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Buddhist American History and Culture (Art History)

Joshua Phillippe
Author

Ivy Tech
Institution

Teaching Module
Resource Type

2017
Date Published

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Buddhist American History and Culture (Composition)

Rachel Barrett-Knight
Author

Ivy Tech
Institution

Teaching Module
Resource Type

2016
Date Published

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Jennifer Caplan
Author

Towson University
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2021
Date Published

This is a semester-long group project in which the class designs a religion, and then breaks into smaller sectarian groups to think about what brings people together and what pulls them apart.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

Capitalism and American Religion

Lincoln Mullen
Author

George Mason University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

The relationship between religion and capitalism has long occupied historians of the United States, and before them it concerned the people whom historians study. In this class, you will meet many people whose religion led them to interact with capitalism in unexpected and unusual ways. You will meet the Puritans whose work ethic supposedly created capitalism, but who insisted on resting on the Sabbath; Moravian missionaries who made converts and money; slaves, slaveowners, and abolitionists who all claimed the Bible when reckoning with the capitalist system of slavery; a Protestant writer who insisted that Jesus was a businessman, and Catholics who believed Jesus called them to a kind of socialism; African American preachers who marketed their recorded sermons; Jews who mass-manufactured matzah and created Yiddish socialism; an industrialist who wrote The Gospel of Wealth, and laborers who created churches for the working class; nineteenth-century consumers who turned gift-giving into a ritual, and twenty-first-century television personalities who turned consumption into therapy; Christians whose faith turned them into environmentalists, and Christians who drilled for crude oil; converts who thought religion required poverty, and Prosperity Gospelers who thought it promised wealth. You will read primary sources from American history, secondary works in American religious history, and excerpts from theorists of religion and capitalism. Through these readings and your own writing, you are invited to make sense of this perpetual historical puzzle.

Class Type: Graduate Course, Seminar

Chosen Peoples, Chosen Nation

Henry Goldschmidt
Author

Wesleyan University
Institution

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

Church and State in American History

Kathleen Flake
Author

Vanderbilt University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2004
Date Published

The objectives of this course are: to study the historical context of America’s contemporary debate over the proper relation of church and state; to analyze the seminal theories that have characterized historically the interpretation of the religion clauses of the constitution; and to become familiar with the uses of legal documents for historical research and theological reflection.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Graduate Course, Seminar

Clergy Satisfaction and Vocational Commitment

Association of Religion Data Archives
Author

IUPUI
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

Learning modules allow you to interactively explore the best data and information sources on religion. This “Core Module” offers a broad overview of topics and provides detailed directions. This module will focus on a variety of questions ranging from levels of commitment of religious leaders to how satisfied citizens are with their congregational leaders. This assignment was created by the Association of Religion Data Archives.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Communal Utopias in America

Matthew J. Grow
Author

University of Southern Indiana
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2011
Date Published

From one perspective, these communal religions seem marginal to the American story. They have typically existed at the fringe of society, attracted only a tiny minority of America’s population, and formed countercultures to the American mainstream. For most contemporary Americans, communalism conjures up images of Shaker historic communities, hippie communes, or the traces of communalism that remain in modern American material culture—Oneida silverware, Shaker furniture, and Amana appliances. Nevertheless, throughout American history, these groups have captivated, bemused, and infuriated the broader public. Their efforts have provoked deep controversy as they questioned some of the most fundamental ideals of society—private property, capitalism, republican government, traditional gender roles, mainstream clothing and diet mores, and monogamous marriages. This course will examine attempts to implement utopias and communal societies in the American past and present. We will pay particular attention to nearby New Harmony, the site of two utopian experiments in the early 1800s

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

Comparing Two Congregations

Elfriede Wedam
Author

Loyola University Chicago
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2013
Date Published

Please take two of your observations and compare and contrast them according to the following rubric:

1) Type of ritual (what specific elements)

2) Relationship between the sacred and the profane (what indicators symbolize the difference)

3) One of the following sociological concepts:

a. Social class

b. Gender

c. Race/ethnicity

4) Conclude with one paragraph in which you explain what observing religious practices has taught you about religion in society.This paper should be approximately 3 – 4 pages.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

Congregations’ Social and Community Engagement

Association of Religion Data Archives
Author

IUPUI
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

Learning modules allow you to interactively explore the best data and information sources on religion. This “Core Module” offers a broad overview of topics and provides detailed directions. This module will explore how congregations extend their mission beyond worship within their communities. This assignment was created by the Association of Religion Data Archives.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Contemporary Cults and New Religious Movements (NRMs) in North America

David Bromley
Author

Virginia Commonwealth University
Institution

2007
Date Published

America is the most religiously diverse nation in the world. There are more than 2,500 separate religious organizations in the U.S., and the number of groups has increased steadily through our history. This is an introductory course in contemporary religious movements in North America. The focus of the course is on groups that emerged during the last half of the twentieth century, New Religious Movements (NRMs). The overall objective of the course is to examine the diversity of these movements and to make sense of them from a sociological perspective. This project involves understanding how these movements are distinctive, what gives rise to them, how they differ from one another, and how they develop through their histories.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

Contemporary Memoirs of African American Religion Syllabus

Vaughn Booker
Author

Dartmouth College
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2019
Date Published

This course presents African Americans who have created religious and spiritual lives amid the variety of possibilities for religious belonging in the second half of the twentieth century and the early twenty-first century. By engaging an emerging canon of autobiographies, we will take seriously the writings of theologians, religious laity, spiritual gurus, hip hop philosophers, LGBT clergy, religious minorities, and scholars of religion as foundational for considering contemporary religious authority through popular and/or institutional forms of African American religious leadership. Themes of spiritual formation and religious belonging as a process— healing, self-making, writing, growing up, renouncing, dreaming, and liberating—characterize the religious journeys of the African American writers, thinkers, and leaders whose works we will examine. Each weekly session will also incorporate relevant audiovisual religious media, including online exhibits, documentary films, recorded sermons, tv series, performance art, and music. 0

Class Type: Intro, Seminar

COVID-19 and an Epidemic of Loneliness

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

Dr. Richard Gunderman (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) answers the question “How are religious communities dealing with an epidemic of loneliness?” This clip was taken from “Religion &” Episode 3, December 17, 2020.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2021
Date Published

Dr. Caleb Elfenbein (Grinnell College) answers the question “How do teachers deal with vulnerability while also addressing emotional exhaustion?” This clip was taken from “Religion &” Episode 8, May 20, 2021.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Defining Religion in America

Tisa Wenger
Author

Yale Divinity School
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2009
Date Published

This course examines how and in whose interests American concepts of and about “religion” have been produced. What cultural sites (the courts, the media, schools, the academy) are most influential in producing ideas about religion-in-general, or about particular kinds of religion? Who has the power to determine what groups are recognized as legitimate and therefore constitutionally protected religions? What is imagined to be the appropriate scope of religion’s impact in public life—is it primarily a private concern, or is it relevant to public interests? What relationship do such concepts of religion have with the politics of race, class, gender, and colonialism?

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Graduate Course

Denominationalism in America

Lydia Huffman Hoyle
Author

Georgetown College
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

1999
Date Published

This course will explore: 1.) the nature and sources of denominationalism in America; 2.) the genesis, development, theology, and practice of nine denominational families in America; 3.) the changing face of denominationalism in America today; and 4.) issues in denominationalism. Upon completion of this course, the responsible student will be able to discuss possible reasons why America was particularly well-suited for the development of multiple sects and denominations and discuss the importance of the Reformation in setting the stage for the development of denominations.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

Denominations in the United States

The Association of Religion Data Archives
Author

IUPUI
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

Class Type:

Digital projects in the classroom

Lincoln Mullen
Author

George Mason University
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2018
Date Published

This collaboratively written post at The Immanent Frame offers teaching assignments for a number of different digital projects in religious studies. The contributors are Melanie Adrian, Amélie Barras, Jennifer A. Selby, Emily Floyd, Chris Gratien, Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Lincoln Mullen, Alexander van der Haven, Isaac Weiner, and Amy DeRogatis.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

Disaster in American Religion & Culture Syllabus

Cooper Harriss
Author

Indiana University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

This is an upper-level course listed in the Religion in the Americas section of IU’s religious studies curriculum. Capped at 25-30 students, it usually fills with a waiting list–in no small part because it satisfies multiple general education requirements. Students who subscribe to the class range from reigious studies majors to students taking what will be their only religious studies course. This syllabus represents my first attempt at teaching the course online, though the readings and topics have not changed radically in the transition from face-to-face learning.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course, Online

Economics 1450r: Religion and Political Economy

Rachel McCleary
Author

Harvard University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2019
Date Published

This course looks at several different veins regarding economics and religion. Such topics include the Protestant Reformation, religiosity, secularization, economic growth and several others. Additionally the course sets out to discuss theories regarding capital accumulation, church and state, as well as social participation.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course, Graduate Course

Tricia Bruce
Author

Maryville College
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2013
Date Published

This assignment is designed to elicit common sociological themes across multiple religious traditions. You need to have read your ethnography in its entirety by the date of our first panel. Although others will have also read this book, this is not a group presentation: you do not need to coordinate your efforts as a group prior to the panels. If, however, you have questions regarding your reading, I would recommend finding time prior to the panels to discuss this with others who have read your ethnography. On panel days, we will rearrange our chairs to form a triangle and generate discussion around the questions posed below, applied to each of the ethnographies read by the class.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

Evangelicals in the United States

Association of Religion Data Archives
Author

IUPUI
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

Learning modules allow you to interactively explore the best data and information sources on religion. This “Core Module” offers a broad overview of topics and provides detailed directions. This module focuses on the influence and potential growing numbers of evangelicals within the United States. This assignment was created by the Association of Religion Data Archives.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Exploring American Religious History

Kathryn Gin Lum
Author

Association of Religion Data Archives
Author

IUPUI
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

Learning modules allow you to interactively explore the best data and information sources on religion. This “Core Module” offers a broad overview of topics and provides detailed directions.This module focuses on religious beliefs and practices and how they vary dramatically across nations.This assignment was created by the Association of Religion Data Archives.0

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2021
Date Published

Dr. Evan Berry (Arizona State University) answers the question “How does the fossil fuel industry and marketing effect environmentalism?” This clip was taken from “Religion &” Episode 6, March 18, 2021.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Framing nature as a place where people are not

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2021
Date Published

Dr. Lisa H. Sideris (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) discusses “framing nature as a place where people are not.” This clip was taken from “Religion &” Episode 5, March 18, 2021.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Futurity and studies on race, gender and religion

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2021
Date Published

Dr. Corey Miles (Morgan State University) answers the question “How do you reflect on what futurity might offer for the work that’s been done in studies of race, gender, and religion?” This clip was taken from “Religion &” Episode 5, February 18, 2021.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Geography of American Religion

Elaine Peña
Author

George Washington University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2012
Date Published

This course combines perspectives from the fields of geography, anthropology, performance studies, and religious studies to cultivate a deeper understanding of how communities produce, maintain, and legitimize sanctified spaces. Although course readings direct our attention toward U.S.-based case studies, we will also consider their transnational dimensions—how religious groups build belief across national boundaries. We will pay particular attention to the political and economic factors that facilitate the development of transnational sacred spaces. In some cases, our starting points are actually located outside of the United States. By expanding our horizons, we will be able to critically engage the idea that American religious spaces, and notions of American religion more generally, are produced primarily within the boundaries of the U.S. nation-state.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

Ghosts, UFOs, and Other Paranormal Beliefs

The Association of Religion Data Archives
Author

IUPUI
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Ghosts, UFOS, and Other Paranormal Beliefs

Association of Religion Data Archives
Author

IUPUI
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

Learning modules allow you to interactively explore the best data and information sources on religion. This “Core Module” offers a broad overview of topics and provides detailed directions. This module explores non-traditional beliefs within the United States. This assignment was created by the Association of Religion Data Archives.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Global Christianities

Angela Tarángo
Author

Trinity University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2016
Date Published

What exactly is the Christian tradition? Can we even say that one exists? This class aims to challenge how students view Christianity by taking a tour of the varieties of world Christianity
that exist in the twentieth and twenty-first century, and by sampling a wide variety of methods in how one studies the field of Christianity. These will include historical, sociographical,
ethnohistorical, anthropological, theoretical, and gender studies methods, all of which challenge traditional (meaning mainly those steeped in the field of church history) scholars of religion to expand their understandings of Christianity in the modern period. This class is not a historical overview of Christianity and its variety of theologies, but rather it focuses on how Christianity in the modern period has become entangled with politics, race, sexuality, healing, issues of gender, revolution and religious strife (among other things.) This course focuses on content, methodology, and also seeks to situate each case study within current world events. In each section of this class we will consider case studies from all over the world including the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East in order to both understand some of the main themes that trouble the study of modern Christianity along with the methods by which it is understood and studied.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

God and War

Raymond Haberski
Author

Class Type: Undergraduate Course, Graduate Course

History of Christianity in the U.S.

Kathleen Riley
Author

Ohio Dominican College
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

1999
Date Published

This course is a survey of the major thoughts, movements and personalities of American Religious History, from the colonial era to the present day. A special emphasis will be placed on Catholicism, and its place in the religious landscape of the United States. Among the topics to be explored during the course of the semester will be: the religious motives for settling the New World; Awakenings, Revivals and Reform; Immigration and Nativism (Protestant-Catholic tensions); twentieth century “Isms” (Fundamentalism, Liberalism, Modernism and the “heresy” of Americanism); the Post Work War II Religious Revival; the crisis of the Sixties and the Second Vatican Council; and “Civil Religion” (the Religion of the American Republic) as a persistent force in American life and politics.

From the particular perspective of Catholicism, two persistent and pervasive themes will predominate: Immigration and Americanization. Our focus will be on the internal evolution of American Catholicism as it met and absorbed divergent social and ethnic groups, and that of the external relations between the Catholic community and the greater Protestant national community. This focus will allow us to explore, with historical evidence, the more theoretical issues of diversity/pluralism/multiculturalism in American history, and the relations between elites and subordinates – Insiders and Outsiders. Few communities in American History have sustained in such large numbers and over such a long period of time the varieties of peoples as American Catholicism.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

History of Religion in America

Steven Epperson
Author

Brigham Young University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

1996
Date Published

We intend to examine the story of the religious “experience” of the American people from the 16th century to the present. Our principal concerns are to gain a better understanding of a) the essential beliefs and practices of America’s religious communities, b) the major interpretive themes employed to make sense of the American religious story, c) aspects of the interaction between religion and American culture, and d) the role individuals play in the formation and sustenance of religious movements and institutions.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

History of Religion in America

Paul Harvey
Author

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

1996
Date Published

In this block we will probe, discuss, and analyze the multiple religious traditions in America. Each student will prepare and present a research project, which may be historical or contemporary, that will focus on a particular religious tradition. Additionally, “fieldwork” will be done in which each student will be asked to participate in a religious event of some sort which will be foreign to your experience, whether that be in a fundamentalist mega-church, a Jewish synagogue, or a New Age temple. We will make a trip to the Baca campus and visit the Carmelite monastery there, and observe their ritual day. Class time will be oriented around discussion of specific texts, with period short lectures to fill in necessary factual material. To encourage discussion of the material, students will also be asked to prepare one or two email responses a week in reaction to questions set by the moderator of our email discussion group (I will serve as the moderator).

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

History of Religion in America

Charles Israel
Author

Auburn University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2006
Date Published

In this course we will explore in both broad scope and some more focused case-studies the role religion has played in North American social, cultural, and even political history. The object is to explore religion both as an extraordinary experience or abstract idea and as an important component of individual and group social identity in the American past. We can all agree that there were churches, congregations, and denominations in the American past; but how did religion operate in American history? What was the interaction between otherworldly faiths and present, worldly, and temporal interests of humans?

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

History of Religion in America

Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp
Author

University of North Carolina
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

1993
Date Published

This course is a survey of religion in America from the pre-colonial era to the present. Although this is a large class, our goal will be to explore together certain moments and themes in American religious history that have significantly shaped the development of the nation as a whole. The approach will be chronological, that is, we will move through time from the pre-colonial context to the late twentieth century; but our aim will be to connect past events to issues and problems that continue to affect the expression of religious beliefs and practices in our own culture. At times, we will employ a “case study” approach: rather than trying to cover every significant religious development and each religious group, we will analyze specific events and ideas that have a wider applicability.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

History of Religion in the U.S.

Charles F. Irons
Author

Elon University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2009
Date Published

This course offers a selective survey of American Religious History from pre-Columbian times to the present. It emphasizes the remarkable diversity of religious belief and practice in the area that became the United States. Challenging theoretical questions about the essence of religion and the scholarly study of it are an essential part of the course.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

History of Religion in the United States

Elizabeth L. Jemison
Author

Clemson University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2017
Date Published

This course offers a broad introduction to American religious history from the 1600s to today. As we travel together from the early colonial period to the present, our course will consider four
important themes in the history of religion in the United States. By the semester’s end, students will be able to describe and analyze important aspects such as church and state, race and religion, and the challenges of pluralism, as well as have a solid understanding of the historical development of American religious cultures.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

History of Religion in the United States

Evelyn Sterne
Author

University of Rhode Island
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2006
Date Published

This course will explore the history of religion in the United States from the colonial period to the present, with emphasis on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Our focus will be less on theological issues than on the political, cultural, ethnic, racial and gender dimensions of religion. Major themes will include: the diversity of religious traditions in this nation; the intersections between religion and politics; and the ways in which religion has shaped and been shaped by national, ethnic and racial identities. Throughout the course, we will bring together past and present by discussing how the study of religious history informs our understanding of current issues and debates.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

History of Religion Post-Civil War America

Richard J. Callahan
Author

University of Missouri-Columbia
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2005
Date Published

The course attempts to illustrate the dynamic and powerful role that religion has played, and continues to play, in the social, cultural, political, economic, and creative aspects of realms of American life. Because of the broad scope of the subject, a course such as this one can only survey the landscape rather than being a comprehensive account. We will pay special attention to the diversity of American traditions and cultures while we also look for patterns that emerge from their shared history as Americans. We will also explore the history of a few selected religious
issues more thoroughly. We will be attentive to issues of power that have shaped American religious history, the ways we interpret that history, and the ways we think about religion. By the end of the course, you should be familiar with a general chronological overview of historical developments and issues in American religion.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

History of Religious Life and Practice in Canada and the U.S.

Eleanor J. Stebner
Author

The University of Winnipeg
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

1999
Date Published

This course provides a study of the history of religious life and practice in Canada and the United States from the time of European colonization to the present. It includes the study of select individuals, church and state relations, and comparisons between the Canadian and U.S. nation-states. Various denominations and sects that comprise the North American religious milieu are highlighted, as are significant movements such as evangelicalism, fundamentalism, feminism, and ecumenism. Historical analysis will inevitably lead to discussions regarding Christianity within our current time and contexts. A combination of lecture and seminar format is utilized.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Graduate Course, Seminar

How has the COVID-19 pandemic permanently changed religious life?

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

Dr. Ryon J. Cobb (University of Georgia) answers the question “How has the COVID-19 pandemic permanently changed religious life?” This clip was taken from “Religion &” Episode 3, December 17, 2020.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

How is environmentalism framed among scholars and religious communities?

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2021
Date Published

Dr. Amanda J. Baugh (California State University, Northridge) answers the question “How is environmentalism framed among scholars and religious communities?” This clip was taken from “Religion &” Episode 6, March 18, 2021.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

How the Clergy Differ Between Religious Traditions

The Association of Religion Data Archives
Author

IUPUI
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Indigenous Christianities

Brandon Bayne
Author

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2017
Date Published

This course examines diverse indigenous engagements with Christianity in the Americas from earliest contacts to the present. Topics will range from missionary contestations in colonial Mexico to the Native American Church’s fight for religious freedom in 20th Century United States, from historical revitalization movements like the Ghost Dance to postcolonial indigenous theologies in North and South America. Along the way, we will consider a variety of responses to Christian evangelism; including rejection, revitalization, revolt, and renewal. The title of the course implies multiplicity; “native and Christian” can be an opposition, tension, identification, combination, or all of the above. We will wrestle with how to appreciate cultural continuities, account for historical changes and articulate new religious combinations. At the same time, we will tackle questions of violence, asymmetrical power, colonization, and the need for decolonized methodologies. Students should come prepared for an active, lively discussion, and ready to critically investigate the readings, while I will provide short lectures on historical background. Our work together will culminate with research projects on contemporary expressions of indigenous Christianity that will apply the theoretical, historical, and methodological tools acquired in the course.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course

Individuals’ Religious Beliefs and Behaviors

The Association of Religion Data Archives
Author

IUPUI
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

Class Type:

International Religious Regulation and Freedom

Association of Religion Data Archives
Author

IUPUI
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

Learning modules allow you to interactively explore the best data and information sources on religion. This “Core Module” offers a broad overview of topics and provides detailed directions.This module focuses on regional practices of religious expression, profession and practice. This assignment was created by the Association of Religion Data Archives.0

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Intro to the Visual Culture of American Religions

Kristin Schwain
Author

University of Missouri-Columbia
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2004
Date Published

Due to the introductory nature of the course, we will survey a variety of objects from a number of American religious traditions. Each week we will center our attention on a different type of object and a different model of intellectual inquiry. In the first section of the course, “Tools of Art Historical Interpretation,” we will learn basic skills of visual analysis through our examination of Northwest Coast aesthetics, African-American Bible quilts, New England gravestones, and Warner Sallman’s Head of Christ. Then, we will use these interpretive tools to examine religious “ways of seeing” that characterize particular traditions and at certain historical moments. In Part III, we will analyze how objects are used by a variety of traditions to mediate different temporal moments, geographic locations, and cultural contexts. In the end, we will recognize the manifold ways objects shape religious beliefs and practices and inflect ways of seeing and knowing,

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Introduction to American Religion

Winnifred Fallers Sullivan
Author

Washington and Lee University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

1996
Date Published

What is American Religion? Does it make any sense to talk about American religion? What is American about American religion and what is religious about American religion? Religion in the United States is extremely vital and diverse. It has been throughout American history. It is also a very important part of contemporary American culture and politics. It is impossible in one term to hope to canvass the depth and variety of five centuries of American religion in a complete way. This course will instead introduce the student to religion in America through the consideration of three thematic approaches to a description of American religion as a whole. These thematic approaches cut across religious traditions and attempt to characterize some of the ways in which the extraordinary variety in the American religious imagination shares characteristics by virtue of its common environment and its common history. The three thematic descriptions of American religion that we will examine are Natural Religion, Denominational Religion, and Constitutional Religion. There are of course other themes that could be chosen and we will from time to time note those other themes as they touch on our work. The object of the course is to develop in the student a beginning competence in thinking, talking and writing about American religion.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Introduction to Religion in America

D. Keith Naylor
Author

Occidental College
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

1993
Date Published

Participants in this survey course will examine religion in the USA from historical and socio-cultural perspectives. Our most persistent questions will be, “What is religion?” and “What is America?” We shall explore the contours of American culture and society as a setting in which various religions are imagined, established, nurtured, hindered, altered, valued, ignored, and/or abandoned. This course will include lectures, assigned readings, class discussions, student panels, and films/videos.

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Investigating Race and Religion in U.S. History (Unit Plan)

Dwight Simon
Author

Teaching Module
Resource Type

2022
Date Published

Class Type:

Is America a Christian Nation? Ask an Expert video

R&AC
Author

IUPUI
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2003
Date Published

Video from the “Ask an Expert” series responding to the question “Is America a Christian Nation?”Produced by the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Is Barbie Jewish? “The Tribe” (video)

Laura Levitt
Author

Temple University
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

This assignment is for the first week of class. It uses the short video, “The Tribe” (available online), to get students to think about what it means to identify as Jewish. Barbie becomes the object lesson both in the film and in the question. Is she Jewish? Or not? Students need to make a case and there are no wrong answers. Having shown the film in class when I taught in person, this assignment allowed me to get to know each student and respond to them (class of 27 students) in a no pressure and playful manner. It was an ice-breaker from afar.

Class Type: Undergraduate Course, Online

Is climate change shaping religion?

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2021
Date Published

Dr. Evan Berry (Arizona State University) answers the question “Is climate change shaping religion?” This clip was taken from “Religion &” Episode 6, March 18, 2021.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Is the KKK a Religion? (Presentation)

Susan Yolmeh
Author

Teaching Module, Other
Resource Type

2022
Date Published

Class Type:

Is the United States a Christian Nation?

Association of Religion Data Archives
Author

IUUPUI
Institution

Assignment
Resource Type

2020
Date Published

Learning modules allow you to interactively explore the best data and information sources on religion. This “Core Module” offers a broad overview of topics and provides detailed directions. This module is centered around whether the United States is indeed a Christian nation. This assignment was created by the Association of Religion Data Archives.

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Is there a difference between “spiritual” and “religious”? Ask an Expert video

R&AC
Author

IUPUI
Institution

Video
Resource Type

2003
Date Published

Video from the “Ask an Expert” series responding to the question “Is there a difference between “spiritual” and “religious”?” Produced by the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture

Class Type: Intro, Undergraduate Course

Islam in America

Tazeen M. Ali
Author

Rachel B. Gross
Author

San Francisco State University
Institution

Julie Byrne
Author

Duke University
Institution

Syllabus
Resource Type

2004
Date Published

When most people in the United States think of religion, they think of beliefs. But beliefs are only a small part of religion in a country full of people of faith who also practice, mix,