This page will introduce you to scholarly discussions of lived religion, religious practice, and American religious diversity. We cannot offer a comprehensive survey of these literatures, but you’ll find links to essential reference works, provocative theoretical arguments, primary source collections, and much more.
American Religious History and Diversity
![]() | Catherine Albanese, America: Religions and Religion, Wadsworth Publishing, 2006. |
![]() | Diana Eck, A New Religious America: How a “Christian Country” Has Become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation, Harper, 2001. |
![]() | Elinor Pierce, Pluralism in Practice: Case Studies of Leadership in a Religiously Diverse America, Orbis Books, 2023. Drawing on the work of the Case Initiative at Harvard University’s Pluralism Project, this accessible collection of twelve case studies includes brief scenarios, framing questions, and updates on some of the key dilemmas and decisions we encounter in our multireligious encounters and lives. |
David D. Hall (ed.), Lived Religion in America: Toward a History of Practice, Princeton University Press, 1997. | |
Colleen McDannell (ed.), Religions of the United States in Practice, Vol. 1, Princeton University Press, 2001. | |
Colleen McDannell (ed.), Religions of the United States in Practice, Vol. 2, Princeton University Press, 2001. |
Theories of Lived Religion, including Textbooks Focused on Religious Practice
Nancy T. Ammerman (ed.), Everyday Religion: Observing Modern Religious Lives, Oxford University Press, 2007. These essays by leading sociologists explore contemporary religious phenomena that defy the binary opposition between secularization and orthodoxy. The collection examines how religion functions on the ground in pluralistic societies, how it is experienced by individuals, and how it is expressed in social institutions. | |
Lee Bailey and Mary Pat Fisher, Living Religions: A Brief Introduction, Prentice Hall, 2010. | |
Lee Bailey and Mary Pat Fisher, An Anthology of Living Religions, Prentice Hall, 2007. | |
John R. Bowen, Religions in Practice: An Approach to the Anthropology of Religion, Prentice Hall, 2010. | |
Paul Gwynne, World Religions in Practice: A Comparative Introduction, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2008. | |
Meredith B. McGuire, Lived Religion: Faith and Practice in Everyday Life, Oxford University Press, 2008. | |
Samuli Schielke and Liza Debevec (eds.), Ordinary Lives and Grand Schemes: An Anthropology of Everyday Religion, Berghahn Books, 2012. | |
Robert Wuthnow, What Happens When We Practice Religion?: Textures of Devotion in Everyday Life, Princeton University Press, 2020. |
Lived Religion in Specific Traditions, including Primary Source Collections
Robert E. Buswell, Jr. (ed.), Religions of Korea in Practice, Princeton University Press, 2006. This primary source collection documents one of the most diverse religious cultures in the world today. It includes texts drawn from shamanic rituals for the dead and songs to quiet newborns; Buddhist meditative practices and exorcisms; Confucian geomancy and ancestor rites; Catholic liturgy; Protestant devotional practices; alchemy training in new Korean religions; and the North Korean worship of Kim Il Sung. | |
Tony Carnes and Fenggang Yang (eds.), Asian American Religions: The Making and Remaking of Borders and Boundaries, New York University Press, 2004. | |
Harvey E. Goldberg (ed.), The Life of Judaism, University of California Press, 2001. | |
R. Marie Griffith and Barbara Dianne Savage (eds.), Women and Religion in the African Diaspora: Knowledge, Power, and Performance, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. | |
John Stratton Hawley and Vasudha Narayanan (eds.), The Life of Hinduism, University of California Press, 2006. | |
Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (ed.), Buddhism in Practice, Princeton University Press, 1995. | |
Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (ed.), Religions of Asia in Practice: An Anthology, Princeton University Press, 2002. | |
Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (ed.), Religions of China in Practice, Princeton University Press, 1996. | |
Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (ed.), Religions of India in Practice, Princeton University Press, 1996. | |
Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (ed.), Religions of Tibet in Practice, Princeton University Press, 1997. | |
Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp et al. (eds.), Practicing Protestants: Histories of Christian Life, 1630-1965, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. | |
Barbara D. Metcalf (ed.), Islam in South Asia in Practice, Princeton University Press, 2009. | |
Jacob K. Olupona and Regina Gemignani, African Immigrant Religions in America, New York University Press, 2007. | |
Frank E. Reynolds and Jason A. Carbine (eds.), The Life of Buddhism, University of California Press, 2000. | |
Robin Rinehart (ed.), Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and Practice, ABC-CLIO, 2004. | |
George J. Tanabe (ed.), Religions of Japan in Practice, Princeton University Press, 1999. |