Autobiographical Reflections on Southern Religious History

John B Boles

ISBN 10: 0820322970 / ISBN 13: 9780820322971

Published by University Of Georgia Press Aug 2001, 2001

About this Item

Neuware - A collection of essays in which young scholars discuss their work and interests as they recall how the circumstances of their upbringing and education steered them toward religious history. They tell of their growing awareness of how religion ties into larger social issues.

Seller Inventory # 9780820322971

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Autobiographical Reflections on Southern Religious History
• Publisher: University Of Georgia Press Aug 2001
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0820322970
• ISBN 13: 9780820322971
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 237W x 161H x 25D millimeters 237 millimeters width by 161 millimeters height by 25 millimeters depth
• Weight: 608 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Invoking the strong ties they sense between the courses of their lives and their careers, the sixteen historians of religion who have contributed to Autobiographical Reflections on Southern Religious History share their thoughts and motivations. In these highly personal essays, both pioneering and promising young scholars discuss their work and interests as they recall how the circumstances of their upbringing and education steered them toward religious history. They tell of their own time and place and of their growing awareness of how religion ties into larger social issues: gender, class, and, most notably, race. Indeed, one essay begins, "I was asked to write about why I came to study religion in the South. It was then I realized that it was because my grandfather had been lynched."

Lutheran, Jewish, Catholic, Methodist, and Episcopal viewpoints are represented as, of course, are Baptist. Some contributors have stood in the pulpit; others at least commenced their higher education with that aim. While some contributors were born and reared, and now work in the Bible Belt, others are outsiders―physically, philosophically, or both. Some came from intellectual traditions; others were the first in their family to attend college.

Despite their common interest in its history, southern religion is anything but an intellectual abstraction for the contributors to this book. It is a potent force, and here sixteen men and women offer themselves as proof of its power to shape lives.

About the Author

JOHN B. BOLES is William Pettus Hobby Professor of History at Rice University and managing editor of the Journal of Southern History. His books include The South through Time and Autobiographical Reflections on Southern Religious History (Georgia).