Set 1: Select 3 questions from section A and two from section B.

1. In the introduction to Religion and American Life, what do the authors mean by the claim "the story of religion in America, then, is not an aberrant story"� (xi)

2. What role did dreams play in the religion of Algonquian Indians?

3. The authors use Henry Fielding's fictional character, Reverend Thwackum, to make a point regarding religion in early America.  What do they make of Thwackum's statement: "When I mention religion, I mean the Christian religion; and not only the Christian religion, but the Protestant religion; and not only the Protestant religion, but the Church of England"�

4. How did the religious worldviews of Africans and Indians differ from those of European settlers?

5. How did Indians receive missionaries in both New Spain and New France?  How did native Americans in what is now California and Canada resist the incursions of missionaries?  For those native Americans who were receptive to the newcomers, what would their adopted Christianity look like? 

6. How did Jesuits in French Canada conduct their missions?  Were they a successful?

7. Why do the authors contend that the "importance of religion in New England was not unique among England's American colonies"? (53)  What roles would religion play in the southern colonies?  How would religion differ in the North and South? 

8. What are some of the myths concerning Puritanism?  How should we understand the Puritans?  What was the basis of their beliefs?

9. In what ways was New England "spiritually diverse" during the late 1600s?

10. What advice did the Puritan John Winthrop offer to those intrepid souls heading to Massachusetts? (74-75)  What does this say about the Puritan vision of America? 

Section B

11. How does historian David D. Hall counter the idea that Puritan religion in the 17th century was a rational and coherent, Christian intellectual system?

12. What does Hall mean when he states that the people of New England lived in an enchanted universe, or a "world of wonders"?

13. How did Puritans read the signs of nature as spiritual events?

Set 2: Select 1 question each from sections A, B, C, and D for a total of 4 questions.

Section A
RELIGION IN AMERICAN LIFE, CHAPTER FOUR 

1. Butler, Wacker, and Balmer write that "New York prefigured the religious future of 18th-century America"� (77).  What do they mean by that statement?

2. What kinds of religious communities migrated to America?  Why did these groups settle in the regions they did? 

3. Describe the first Jewish community in colonial America. 

4. How did the American religious landscape change after the 1690s?

5. After reading the letter on pages 96-97, describe why Abigail Franks was disturbed by her daughter's decision. 

Section B
RELIGION IN AMERICAN LIFE, CHAPTER FIVE

6. What do the graves of African Americans and Indians tell us about their religious beliefs?

7. The authors assert that the "outright disappearance of many distinctive Indian societies . . . constitutes one of the most distressing facts of early American religious history"� (101).  Those natives who did survive would find a number of ways to resist and adapt to Christianity.  Explain how they did this.

8. Why did English efforts to convert slaves meet "with little success before the American Revolution"� (109)

9. What did Reverend David Brainerd discover about Indian religion? (116-117)  How did Indian beliefs differ from those of whites?

Section C
RELIGION AND AMERICAN CULTURE: DANIEL K. RICHTER, "WAR AND CULTURE: THE IROQUOIS EXPERIENCE," 53-67

10. What does Daniel Richter say about Iroquois motives for going to War?  How did whites tend to perceive Indian warfare?

11.  What affect would widespread European settlement have on the Iroquois's "mourning war"�? 

Section D
RELIGION AND AMERICAN CULTURE: ALBERT J. RABOTEAU, "AFRICAN AMERICANS, EXODUS AND THE AMERICAN ISRAEL," 73-86 

12. According to Albert J. Raboteau, how did African Americans use European Christianity to make sense of their enslavement?

13. How would black Christians interpret the Exodus story?

Section A
Religion in American Life, 118-162; 

1. What were the basic differences between those Americans who supported revivalism in the 18th century and those who opposed it?

2. During the 1700s, how did American religious groups start to diverge from religious groups in Europe?

3. What were revivalists' core Christian beliefs?  How did Jonathan Edwards (pgs. 138-39) and Sarah Osborn Leads (pgs 140-41) embody this revivalistic evangelicalism?

4. The American Revolution, the authors note, was a truly secular event.  Yet it would also profoundly impact society.  What affect did the American Revolution have upon denominations in the former colonies?

5. In what ways did the First Amendment to the Constitution represent the American religious situation?

Section B
Selection from Mark Noll, America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln (2002) 

6. Mark Noll states that he is interested in a social history of American theology. How does Noll try to connect social movements with religious beliefs?  From Noll's perspective, how would events in American history influence Christian theology?

7. Why does Noll compare American religious beliefs with those in Europe?  What conclusions can he draw from such comparisons?  Was American religion unique, exceptional?

8. What is the meaning of Noll's concept of an "American Synthesis"�? 

Section C
Selection from George Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life (2003)

9. In George Marsden's opinion Jonathan Edwards proved to be an extraordinary American.  Why?  Why does Edwards deserve to be studied so thoroughly?

10. Marsden asserts that to "make sense of Edwards' life, one must take seriously his religious outlook on his own terms"� (4).  What does Marsden mean by that?

11. How does Marsden admit that his own personal views shape how he interprets his subject?  Can a believer, such as Marsden, be a truly dispassionate, objective historian and critic?

12. What influence did George Whitefield have on Edwards?  Describe the relationship between them. 

Section D
Allen C. Guelzo, "America's Theologian,"� in The Christian Century, October 4, 2003, pp. 30-31 and 34-35

13. Allen C. Guelzo argues that few of the complexities and contradictions of Jonathan Edwards' life "ruffle the surface of Marsden's chunky new biography."�  What is Guelzo implying here? 

14. Why does Guelzo state that Marsden's own evangelical prejudices taint his biography?  From what you have read of Marsden, do you think that is a fair criticism?

1. What does Francis J. Bremer say is the central thesis of Noll's work?  What basic criticism does Bremer offer concerning Noll's basic contentions?

2. What aspects of American religion does Bremer think Noll overlooks?  Are these valid criticisms?

Section A
Religion in American Life, "Prophets for a New Nation," 165-181

1. Describe the state of organized religion in the years immediately after the American Revolution.

2. Summarize the arguments against "established" religions.  What was Thomas Jefferson's opinion concerning the matter?  In the founders' view, should religion play any public role in American society?

3. According to the authors, what is "civil religion"  Does it still exist in contemporary America?  How so?

4. How did some early Americans resist traditional Christian religion?  Is this set of religious circumstances similar to religion in America today?

Section B
Religion and American Life, "Awakeners of the Heart," 182-196

5. Explain the difference between the First Great Awakening (1730s-40s) and the Second Great Awakening (1800-1860s).  How would these differences affect the outcomes of each of these revivals?

6. Why is Francis Asbury often called the "founding father"� of American Methodism?  Describe his activities, strategies, and religious views.

7. What was innovative about Charles Grandison Finney's "new measures"�  How would his views change American Christianity?  Do his views still influence American Christians?

8. What do the authors suggest is the legacy of evangelicalism?

14.  Historian Nathan Hatch asserts that American Christianity underwent a dramatic change between the American Revolution and 1845.  What were the most significant features of this transformation? 

15.  What does Hatch mean by the term the "democratization of American Christianity"�  What is "religious populism"?  Do most Christians still hold to a form of democratized Christianity?

16. Hatch claims that the leaders of new religious movements in the early 1800s held "convictions that were essentially modern and individualistic"� (14).  What does he mean by that?

Set 6: Answer two questions from each section.

1. Anne Braude writes "this essay explores how we would tell the story of American religion if we took as our point of departure that fact that women constitute the majority of participants in religious activities and institutions"� (161).  That being the case, how does her piece challenge the work of earlier historians?

2.  What is Braude's answer to the question "what made each group's teachings and practices meaningful to its female members"� (163)

3. What does Braude mean by "declension"�  How does she argue against this motif? 

Section  B
Charles Joyner, “‘Believer I know’: The Emergence of African-American Christianity,” 179-195
 
4. Charles Joyner writes that to "underestimate the Africanity of African American Christianity is to rob the slaves of their heritage.  But to overestimate the Africanity of African American Christianity is to rob the slaves of their creativity" (181).  Explain what these statements mean. 

5. How did slaveholders introduce a "selective" version of Christianity to slaves? 

6. What were the essential beliefs and worship practices of African American slaves in the years before the Civil War?  Do these traditions survive today in black churches?

Section A
Black Elk, John Gneisenau Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks (first ed. 1932)

1. Why does Black Elk seem to think it important that his story be told? Why does John Neihardt think it is important? Do they both have the same reasons? Analyze "Heyoka Ceremony" as Black Elk's attempt at making a connection with an audience, and comment on how the chapter offers a working definition of the very process of "raising consciousness." 

2. Black Elk's story is much like others in the genre of traditional quest literature.  Central characters are usually heroes---from the Odyssey to Oh Brother, Where Art Thou---who need to fulfill his/her goals or unique destiny.  To what extent was this largely the tale of Black Elk's quest?  What were his goals?  What did he try to achieve? 

3. At various points in the narrative, Black Elk describes his relationship to Wasichu (whites).  What did Black Elk think about these newcomers?  What did the presence of whites mean, in a religious sense, to Black Elk? 

4. How would religion influence the Oglala Sioux' understanding of nature and animals?  Why do you suppose this was such a contrast to the views of American settlers? 

5. What role did visions play in Black Elk's religious life?  What did these religious experiences tell him about his world, his peoples' past and future?  Would American Christians share any of these beliefs with Black Elk and his fellow Indians?

6. Arnold Krupat (in The Indian Autobiography: Origins, Type, and Function, American Literature, 1981) writes that "to see the Indian autobiography as a ground on which two cultures meet is to see it as the textual equivalent of the 'frontier.'" How does this statement apply to Black Elk Speaks? 

7. Describe Black Elk's role as a traditional healer.  How did he take on this responsibility?  What public religious duties did he take on and why?

8. In many ways Black Elk lived a traditional life of a Native American medicine man.  Yet in many other ways Black Elk lived a very atypical and non-traditional life.  How did his travels abroad and throughout the US alter his religious world view and his understanding of different cultures? 

9. In the second (1961) edition of Black Elk Speaks, John Neihardt changed the title page of the text from "as told to John Neihardt" to "as told through John Neihardt." Explain the significance of this change, and interpret the relationship it suggests between Neihardt and Black Elk, and between Neihardt and Black Elk Speaks. 

Section B
William K. Powers, "When Black Elk Speaks, Everybody Listens."

10. Why does William K. Powers argue that Neihardt presented a skewed version on Black Elk's religion?  What does Neihardt miss, according to Powers?  Why do you think Neihardt would be selective in his account? 

11. How does Powers attempt to correct Neihardt's narrative?  How does Powers version differ fundamentally from Neihardt's?

12. What were the contents of Black Elk's 1934 letter?  Why would he write what he did? 

13. Why does "everyone listen"� How can we account for the popularity of Native American spiritual biographies?

Some of the questions adapted from Paul P Reuben, "Chapter 7: Early Twentieth Century - Black Elk." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap7/blackelk.html

Set 8: Answer one question from each section, A-C. 

1. What do the authors find "ironic" about the American Civil War?  What do they mean by stating that "Religious beliefs fed the ideologies that fed the war"� (248)  How did religion and politics merge in the Civil War?

2. Was abolitionism a moral, Christian crusade?  If so, how?  As the authors indicate, Southern slaveholders did not take the criticisms of abolitionists "lying down."  The South's slavocracy offered a defense of slavery from the bible.  How did they use scripture to bolster their arguments? 

3. How did American churches foreshadow the division of the union, North and South?

4. What did Frederick Douglass mean by "slaveholding Christianity"? (261)


Section B
Timothy L. Smith, Preface and "The Evangelical Origins of Social Christianity," in Revivalism and Social Reform: American Protestantism on the Eve of the Civil War (1957). 

5. According to Timothy Smith, Thomas Paine would have been astounded had he lived long enough to see New York in 1865.  What would he find shocking?

6. Why does Timothy Smith contend that "popular Protestantism" acted as a "mighty social force long before the slavery conflict erupted into war"� (149)  What made northern religious leaders such committed social reformers?

7. What was the social impact of "perfectionism" on America?

For a summary of Timothy Smith's work and career at ENC, see this page I created for the history department website.

Section C
Charles Reagan Wilson, "The Religion of the Lost Cause: Ritual and Organization of the Southern Civil Religion, 1865-1920," in Religion and American Culture

8. How does University of Mississippi professor Charles Reagan Wilson assert that southerners turned the Civil War into a "holy cause" after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox?  In what way was this a secular faith, or a civil religion?  Who were the deities, saints, and martyrs of this "faith"�

9.  Does the Civil War still animate committed southerners?