Places of Faith: A Road Trip across America's Religious Landscape PDF
Preview Places of Faith: A Road Trip across America's Religious Landscape
PLACES OF FAITH This page intentionally left blank PLACES OF FAITH A ROAD TRIP ACROSS AMERICA’S RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE Christopher P. Scheitle & Roger Finke 1 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offi ces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Th ailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2012 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Scheitle, Christopher P., 1981– Places of faith : a road trip across America’s religious landscape / Christopher P. Scheitle and Roger Finke. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-19-979152-1 — ISBN 978-0-19-979151-4 1. United States—Religion. I. Finke, Roger, 1954– II. Title. BL2525.S325 2012 200.973—dc22 011010041 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper For our parents, Ed and Margie Scheitle & Alvin and Fauneil Finke This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Preface ix Introduction 3 ONE MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE 11 View from the Road: The Underground Railroad 32 TWO HOUSTON, TEXAS 37 View from the Road: Hispanic Infl uences 60 THREE COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO 63 View from the Road: Cowboy Church 85 FOUR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 89 View from the Road: Hare Krishnas 113 FIVE SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 117 View from the Road: Our Lady of Peace Shrine 141 contents SIX CENTRAL NEBRASKA 145 View from the Road: Signs 167 SEVEN DETROIT, MICHIGAN 171 View from the Road: Monastery of the Transfi guration 193 EIGHT BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 197 View from the Road: The Amish 219 CONCL USION RETURNING HOME: CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA 223 INDEX 239 viii PREFACE This book is about a road trip across America. We weave through the country exploring churches in small towns and rural areas as well as the megachurches, storefronts, syn- agogues, Islamic centers, Eastern temples, and other places of faith in cities. Drawing on the thousands of pictures we took and the numerous conversations we held, we show you what we saw, tell you what we heard, and share our experi- ences. We have each published extensively on historical and na- tional trends in American religion, but this book is neither a history of American religion nor a statistical overview of recent trends. It is about experiencing and discovering local religious communities and traditions. We hope that our stories, pictures, and experiences will give life to otherwise lifeless statistics and bring far-removed historical accounts into closer view. We invite you to join us in discovering the religious landscape of America. ix
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