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The History of Christianity 2: The United States from the


Colonial Period to the Present (HIST 645)
Fall, 2010
Elizabeth C. Nordbeck


Course Description
HIST 645 will take us, on the run, through three-and-one-half centuries of
religious developments in the United States, from the earliest Puritan and
Anglican establishments in Americaand the natives they displacedto the
richly variegated religious milieu of today. The purposes of this survey are
several:
To encounter the historical realities of American diversity (especially, but not
exclusively, in its Protestant dimensions) as it has shifted from fact to ideology
To explore ways of dealing with our theological particularities (and
peculiarities) in an environment that insists on the essential equality of
different religious beliefs
To become aware of the ways in which certain concerns of our contemporary
religious life reflect and resonate with historical events and themes
To explore history itself as a construct, a mixture of fact and interpretation
shaped always by the context and concerns of those who receive it
To become intelligent readers and writers of historical materials, as well as
stewards of the history that is going on around usand over which we
preside as leaders in particular settings

The course will focus on events, persons, and institutional developments that
have been particularly significant in Americas religious history, but that also
surface important topics or themes in our collective religious life and settings for
ministry. This means, inevitably, that selection of topics for class discussion will
be somewhat arbitrary, and that many important and worthy chunks of American
religious history will get short shrift.

To provide continuity and factual basis for discussion, class members will be
expected to purchase two volumes:

Edwin S. Gaustad & Mark Noll, A Documentary History of Religion in
America to 1877
Mark A. Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada

There will also be occasional materials for reading on reserve in the library and
online. Please note: Each weeks assigned texts are important for class
discussion and/or for historical continuity, and you are expected to keep up with
the readings. However, class discussion will not typically involve discussion of
those specific texts.

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Goals of the Course
Students who have completed this course will have
Familiarity with some of the major institutional events and personalities that
have been formative in American religious life
Knowledge of the unique demands that Americas heritage of religious
diversity places upon people of all denominations and religions (what Donald
Shriver has called the pain and promise of pluralism)
Basic skills in reading the context that is American religious life, especially
as this larger context relates to various ministry settings
Awareness of their own location in the tapestry of American religion
Familiarity with important themes and issues that have affected our past and
our present religious lives (for example, revivalism, church-state relations,
mission, reason versus emotion, scientific knowledge and faith, majority-
minority relations)
Experience in researching local and/or oral historyin other words, they will
be more savvy readers and writers of history where it is being lived

Course Requirements
1. Participation. Regular attendance, completion of assigned reading, and
informed participation in discussions.
2. Papers.
One 6-8 page reflection paper, responding to question(s) based on the
reading and discussion. The questions will be handed out on October 19,
and the papers will be due the following week (October 26).
A local history project. This is to be an in-depth and original study of a
religious institution, event in the life of an institution, person, or period of
time in a setting that is familiar and/or nearby. (A religious institution, for
example, might be a local congregation, interfaith charitable organization,
or school, among other possibilities.) In a 15-18 page paper, you will be
asked to utilize primary sources, including (as appropriate) such things as
institutional records, letters, diaries, newspaper accounts, oral interviews,
and the like. The assignment will be due November 30. Projects will be
returned on the last day of class.
3. Final exam. Written indication of the mastery and synthesis of historical facts,
concepts, and themes in a final, take-home essay examination. To be handed
out on December 7; due by noon in Prof. Nordbecks mailbox on
Wednesday, December 15. The exam is intended to take no more than three
hoursas if you were taking it in classand it may be taken as an open book
test. **Please note: if you wish to have your exam returned, you MUST
append a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the hard copy you turn
in.



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Schedule of Lectures and Readings
September 14
Session one: Introduction to the course and the subject: Major Features
of American Religious History
Introductions
Overview of the American religious scene, both historical and contemporary.
Discussion of syllabus and requirements.

September 21
Session two: What IS History, Anyway?
Discussion: the nature of history. (We will also discuss the local history project in
depth.)

September 28
Session three: American Tapestry: A Nation of Immigrants
Newcomers to North America came for a variety of reasons, and settled in a
variety of places, establishing distinctive patterns of faith, church governance,
and religious culture. What were the tensionsand responses to themthey set
in motion?

Readings: Noll: 1-29, 54-82
Gaustad/Noll: 1-62, 72-91, 109-159

October 5 COMMUNITY DAYNO CLASS

October 12
Session four: Pilgrims, Puritans, and a City set on a Hill: Diversity and
Dissent
The Puritans (and others in the 17
th
century and later) believed that religious
homogeneity is essential for maintaining good order. Is it possible to have a
society that is both well-ordered and religiously pluralistic? What are the
consequences of encouraging diversity, or promoting conformity?

Readings: Noll: 30-53
Gaustad/Noll: 63-72, 93-109

October 19
Session five: Awakening and Enlightenment, Religion and Revolution
The eighteenth century was a period of both heightened religious experience and
heightened intellectual awareness. It was also a time when patterns and
paradigms of religion changed. Do Christians know God primarily through
rational acceptance (reason) or through feelings and emotions?

Readings: Noll: 83-162
Gaustad/Noll: 160-251
(Questions for reflection papers to be handed out.)
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October 26
Session six: Nineteenth Century Beginnings: Rational Religion,
Revivalism, and the Benevolent Empire
In the aftermath of the Revolution came decades of growth, expansion, and
millennial hopes; America was envisioned as the new Canaan. Denominations
and benevolent societies grew and multiplied in ways unknown in Europe, and
rational religion vied with experiential religion. Today, how do we assess the
19
th
century desire for a Christian America and a Christianized world?

Readings: Noll: 163-190, 219-244
Gaustad/Noll: 252-327, 371-427
(Reflection papers due. )

November 2
Session seven: American Tapestry II: Winning the Westand the
Challenge of Religious Outsiders
Immigrationespecially from Roman Catholicsand indigenous new
movements challenged the assumptions and the dominance of Protestants
throughout the nineteenth century. What happens to newcomers and/ or
innovators, and how do they alter existing patterns of religious lifeor get altered
by them?

Readings: Noll: 191-218, 245-85
Gaustad/Noll: 328-470
online/ on reserve (from Gaustad/Noll 2: Documentary
History of Religion in America since 1877): readings on Judaism
and Catholicism

November 9
Session eight: Slavery, African-American Religion, and Human Rights
The Civil War divided the churches and challenged Christians to discover new
ways of understanding biblical texts. How do churches deal with divisive social
and political issues?
Readings: Noll: 313-334
Gaustad/Noll: 471-596

November 16
Session nine: The Victorian Era; Darwin and the New Science
Darwins theories of natural selectionas well as new critical understandings
about language, literature, and the Biblechallenged many of Christianitys
familiar understandings in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. How do the
churches reconcile faith with science? And how do faithful Christians understand
the authority of the Bible in their lives?

Readings: Noll: 363-37
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online/ on reserve (from Gaustad/Noll 2): readings on science and
religion, the Bible


November 23: Thanksgiving Week BreakNo Class

November 30
Session ten: New Theological Movements for New Times: The Social
Gospel. Pentecostalism, Fundamentalism, Modernism, Neo-Orthodoxy
The social gospel movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s encouraged
Christians to consider salvation as a social/political, and not only a personal,
matter. But some became concerned about what was being left out, theologically.
Others recovered earlier ways of accessing the divine. What is the nature and
significance of theological movements in the life of the churches?

Readings: Noll: 373-89
online/ on reserve (from Gaustad/Noll 2): readings on early 20
th

century theologies and movements

December 7
Session eleven: Later Twentieth Century Themes and Developments
Beginning after the Second World War, new patterns of diversity and new
alignments within Christianity were redefining American religion itself. What
themes and developments characterized American religion during this turbulent
period of social change?

Readings: Noll: 390-500
online/ on reserve (from Gaustad/ Noll 2): readings on late 20
th

Century developments
(Final exam questions to be handed out)

December 14
Session twelve: The Unfinished Tapestry: Developing Trends in American
Religion at the End and Beginning of Two Centuries
What does the new face of religion in America look like at the dawn of the 21
st

century, and what might the future hold? Are there resonances with any of the
issues, events, or realities that historically have challenged Christian churches
and institutions of other faiths? What wisdomif anymight history have to
offer?
Readings: Noll: 531-53
online/ on reserve (from Gaustad/ Noll 2): readings on recent
developments and trends

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