Religion in America: A Comprehensive Guide to Faith, History, and Tradition by Harold Rabinowitz

Religion in America: A Comprehensive Guide to Faith, History, and Tradition Reviews

• 
  Kelly

  I pretty much read the entirety of this book, which surprises me because it is long. It actually prevented me from getting through my 75 book goal this year. Frankly, this should as 2 or 3 books. I briefly skimmed this book at my library and was intrigued by all of the graphs and data and polls in the last section of the book.
  
  The book covers the following topics:
  1. Christianity, and includes chapters on each major sect of modern Christianity like Catholicism, Baptist, Methodist, Mennonite, Mormonism, and more. I learned a whole lot in these chapters. I was personally raised Christian in a very religious part of the country and so I'm kind of familiar with most sects / schisms, but not all of them. Now, I know more about most Christian churches in America.
  2. Islam, just one large chapter including some about both Sunni and Shi'ite.
  3. Judaism
  4. Eastern faiths like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and more
  5. Other faiths like Native American faiths, nature-based faiths, and atheism (arguably not a faith per se, but deserving of a chapter in the book for sure!)
  
  Each chapter gives history of that religion from it's beginning until today's "versions" of that religion or sect. Then, the history of that religion specifically in America is drawn out.
  
  There are some essays, and then following all of that is a plethora of polls, statistics, and more awesome data. I spent a lot of time thumbing through these, and it was fascinating.
• 
  Janet

  I'm adding this as a reference. I've read parts and will go back to it. I found it well written and interesting.