Americas Religious History, Thomas S. Kidd
Americas Religious History, Thomas S. Kidd
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America's Religious History
Faith, Politics, and the Shaping of a Nation

Author: Thomas S. Kidd

Narrator: Tom Parks

Unabridged: 10 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/12/2019


Synopsis

In the post-9/11 world, it is not difficult to see how important religion remains in America and around the globe. An older generation of scholars expected that America and the rest of the Western world was headed inexorably toward secularization and the end of religion. America is undoubtedly secular in many ways, and our constitutional order requires a clear distinction between faith communities and government. Yet from the colonial era to the present, American men and women have been, and have remained, a pervasively religious people.In America's Religious History, leading historian Thomas S. Kidd traces the theological and ethnic diversity and enduring strength of American religion, with special attention to Christianity and evangelical faith. Interweaving religious history and key events from the larger narrative of American history, the book considers how faith commitments and categories have shaped the nation.Written with the student in mind, America's Religious History offers an up-to-date, narrative introduction useful for undergraduate and graduate-level courses on American religion. General readers wanting to better understand the religious background of American life and politics will also enjoy its engaging and insightful overview.Suggested reading is available in the audiobook companion PDF download.

About Thomas S. Kidd

Thomas S. Kidd (PhD, Notre Dame) is distinguished professor of history at Baylor University. He has written many books, including America’s Colonial History and The Great Awakening, and also writes and appears regularly in mainstream media. A past winner of a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, he tweets at @ThomasSKidd.


Reviews

Goodreads review by George P. on November 12, 2019

American Christians, generally speaking, are ignorant of the history of their own religion in this country, let alone of other religions here. This is not due to a lack of excellent scholarly resources. If anything, there is a surfeit of excellent studies of American religion. The problem is that mo......more

Goodreads review by Joshua on September 16, 2020

Well-written, concise history of Christianity in America. Kidd’s brief summaries quickly get to the main point.......more

Goodreads review by Benjamin on November 28, 2020

A solid, useful history of religion in the US. The book is popularly oriented, rather than academic. But each chapter has a useful bibliography, and the index is helpful as well. Kidd does not limit his discussion to the development of Christianity in the US, but includes all of the religions repres......more

Goodreads review by Jared on November 09, 2020

A thorough, wide-ranging overview of America's religious history. I did finish the book, wondering what the authors thesis was. Perhaps his goal was not to persuade his readers, but rather inform them and allow them to contextualize their own religious and political views.......more

Goodreads review by C.J. on August 17, 2021

Great book. Read slowly, though every time I picked it up, it was easy to get through a chapter. True survey. Kidd doesn’t focus on any one point more than a few pages.......more