Continuing our series on American religious history, this course will cover the era in which the United States became a consolidated urban-industrial nation marked by high levels of European immigration. People of faith responded to the radical changes this entailed in markedly different ways. We will consider religion’s role in:  

Session 1: The coming, conduct, and consequences of the Civil War, including the emergence of independent Black churches [1850-1880] 

Session 2:  The ‘new’ immigration of people from southern and eastern Europe, transforming Catholic and Jewish communities and rousing fears in the hearts of Protestants [1885-1915] 

Session 3: The emerging divide between mainstream/ Liberal and evangelical/ fundamentalist Protestants [1875-1905] 

Session 4: The rise of the progressive movement, the shattering impact of World War I, and the fierce culture wars of the 1920s [1900-1930] 

Religious participation had never been higher, nor religious anxieties more acute, nor religion’s impact more diffuse than in this fascinating era. 

Subject: history, religion 

James Bratt is professor of history emeritus at Calvin University where he taught for 30 years, specializing in American cultural and religious history. He previously taught the same subjects in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the recipient of three Fulbright grants, including one to teach at Xiamen University in China, and has taught world religions for two voyages on the Semester at Sea.