This bibliography includes primary sources corresponding to material covered in Introducing American Religion. It is designed for students or teachers who want direct exposure to important individuals, ideas, and events in American religious history. The selections, which vary in length from brief excerpts to book-length documents, are provided here via hyperlink to publicly accessible resources on the web. Below each link, we offer brief introductions to the texts as a supplement to information in the textbook.
Primary Source Links—Introducing American Religion (Charles Lippy)
Bartolome de las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1542).
Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, On the Reasons for the Just War among the Indians (1547).
These two excerpts represent one of the more important debates inspired by European exposure to the “New World”: the debate over the status of the Native Americans and how they were to be treated. Las Casas, a Spanish Dominican Priest and an administrator in the Spanish colonies, was more responsible than anyone for revealing and condemning Spanish cruelty towards the natives. Back in Spain, theologian Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda countered with this justification for Spain’s colonial project, a justification grounded in an argument against the full humanity of the Native Americans (see chapter 1).
John Winthrop, A Model of Christian Charity (1630).
Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts, delivered this sermon to the first group of Puritan colonists while still onboard the ship that had carried them from England. In it, he famously warned his followers that their social experiment would be watched as a “city on a hill.” Winthrop and the New England Puritans believed that, in this New World environment, they could establish church and society faithful to the New Testament model, and that their success would demonstrate to colleagues in the Church of England what a truly biblical society could be (see chapter 2).
Roger Williams, The Bloody Tenent of Persecution (1644).
A popular Puritan minister, Roger Williams’ separatist tendencies expanded so far that he rejected the practice of infant baptism and, even more importantly, he denied the right of civil authorities to police an individual’s religious convictions. As a result, he was banished from Massachusetts to what would later become Rhode Island. Williams learned from experience that religious freedom in New England meant the freedom to be right, not the freedom to follow where conscience leads. This was one of a series of writings Williams published in England, making an argument for greater religious liberty and, at the same time, exposing to the world what he believed to be the hypocritical practices of the New England authorities (see chapter 2).
Transcript: The Trial of Anne Hutchinson (1637).
The case of Anne Hutchinson provided early evidence of religious diversity---and the limits of religious tolerance---in colonial New England. Hutchinson hosted popular prayer and bible study meetings in her home, though her teaching eventually earned the ire of local authority. As the transcript of her trial shows, she was accused of claiming direct revelation from the Holy Spirit, as well as teaching the contents of the Bible to men. Ultimately, she was unwilling to yield, and was banished from Massachusetts.
Jonathan Edwards, A Divine and Supernatural Light (1734).
More than the hellfire preacher of popular imagination, Jonathan Edwards was the primary theological defender and theoretician of the revivals known as the Great Awakening. In this sermon, Edwards described what he believed was necessary for any true conversion experience, namely, a new spiritual sense, a sense of the heart that could reach deeper than mere reason to perceive the full beauty of divine truth. For Edwards, this was akin to the difference between knowing rationally that honey is sweet and actually tasting the sweetness of honey (see chapter 3).
Thomas Jefferson, The Virginia Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom (1786).
In 1786, the Virginia legislature passed this statute, drafted by Thomas Jefferson several years earlier. Foreshadowing the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, this statute went far beyond religious toleration, declaring that religion was a private matter for each individual with no connection to one’s place in society. This radical legal principle created an environment in which religious diversity could flourish freely (see chapter 4).
Peter Cartwright, Autobiography of Peter Cartwright (1856).
The development of the “camp-meeting” represents one of the most dramatic innovations during the revivals of the early 19th century known as the Second Great Awakening. Especially useful on the western frontier of the new United States, where churches were few and far between, these gatherings attracted thousands of people and could last for weeks at a time. The Methodists were one of the groups to benefit most from this new practice, and in the excerpt above Peter Cartwright, a circuit-riding preacher influential in the western spread of Methodism, offers a detailed eyewitness description of the most famous early camp-meeting at Cane Ridge in Kentucky (see chapter 6).
Charles Finney, What a Revival of Religion Is (1835).
As perhaps the 19th century’s most well-known practitioner of “new measures” for revival, Charles Finney was to the Second Great Awakening what George Whitfield or Jonathan Edwards was to the First. But where the leaders of the First Great Awakening were largely Calvinists, viewing revival as purely a sovereign act of God’s Spirit, Finney described revival in the scientific terms of cause and effect, and spent considerable energy developing new methods---or causes---to bring about conversion---the desired effect. In the lecture excerpted here, though not denying the need for supernatural blessing, Finney describes revival as the result of “the right use of the appropriate means” (see chapter 6).
Joseph Smith, “Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” in The Book of Mormon (1830).
One of the most distinctive features of the diverse religious environment in 19th century America was the birth of several new religious movements. One of the most original---and most enduring---of these movements is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. At the center of this group’s identity was the belief that divine revelation had been restored through the founding prophet Joseph Smith. This excerpt from the Book of Mormon represents Smith’s testimony of his visions, visions that led him to discover the ancient texts that would become the sacred writings of the church (see chapter 7).
Lyman Beecher, A Plea for the West (1835).
The reality of religious diversity in America has often inspired backlash from more dominant religious groups who have felt threatened by the potential influence of competing options. From the beginning of American religious history, Catholicism has caused more than its share of angst among Protestants, who believed, among other things, that loyalty to America was not possible for those loyal to the Church of Rome and its pope. In this treatise, prominent clergyman Lyman Beecher offers one of the more famous arguments about the insidious influence of Catholic expansion in America, focusing in particular on a conspiracy of Catholic immigrants to take over the nation and turn it over to the pope (see chapter 8).
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (1865).
The Civil War was widely regarded in its time as an event of immense religious as well as political significance. In his Second Inaugural Address, President Lincoln offered a rare perspective on the war’s religious dimension, refusing to attempt identification of the purposes of God, and insisting that those purposes were larger than either side could comprehend (see chapter 9).
Josiah Strong, Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis, rev. ed. (1891).
John Ireland, The Church and Modern Society (1903).
These two works represent opposite perspectives on the place of Catholicism in America near the end of the 19th century. Waves of new immigrants from eastern Europe had dramatically increased the nation’s Catholic population, and with worshippers who, ethnically and linguistically, made Catholicism seem even more un-American to Protestants like social activist Josiah Strong. In his wildly-popular book Our Country, Strong identified “Romanism” and immigration as prime threats to America’s future. Archbishop John Ireland, conversely, was the most prominent representative of Americanism, a strain of Catholic thinking that believed Catholicism represented the best embodiment of American moral and political values. Ireland worked tirelessly to represent his brand of Catholicism in a way that would not seem too American to other Catholics or too Catholic (i.e., un-American) to wary Americans. This collection of lectures includes examples of his central themes, like patriotism, good citizenship, and education (see chapter 10).
Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907)
In addition to immigration, the growth of cities and of major industries changed the shape of American life, and created new challenges for the nation’s religious devotees. Walter Rauschenbusch was a key leader of what was called the Social Gospel movement, a movement which arose out of concerns well-represented in his treatise, Christianity and the Social Crisis. In essence, Rauschenbusch and the Social Gospelers became convinced that, in order to meet the new and broad challenges of American society, religion had to seek change in social structures themselves, not just in individual souls (see chapter 10).
Swami Vivekananda, “Opening Welcome Address at the World’s Parliament of Religions” (1893).
Nothing better symbolizes Americans’ new contact with the religions of the world in the late 19th century than the World’s Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago during the world’s fair of 1893. Beginning with this opening address, Swami Vivekananda, a disciple of a Hindu teacher named Sri Ramakrishna, would emerge as the highlight of the parliament. A charismatic speaker with an exotic appearance, Vivekananda wowed audiences with his unreserved affirmation of religious diversity and his description of a universal religious consciousness (see chapter 11).
John R. Mott, The Evangelization of the World in This Generation (1901).
As immigration brought the diverse cultures of the world to American shores, Americans also became interested in encountering those cultures abroad as the movement for world missions came into its own. A leader in missions mobilization, John R. Mott organized the Student Volunteer Movement in 1888 to nurture religious zeal and inspire students to service. Calling for the “Evangelization of the World in This Generation,” this tract represents the concerns that motivated Christians like Mott (see chapter 11).
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Woman’s Bible (1895).
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a leader in a burgeoning women’s movement that added new dimensions to a diverse religious environment. Though most of her efforts focused on gaining for women the right to vote, Stanton also published this Bible edited specifically for women and designed to undercut the biblical support marshaled to deny them basic rights. Her Bible eliminated passages deemed denigrating to women and offered commentary highlighting women’s unique spiritual capacities (see chapter 11).
Charles Briggs, The Authority of Holy Scripture: An Inaugural Address (1891).
The Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy over the nature of the Bible revealed new intellectual diversity in Protestant thinking that transcended denominational boundaries. One of the earliest catalysts for this controversy was the very public heresy charges brought against Charles Briggs by some of his fellow Presbyterian dignitaries. Briggs first ran afoul of his more conservative colleagues in this inaugural address, given upon acceptance of a teaching post at Union Theological Seminary in New York. In the address, Briggs illustrated the historical critical methods he had learned in Germany, and the controversial view of biblical authority and evolutionary religious development he espoused via those methods (see chapter 12).
“Scopes Trial Transcript Day 7: Darrow Examines Bryan” (1925).
The Scopes “monkey” Trial of 1925 represents one of the more public episodes in the clash between modernism and fundamentalism and, similarly, between science and religion so typical of this period. The case over whether evolution could be taught in Tennessee public schools pitted William Jennings Bryan, one of the nation’s most notorious and most religious orators and political leaders, against famous Chicago attorney Clarence Darrow. Though technically Bryan won the case and evolution remained banned from the schools, Darrow achieved a more lasting victory, using this examination of Bryan to cast fundamentalism as incoherent and anachronistic (see chapter 12).
Robert Bellah, “Civil Religion in America” (1967).
The fragmentation on numerous levels of American society in the 1960s left many searching for some ground of unity amid the diversity. In this remarkably influential essay, sociologist Robert Bellah proposed what he called “civil religion” as a source of common ground for national identity and purpose. This common religious core, traced historically and largely through times of war, centered on a commitment to shared values like liberty, justice, and equality (see chapter 14).
Jerry Falwell, Listen America (1980).
The last quarter of the 20th century saw a strong resurgence in the public presence of evangelical Christians, inspired to enter the political process in part by Supreme Court decisions banning prayer in schools and legalizing abortion. Jerry Falwell, author of this early call to national repentance and reform, was one of the most influential leaders in this resurgence, organizing a non-denominational political action group called the Moral Majority (see chapter 16).