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American women have had an unusual variety of experiences with religion. From the colonial days of the Puritans, when a tiny band of rebels, some would say fanatics, went mainstream, to the numerous faiths imported with the slave trade and immigration, religious possibilities amount to a feast. Regardless of faith, religion often becomes for American women a double-edged sword, offering protections as well as punishments, among them original sin and the virgin/whore dichotomy. This course will examine religion as both a benefit and a misfortune for American women. We’ll start with Mary Rowlandson’s tale of being captured by native Americans in 1675, and her strong belief that every moment of her ordeal was ordained by God. We’ll move on to recent memoirs by American women who have felt both saved and damned by their religions. Our reading will encompass revelations, conversions, and atheism. The peculiarly American notion that identity can be chosen, and the ways in which this belief shapes attitudes towards religion, will be examined. Topics we will cover include gender and faith, cults, fundamentalism, and politics. Thomas Jefferson’s insistence that America should welcome all religious groups—including “the infidel of every denomination” has created a religious landscape of fascinating contradiction in the United States.
Students should purchase the following:
- The Butterfly Mosque (2010)
- Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey through the Clash of Civilizations (2010)
- Deborah Feldman, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots (2012)
- Ruth Everhart, Ruined (2016)
- Ruth Wariner, The Sound of Gravel (2016)
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