Religion Resources from the Newburgh Free Library: Home

Drawing on current scholarship, Encyclopedia of American Religious History. Third Edition is a timely, three-volume reference guide that reflects the significant issues and the current state of American religious history. In more than 800 thoughtful, informative entries--100 of which have been added or revised for this edition--this comprehensive encyclopedia outlines the numerous philosophers, personalities, social issues, and cultural historees of religious practices throughout American history. Special emphasis is placed on recent developments in religious life in this country and the historical contributions of people long neglected by mainstream religious historians, including African Americans. Native Americans, and women. In addition, an expanded introduction gives students a narrative historical overview of religion in America.

Among Library Journal's picks of the most important reference works of the millennium--with the "Encyclopedia Judaica and the "New Catholic Encyclopedia--Mircea Eliade's "Encyclopedia of Religion won the American Library Associations' Dartmouth Medal in 1988 and is widely regarded as the standard reference work in the field. This second edition, which is intended to reflect both changes in academia and in the world since 1987, includes almost all of the 2,750 original entries--many heavily updated--as well as approximately 600 entirely new articles. Preserving the best of Eliade's cross-cultural approach, while emphasizing religion's role within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture, this new edition is the definitive work in the field for the 21st century. An international team of scholars and contributors have reviewed, revised and added to every word of the classic work, making it relevant to the questions and interests of all researchers. The result is an essential purchase for libraries of all kinds.

A multidisciplinary examination of religion in American life   Encyclopedia of Religion in America examines how religious history and practices are woven into the political, social, cultural, and historical landscape of North America. This authoritative four-volume reference work explains the origins, development, adaptation, influence, and interrelations of the many faiths practiced, including major world religions, new religious sects, cults, and religious movements that originated or had an influence in the United States.   Edited by well-known experts in the field, the Encyclopedia covers all the significant religious denominations and movements that have originated or flourished in North America, from the beginning of European settlement to the present day. The broad multidisciplinary coverage includes the religious life of indigenous peoples, specific aspects of religious life, and the relationship of political, social, economic, and cultural spheres.   Topics include: Religion as an influential force in the U.S. Methods of worship Religion and politics Homosexuality and religion African American religion Arts and architecture Church-state issues Education Environment and ecology Ethnicity Evangelicals Faiths Gay and lesbian issues Historical overviews Immigration Media (new and old) Megachurches Movements and denominations New religious movements Popular religion and culture Race and racism Religious thought Religious Right Rites Role of women Terrorism and war   Encyclopedia of Religion in America is an essential resource for students and scholars researching issues in a wide variety of social science disciplines, from American history to cultural studies, political science, gender studies, psychology of religion, and more. It reflects new scholarly research and interpretation that have emerged over the last two decades, as well as significant new areas of study, such as post-9/11 America, the role of gays and lesbians in church, gender, and the role of the evangelicals in American political life.

An extraordinary survey, in four volumes, of the religious belief and practice in all 276 of the world's nations and territories.

In two editions over 40 years, Edwin Gaustad'sAtlas of American Religionhas been an essential guide to the American religious experience. Now theNew Historical Atlas of Religion in Americatakes the story into the new millennium. Expanded, reorganized, and now in full color, the new edition of this classic reference work is an arresting visual and narrative portrait of the growth, development, and diversity of America's communities of faith across nearly 400 years. Here is a vastly more complex American religious life--from the decline of mainstream Protestantism to the emergence of evangelical churches and the growing influence of Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and other faiths. Parts One and Two are a history--in maps and text--of American religions. Part Three focuses in-depth on Lutherans, Mormons, and Roman Catholics. Part Four examines the political, cultural, and social aspects of religion in American public life. Lavishly illustrated with full-color maps, charts, and diagrams, the newAtlasis an essential resource for all readers--students, teachers, scholars, and everyone seeking to understand the remarkable religious history of the United States.

Praise for the previous edition: ..".informative...a useful addition to high school and college libraries."--American Reference Books Annual

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, dizzying scientific and technological advancements, interconnected globalized economies, and even the so-called New Atheists have done nothing to change one thing: our world remains furiously religious. For good and for evil, religion is the single greatest influence in the world. We accept as self-evident that competing economic systems (capitalist or communist) or clashing political parties (Republican or Democratic) propose very different solutions to our planet's problems. So why do we pretend that the world's religious traditions are different paths to the same God? We blur the sharp distinctions between religions at our own peril, argues religion scholar Stephen Prothero, and it is time to replace naïve hopes of interreligious unity with deeper knowledge of religious differences. In Religious Literacy, Prothero demonstrated how little Americans know about their own religious traditions and why the world's religions should be taught in public schools. Now, in God Is Not One, Prothero provides readers with this much-needed content about each of the eight great religions. To claim that all religions are the same is to misunderstand that each attempts to solve a different human problem. For example: –Islam: the problem is pride / the solution is submission –Christianity: the problem is sin / the solution is salvation –Confucianism: the problem is chaos / the solution is social order –Buddhism: the problem is suffering / the solution is awakening –Judaism: the problem is exile / the solution is to return to God Prothero reveals each of these traditions on its own terms to create an indispensable guide for anyone who wants to better understand the big questions human beings have asked for millennia—and the disparate paths we are taking to answer them today. A bold polemical response to a generation of misguided scholarship, God Is Not One creates a new context for understanding religion in the twenty-first century and disproves the assumptions most of us make about the way the world's religions work.