City of Gods: Religious Freedom, Immigration, and Pluralism in Flushing, Queens - Softcover

Hanson, R. Scott

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0823271609 ISBN 13: 9780823271603

Publisher: Empire State Editions, 2016

Synopsis

Known locally as the birthplace of American religious freedom, Flushing, Queens, in New York City is now so diverse and densely populated that it has become a microcosm of world religions. City of Gods explores the history of Flushing from the colonial period to the aftermath of September 11, 2001, spanning the origins of Vlissingen and early struggles between Quakers, Dutch authorities, Anglicans, African Americans, Catholics, and Jews to the consolidation of New York City in1898, two World's Fairs and postwar commemorations of Flushing’s heritage, and, finally, the Immigration Act of 1965 and the arrival of Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists, and Asian and Latino Christians.

A synthesis of archival sources, oral history, and ethnography, City of Gods is a thought-provoking study of religious pluralism. Using Flushing as the backdrop to examine America's contemporary religious diversity and what it means for the future of the United States, R. Scott Hanson explores both the possibilities and limits of pluralism. Hanson argues that the absence of widespread religious violence in a neighborhood with such densely concentrated religious diversity suggests that there is no limit to how much pluralism a pluralist society can stand. Seeking to gauge interaction and different responses to religious and ethnic diversity, the book is set against two interrelated questions: how and where have the different religious and ethnic groups in Flushing associated with others across boundaries over time; and when has conflict or cooperation arisen?

By exploring pluralism from a historical and ethnographic context, City of Gods takes a micro approach to help bring an understanding of pluralism from a sometimes abstract realm into the real world of everyday lives in which people and groups are dynamic and integrating agents in a complex and constantly changing world of local, national, and transnational dimensions.

Perhaps the most extreme example of religious and ethnic pluralism in the world, Flushing is an ideal place to explore how America's long experiment with religious freedom and religious pluralism began and continues. City of Gods reaches far beyond Flushing to all communities coming to terms with immigration, religion, and ethnic relations, raising the question as to whether Flushing will come together in new and lasting ways to build bridges of dialogue or will it further fragment into a Tower of Babel.

About this title

About the Author

R. Scott Hanson is a Lecturer in History at the University of Pennsylvania and an Affiliate of the Pluralism Project at Harvard University.

From the Back Cover

"Through this narrative, the reader gets close to battlers forreligious freedom, will see immigration not as an issue but in a storyof people, and come to regard pluralism anew, not as a philosophicalanalysis of diversity but instead as the perplexing and yet promisingstory of how people of different faiths share some features of a commonlife."
--Martin E. Marty, from the Foreword

"Flushing, Queens, is surely one of the most religiously diverse places on the planettoday. Scott Hanson's study shows how it got this way. This deeplyresearched and thickly described account of the gods of Flushing makesan important contribution to the history of immigration after theHart-Celler Act of 1965 and to the study of American urban religions. City of Gods is as well a timely and necessary contribution to the public debate about the nature of American civilization."
--Robert Orsi, author of The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880-1950

"This invaluable study of America's most religiously complex communityeffectively enshrines Flushing as a pioneer of American religiouspluralism. Established by English immigrants--religious refugees fromboth Old and New England--under Dutch patronage, Flushing has offered ahome to religious diversity from its seventeenth-century beginnings.Scott Hanson's smart, lovingly researched account illuminates howconnections between the local and the international transformed a smalltown into a globalized urban gateway to America's religious future,while drawing inspiration from its distinctive colonial past."
--Evan Haefeli, author of New Netherland and the Dutch Origins of American Religious Liberty

"City of Gods breathes fresh life into the religious pluralism tradition oftheorizing and study. In this compelling--often lyrical--book, R. ScottHanson sheds new light on urban religious history and offers vibrant,ethnographically grounded insight into the promise and challenges oflife in this remarkably diverse religious environment. In our age ofinter-religious conflict and immigration controversy, this work is verytimely--but City of Gods is also a landmark to which people concerned with religious pluralism will return for many years to come."
--Omar M. McRoberts, author of Streets of Glory, Church and Community in a Black Urban Neighborhood

"An illuminating account of what Scott Hanson rightly calls 'perhaps themost compelling case of religious and ethnic pluralism in the world.' City of Gods is an important contribution to the literature on religious diversityin America, and an inspiring read for those committed to interfaithcooperation."
--Eboo Patel, Founder and President, Interfaith Youth Core

Edition details

• Publisher: Empire State Editions
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0823271609
• ISBN 13: 9780823271603
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336