God and the Atlantic: America, Europe, and the Religious Divide

Howard, Thomas Albert

ISBN 10: 0199565511 / ISBN 13: 9780199565511

Published by Oxford University Press, 2011

About this Item

A copy that has been read, remains in good condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact. The spine and cover show signs of wear. Pages can include notes and highlighting and show signs of wear, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. 100% GUARANTEE! Shipped with delivery confirmation, if you're not satisfied with purchase please return item! Ships via media mail.

Seller Inventory # OTV.0199565511.G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: God and the Atlantic: America, Europe, and the Religious Divide
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199565511
• ISBN 13: 9780199565511
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

Since the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, the United States and Western Europe's paths to modernity have diverged sharply with respect to religion. In short, Americans have maintained much friendlier ties with traditional forms of religion than their European counterparts. What explains this transatlantic religious divide?
Accessing the topic though nineteenth and early twentieth-century European commentary on the United States, Thomas Albert Howard argues that an 'Atlantic gap' in religious matters has deep and complex historical roots, and enduringly informs some strands of European disapprobation of the United States. While exploring in the first chapters 'Old World' disquiet toward the young republic's religious dynamics, the book turns in the final chapters and focuses on more constructive European assessments of the United States. Acknowledging the importance of Alexis de Tocqueville for the topic, Howard argues that a widespread overreliance on Tocqueville as interpreter of America has had a tendency to overshadow other noteworthy European voices. Two underappreciated figures here receive due attention: the Protestant Swiss-German church historian, Philip Schaff, and the French Catholic philosopher, Jacques Maritain.
While the transatlantic religious divide has received commentary from journalists and sociologists in recent decades, this is the first major work of cultural and intellectual history devoted to the subject.

About the Author

Thomas Albert Howard is Professor of History at Gordon College.