230182 Religion in America (S) (WiSe 2005/2006)

This seminar will explore a side of American life whose importance is likely to be underestimated by German students. In doing so an attempt will be made to look at religion more from the socio-economic and ethnic point of view than the doctrinal. This will involve examining such phenomena as denomination and its relation to social / ethnic group, church and sect, civil religion, Puritanism and the Protestant ethic, the relationship between church and state ("one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all"), mega-churches, televangelism, and cults, but also religion and politics. We will try to look at the United States in the period after the "three great religions¿ [Protestantism, Catholicism, and Judaism], which means looking at the changing religious face of the United States including the growth of Islam there.

A reserved reading shelf will be provided.