Fundamentalism in American Religion and Law

The Christian church, including all its various branches, has been consistently susceptible to the forces that form or change cultures. Scholars claim that this adaptability has been extremely important in the rise and spread of the religion. In the American environment, Protestants formed voluntary associations that attracted people individually and by family groups. This environment actually shaped “denominations” even during the colonial period. One such denomination was the Presbyterians, who pioneered in the formation of a communion that existed as neither a “state church” nor a “dissenting” church body. As the United States experienced industrialization and growing complexity in economic and cultural patterns, the Protestant denominations were affected by those same forces. Thus, denominations naturally became what came to be termed “non-profit corporations,” subject to the limitations and problems of such organizations but also the beneficiaries of that system as well.

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From Spiritualism to Theosophy: “Uplifting” a Democratic Tradition

Religion and American Culture A Journal of Interpretation ◽

10.1525/rac.1993.3.2.03a00050 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 197-216 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Stephen Prothero

Keyword(s):

Religious Movements ◽

New Religious Movements ◽

American Religion ◽

Religious Groups ◽

Democratic Tradition ◽

The Status ◽

Taboo Topics

The status reversal ritual that American religious historiography has undergone in the last two decades has done much to “mainstream” previously taboo topics within the field. Many religious groups once dismissed as odd and insignificant “cults” are now seen as “new religious movements” worthy of serious scrutiny. One subject that has benefited from this reversal of fortunes is theosophy. Thanks to the work of scholars such as Robert Ellwood and Carl Jackson, theosophists are now part of the story of American religion. Exactly what part they are to play in that story remains, however, unclear.

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Beautiful Babies, Hidden Mothers, and Plasticized Prisoners

Bulletin for the Study of Religion ◽

10.1558/bsor.v43i2.27 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 43 (2) ◽

pp. 27-29

Author(s):

Amy Koehlinger

Keyword(s):

American Religion ◽

Theoretical Issues

This essay responds to the papers presented in the collection "Beautiful Babies, Hidden Mothers, and Plasticized Prisoners: The Display of Bodies and Theories of American Religion," addressing some of the theoretical issues that the papers raise.

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Crossing the Pomerium

10.23943/princeton/9780691195032.001.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Koortbojian

Keyword(s):

Social Practices ◽

Civic Life ◽

Public Monuments ◽

Religion And Law ◽

Mediterranean World ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

The Military ◽

The City

The ancient Romans famously distinguished between civic life in Rome and military matters outside the city—a division marked by the pomerium, an abstract religious and legal boundary that was central to the myth of the city's foundation. This book explores, by means of images and texts, how the Romans used social practices and public monuments to assert their capital's distinction from its growing empire, to delimit the proper realms of religion and law from those of war and conquest, and to establish and disseminate so many fundamental Roman institutions across three centuries of imperial rule. The book probes such topics as the appearance in the city of Romans in armor, whether in representation or in life, the role of religious rites on the battlefield, and the military image of Constantine on the arch built in his name. Throughout, the book reveals how, in these instances and others, the ancient ideology of crossing the pomerium reflects the efforts of Romans not only to live up to the ideals they had inherited, but also to reconceive their past and to validate contemporary practices during a time when Rome enjoyed growing dominance in the Mediterranean world. The book explores a problem faced by generations of Romans—how to leave and return to hallowed city ground in the course of building an empire.

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