As the pressures of globalization are crushing local traditions, millions of uprooted people are buying into a new American salvation product. This fundamentalist Christianity, a fusion of American popular religion and politics, is one of the most significant cultural influences exported from the United States. With illuminating case studies based on extensive field research, Exporting the American Gospel demonstrates how Christian fundamentalism has taken hold in many nations in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

This book examines what makes the United States an exceptional society, what impact it has had abroad, and why these issues have mattered to Americans. With historical and comparative evidence, Frank J. Lechner describes the distinctive path of American institutions and tracks changes in the country’s national identity in order to assess claims about America’s ‘exceptional’ qualities. The book analyzes several focal points of exceptionalist thinking about America, including the importance of US Constitution and the American sense of mission, and explores several aspects of America’s distinctive global impact; for example, in economics and film. In addition to discussing the distinctive global impact of the US, this first volume delves into religion, law, and sports.

This volume approaches the Word of Faith as a worldview, and analyses the movement through N. T. Wright's model for worldview-analysis in order to provide necessary nuance and complexity to scholarly interpretations of the Word of Faith. The reader receives insights into the movement's narrative, semiotic, practical and propositional dimensions, which cumulatively offer a multifaceted understanding of how the Word of Faith interprets reality and engages with the world. The analysis shows that there is a narrative core to Word of Faith beliefs in the form of a unique theological story with focus set on the present restoration of Eden's authority and blessings. This study demonstrates how the Word of Faith operates as a distinct worldview that parses the world through the lens of faith's causative power to affect a direct correspondence between present reality and Eden's perfection. The findings advance a critical and therapeutic approach that acknowledges how the worldview both strengthens and subverts Pentecostalism.

McGee critiques the popular Health & Wealth message so prominently targeted especially to black Christian women. She examines the preaching and writing of T. D. Jakes as the most representative of a new phenomenon, the New Black Church, a new form of prosperity gospel that signifies what she calls the Wal-Martization of religion."

This work is a first of its kind historical introduction to the major religions of Africa. The vast majorities of Africa's peoples have been Muslim, Christian, or Traditionalist for a great deal of time, making an inclusive study of these religions essential. Isichei's work gives equal attention to all three religions and balances the elements of each to construct an easily accessible overview. It is also the first book to provide a comprehensive look at the traditional religion in Africa, filling the void in the literature on African religious history. Written by a pioneering scholar in the African religious experience, this volume blends in-depth research and personnel accounts to explore the origins and effects of religion in Africa. While primarily a work of history this book also incorporates the latest findings while engaging with current issues such as the interface of neo-traditional religion and contemporary cultures. This work includes four sections, each dedicated to a separate religion, detailed maps, a glossary, and a guide to further reading.

Lucid, authoritative overview of a major movement in American history The history of American evangelicalism is perhaps best understood by examining its turning points—those moments when it took on a new scope, challenge, or influence. The Great Awakening, the rise of fundamentalism and Pentecostalism, the emergence of Billy Graham—all these developments and many more have given shape to one of the most dynamic movements in American religious history. Taken together, these turning points serve as a clear and helpful roadmap for understanding how evangelicalism has become what it is today. Each chapter in this book has been written by one of the world's top experts in American religious history, and together they form a single narrative of evangelicalism's remarkable development. Here is an engaging, balanced, coherent history of American evangelicalism from its origins as a small movement to its status as a central player in the American religious story. Contributors & Topics Harry S. Stout on the Great Awakening Catherine A. Brekus on the evangelical encounter with the Enlightenment Jon Butler on disestablishment Richard Carwardine on antebellum reform Marguerite Van Die on the rise of the domestic ideal Luke E. Harlow on the Civil War and conservative American evangelicalism George M. Marsden on the rise of fundamentalism Edith Blumhofer on urban Pentecostalism Dennis C. Dickerson on the Great Migration Mark Hutchinson on the global turn in American evangelicalism Grant Wacker on Billy Graham's 1949 Los Angeles revival Darren Dochuk on American evangelicalism's Latin turn

Terrorists and peacemakers may grow up in the same community and adhere to the same religious tradition. The killing carried out by one and the reconciliation fostered by the other indicate the range of dramatic and contradictory responses to human suffering by religious actors. Yet religion's ability to inspire violence is intimately related to its equally impressive power as a force for peace, especially in the growing number of conflicts around the world that involve religious claims and religiously inspired combatants. This book explains what religious terrorists and religious peacemakers share in common, what causes them to take different paths in fighting injustice, and how a deeper understanding of religious extremism can and must be integrated more effectively into our thinking about tribal, regional, and international conflict.

Today the United States is plagued with cultural and political polarization--the Reds and the Blues. Because religion has been of great significance in America right from the first colonists who believed themselves to be God's chosen nation, it is not surprising that religion constitutes the basis of today's dichotomy. The recent resurgence of Christian fundamentalism is significant for the future of America as a nation "under God." This book examines the history of conservative American Christianity as it interacts with liberal beliefs. With the Enlightenment, the Puritan sense of mission faded, but was rekindled with the Great Awakening. This religious movement unified the colonies and provided an animating ideal which led to revolution against Britain. But soon after, the forces of liberalism made inroads, and the seeds of division were planted. This balanced account favors neither conservative nor liberal. It is history with a human touch, emphasizing personalities from Jonathan Edwards and William Jennings Bryan to David Koresh and Jim Jones.

The last century has seen the revolutionary remaking of Christianity into a truly world religion. How did it happen? Mark Shaw's provocative thesis is that far-flung revivals in places like Africa, Korea, Brazil and India are at the heart of the global resurgence of Christianity.

This book offers a comprehensive account of the nature and expression of contemporary forms of religion in Western societies. Drawing both on recent original work and classical and contemporary conceptual frameworks, it examines the beliefs, practices, patterns of organisation and significant trends in both mainstream and fringe religions including cults and quasi-religions. Competing arguments and theories about key developments are treated fully and fairly and there is a clear sense throughout of the social context. The approach is broadly sociological and the well-paced, jargon-free writing style and clearly sectioned chapters make this an ideal text for teaching and study purposes, both in sociology and religious studies. Amongst the themes and concerns covered are: - What we mean in the first place by religion - Secularisation and new expressions of religiosity - The effect of religion on society and the relationship between religion and social change - The links between belief, belonging and social identity - Contemporary Christianity and the religions of ethnic minorities in the West - Globalisation, religious pluralism and postmodernity STEPHEN J. HUNT is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of West of England, Bristol. He has written widely on contemporary Christianity and new religious movements.