Thomas A. Tweed

Conversations about religion in America tend to focus on the spread of Christianity and its developments within America over time. This is an understandable tendency, because it is a major aspect of the story of religion in America.

In Religion in the Lands That Became America: A New History (galley received as part of early review program), Thomas A. Tweed will certainly tell this story, but will not be limited or restricted to it.

He does not begin with Columbus or the Mayflower but with show more Horn Shelter Man, a grave dated approximately to 11,000 years ago discovered in Texas, and explored what can be imagined regarding the religious views of many of the earliest Indigenous people from the finds. Indigenous spirituality is set forth according to the evidence we have for it as well.

The author details the contacts with others: Polynesians, Vikings, and then Columbus and the Europeans. The author considers how the Indigenous people experienced Christianity and the points of connection, attempts at disconnection, and early forms of syncretism between Indigenous beliefs and Christianity.

From the seventeenth century onward the narrative sets forth the various points of connection between religiosity and what was going on in American history and experience, always with a special view toward the Indigenous, Black people, and others often marginalized in their religious views.

The author ends where he began, considering the current expressions of Christianity back in Texas near where Horn Shelter Man was discovered. The author presents a helpful perspective on religion in America, how it influenced American culture, politics, and society, and was influenced by American culture, politics, and society. show less