Modern American Popular Religion: A Critical Assessment and Annotated Bibliography

by Charles H. Lippy

Overview

Lippy makes a case for the importance of exploring popular religion if one is to understand the dynamics of modern religious life. The first annotated bibliography on the subject, this work features over 550 entries topically arranged. Lippy provides a critical assessment of the state of the study of popular religion, including an examination of theoretical materials that wrestle with trying to define precisely what popular religion is. This book is of interest to scholars, students, and anyone concerned with understanding today's religion.

The bulk of the work consists of critical annotations of books, articles, and dissertations that deal with various aspects of popular religion in the United States from 1870 to the present. The topics covered include background studies, biographical works, titles dealing with fundamentalism and evangelicalism, expressions of popular religion in the arts, the use of mass media, and personal spirituality. The work is of great importance as long as Americans engage in the human quest to make sense out of their own experience and look beyond themselves to a supernatural realm that will assist them in ordering their lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313277863
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/19/1996
Series:	Bibliographies and Indexes in Religious Studies , #37
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)
Lexile:	1270L (what's this?)

About the Author

CHARLES H. LIPPY is the LeRoy A. Martin Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He specializes in the study of religion and American culture. Among his other works on American popular religion published by Greenwood Press are Being Religious, American Style: A History of Popular Religiosity in the United States (1994), and Popular Religious Magazines of the United States, edited with Mark Fackler (1995). Lippy is also coeditor of the Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience (1988).

Table of Contents

Series Foreword by G. E. Gorman
Preface
The Literature of Modern American Popular Religion
Theoretical, Contextual, and Reference Materials
Overviews and Studies of Broad Themes
Evangelicalism, Fundamentalism, and the Religious Right
Radio and Television Ministries
Expressions of Popular Religion in the Arts
Self-Help and Recovery Movements
Biographical Studies
Traditional and Unconventional Approaches to Personal Spirituality
The Ethnic Dimension of Popular Religion
Miscellaneous Titles
Author Index
Title Index
Subject Index

Editorial Reviews

Hefty paragraphs describe the 559 entries citing scholarly studies of people whose religious identity, experience, and activity does not coincide with traditional or established institutions. The sections include overviews and broad themes; evangelicalism, fundamentalism, and the religious right; radio and television ministries; popular religion in the arts; self- help and recovery movements; biographical studies; traditional and unconventional approaches to personal spirituality; and the ethnic dimension. Thoroughly indexed. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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