 |
Robert A. Spivey Professor of Religion Departmental Area: American Religious History Address: Department of Religion |
Background
Amanda Porterfield is a historian of American religion with interests in the historical interplay of religion, politics and law, the history of American religious thought, and the historical study of Native American religions. She also works in the history of Christianity, is the author of Healing in the History of Christianity, and co-editor with John Corrigan of the quarterly journal Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture. Her most recent book is Conceived in Doubt: Religion and Politics in the New American Nation (Chicago, 2012); her current research focuses on religion in American law.
Research Interests
- Religion, Politics and Law
- American Protestant Thought
- History of Christianity
- Native American Religions
Selected Publications
Books >>See also in Amazon.com "Books by Amanda Porterfield"
- Conceived in Doubt: Religion and Politics in the New American Nation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012)
- Religion in American History, co-edited with John Corrigan (Blackwell, 2010)
- The Power of Religion: An Introduction to World Religions (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010; orig. 1998)
- Protestant Experience in America (Greenwood, 2006)
- Healing in the History of Christianity (Oxford 2005)
- The Transformation of American Religion (Oxford 2001)
- The Power of Religion (Oxford, 1998)
- Mary Lyon and the Mount Holyoke Missionaries (Oxford 1997)
- Female Piety in Puritan New England (Oxford 1992)
Current Research Projects
Topic
Recent Essays
Teaching Specializations
- Religion in U.S. History
- Historiography of American Religion
- Native American Religious History
- Puritanism
- Romanticism
- Religion and Politics in the U.S.
- History of Christianity
- World Religions
Lecture
Religion and Politics in the Early American Republic
Lecture at University of Maine, Farmington, October 1, 2010.
Lecture Video
Recent Courses
Fall 2012
REL3128 American Protestant Thought
This course explores classic writings in American Protestant thought, focusing on historical forces affecting the authors, and the influence of their ideas over time.
REL6498 Historiography of US Religion
This course examines the history of scholarly writing about American religious history, including historiographies of particular religious groups, movements, and trends. Individual reports on additional books will supplement common readings. The course provides a basic bibliography for the first comprehensive exam in American religious history.
Spring 2012
REL3128 Psychology in American Religious History
This course will explore psychological aspects of religion in different faith traditions in the U.S., focusing on their historical development in the 20th and 21st centuries.
REL6596 Religion and American Law
This graduate seminar will explore the codependence of religion and law in US history, focusing on the changing character and implications of this codependence from the ratification of the US Constitution to the problems associated with post-secularity today.